Humoresque

BEAUTIFULLY shot. Great musical performances. Witty and humorous lines, Oscar Levant got some pretty good one-liners. Joan Crawfords was gorgeous as ever! Even though her eyebrows were a little too thick (I find her eyebrows perfect in A Woman's Face). However the story doesn't really hold up, nor does the characters. Especially the mother? probably the worst mother on earth. Gina? Her role is very ineffective. Helen? I felt this role was too weak for Crawford, also very unreasonable. The acting was also stiff and contrived. John Garfield as a violinist wasn't convincing to me (maybe he's too deadpan?), and there's no chemistry between him and Crawford.

I love John Garfield and Joan Crawford, but for the love of all that is holy, avoid this! Go watch any of the 19 million depressing new dystopian tv shows or movies, you'll be happier. This movie will make you want to slit your wrists, take barbiturates, put a plastic bag over your head, weights on your ankles and jump into a deep abyss of molten lava . Albeit with a nice violin soundtrack.

In New York, the performance of the virtuoso violinist Paul Boray (John Garfield) is cancelled. In his apartment, Paul recalls when he was a boy and chooses a violin as a birthday gift from his working class parents. Paul dedicates his youth playing violin studying in the National Institute Orchestra with Professor Rozner and dreams on becoming a concert violinist. During the Great Depression, Paul overhears a conversation of his father and his older brother about his dedication to the violin and seeks out his best friend Sidney Jeffers (Oscar Levant) asking for a job. Sid introduces Paul to the wealthy Helen Wright (Joan Crawford) and her husband Victor Wright (Paul Cavanagh) in a party. Helen is an unhappy alcoholic woman that sees that Paul is a talented violinist and brings him to work with the influent agent Bauer (Richard Gaines). His career starts to take off and Paul becomes her protégée. Sooner they have a love affair and they fall in love with each other. But Helen is jealous of the love of Paul for his violin and her insecurity ends in a tragedy. "Humoresque" is a timeless romance for cinema and music lovers. The screenplay has awesome dialogs with unforgettable lines. When Helen gives a note in the theater to Paul, he is playing Carmen of Bizet and she feels like Don José and learns that she would never have the exclusive love of Paul since he is in love with his violin (and music). In the end, he is playing the tragic Tristan and Iseult of Wagner. Therefore, the film has many layers associated to the classical music. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): "Acordes do Coração" ("Chords of the Heart")

I stuck with this only because Isaac Stern performed a the violin solos. Still, they go on and on and on. 😦 SPOILER - The meddling mother ruins their lives. It's a tedious, overwrought melodrama.

There were two primary reasons for wanting to see 'Humoresque'. One was the cast, am especially an admirer of Joan Crawford. Considered a screen legend for good reason. The other was the music, absolutely adore classical music and love it when a film has a healthy dose of it. The involvement of Franz Waxman, one of the best film composers at that time and fine arranger of music, and that it was performed by violinist Isaac Stern made me more excited. 'Humoresque' has plenty to get excited about. Not only is it a great film in its own right, but it is a fine example of how to do melodrama well and what it's all about. To me, 'Humoresque' is so well made, directed, written and acted, while also having some of the best use of classical music on film. Not quite masterpiece level but close, and quintessential Crawford in both films and performances. Fans of Jean Negolesco will love it too, it's towards one of his best, same goes for male lead John Garfield. Almost everything works. My only criticism is the length, with the film being for my tastes a little overlong. A little trimming towards the end would have helped. Crawford however is just astounding. An intensely powerful performance and one of her best, vintage prime-Crawford really. Garfield seldom gave a finer performance than here in 'Humoresque', don't think he ever was this intensely passionate and electric. They are magnetic together. Oscar Levant was ckearly having fun with some of the film's best lines in a tailor-made role that had elements of himself in, his wisecracking is hilarious and never felt out of place. Instead it stopped it from being too heavy-going. Robert Blake never resorts to trying to be too cute or being whiney. Ruth Nelson, J Carroll Naish and Joan Chandler (although Gina is too much of a plot device and a not explored enough one) are rock solid support, especially Nelson. Negulesco brings his usual tautness and edge, but also sophistication and he doesn't let the film get too overwrought or cold. 'Humoresque' is a wonder visually, with some world class cinematography. The story seldom felt dull, despite lagging a bit towards the end, and doesn't get campy or overwrought. The very end is very powerful and moving. The script never stops being hugely entertaining, Levant has most of the best lines with his wisecracks and witticisms but another favourite was Crawford's line when reacting to being asked as to whether she liked classical music and her references to Ravel and Beethoven are very witty. As well as the cast, the music is a huge part of 'Humoresque's' appeal. Waxman's scoring is unmistakably lush and swells with emotion, but even better is the classical music which is incredible. The pieces originally written for the violin are some of the finest written for the instrument, and the arrangements work so well one would think that they were originally intended for the violin namely the Carmen fantasie (which became a popular concert piece and still is). Stern plays the music brilliantly, making very virtuosic music (i.e. Sarasate) sound easy, but he is not the only musician here. Levant, an immensely talented pianist (well you'd have to be if you play Gershwin well), and Peg La Centra also heavily contribute and they are effective. Particularly coming off well are one of the to this day best versions of the Carmen fantasie and an immensely powerful version of "Liebestod". Summing up, great film and a must for fans of Crawford, Garfield, Levant, Waxman, Stern, classical music and Negulesco. 9/10

A socialite who tragically falls for a violinist, John Garfield, who has led a hardscrabble life, and is at odds with her way of life. As a patroness of the arts, Mrs. Wright (Crawford) an unhappily married, wealthy woman, busies herself with promoting artists, and helping them to acquire notoriety and orchestral experience. Some of the early scenes where we see Garfild living with his parents in a "hotbox above a grocery store" show the audience the starkness of the depression, and sheer difficulty of survival. He tells his friend (pianist, Oscar Levant), he intends to live life differently, not worried about bills and survival, only his art. Gradually, as Mrs Wright helps him, he becomes famous and she begins to fall for him. When she writes him a note that her husband has consented to a divorce, Garfield's reaction is less than enthused. The ending is tragic, and the ocean sets beautiful. Crawford is at her best and this ranks as one of her finest. 10/10.

For John Garfield's final Warner Brothers film, the brothers cast him in Humoresque in which he plays a violinist from the Lower East Side of New York. Now of course that sounds like Golden Boy and to make the irony all complete, the adaption of the Fanny Hurst novel for the screen was written by Clifford Odets, the author of Golden Boy. There's not too much difference in Joe Napoleon the hero of Golden Boy with Paul Boray of Humoresque except that Boray does not have any interest in boxing. He's strictly interested in playing the violin to the exclusion of everything including any relationships. His one and only friend is pianist Oscar Levant. He does however come to the attention of spoiled society wife Joan Crawford. She's bored with husband Paul Cavanaugh who truth be told is a boring fellow anyway. She'll help Garfield in his career, but she finds out that Garfield is all about career and nothing else. Humoresque was undoubtedly helped by the popularization of it in a modern version by Guy Lombardo in a hit instrumental record which came out around the time of this film. The piece is not played in any way in the style of Guy Lombardo in the film. In fact Garfield's fiddling is done by maestro Isaac Stern. Crawford and Garfield both tend to the melodramatic in this film and it's not the best work out of either of them. But fans of both or either should be satisfied.

Jean Negulesco's "Humoresque" (1946) ranks as one of Joan Crawford's top three films; the other two probably being Mildred Pierce and Possessed. It stars the unerringly determined Ms. Crawford as neurotic socialite, Helen Wright. Helen's marriage of convenience to wealthy, Victor (Paul Cavanagh) affords her the luxury of dalliances with many men. The one she eventually settles on as her lover is Paul Boray (John Garfield), a gifted, but impoverished violinist. After a chance meeting at a party where Paul and his close friend, Sid Jeffers (Oscar Levant) are the entertainment, and, where Paul's pride is tested by Helen's vexing insults, Sid instructs Paul to forget her. He is, after all, engaged to the lovely Gina (Joan Chandler); more his equal in temperament and texture. However, as is the usual for tragic melodrama, a destructive romance continues to build between Paul and Helen. She introduces him to high society and the prospects of achieving fame beyond his wildest dreams. All that she asks in return is that Paul shares her bed while her husband's away…at least, at first. But as Paul's reputation grows, so does Helen's jealousy. And, although it appears as though this arrangement will be Paul's undoing as both an artist and a man, it is Helen who ultimately meets with an untimely end. The absence of this brilliant film on DVD has been rectified with Warner's beautiful new transfer. Though there are several scenes in which fine details slightly shimmer, the overall quality of the picture will surely please. The gray scale has deep, solid blacks, very clean whites and a remarkable amount of fine details realized throughout. The audio is mono but has been very nicely cleaned up. An all too brief featurette – 'The Music of Humoresque' is all we get in the way of extras. It is a genuine shame that no audio commentary has been included.

One measure of a great piece of filmmaking is that you know how the story will end, but it recedes into the plot's twists and turns as the actors and technicians draw you in to the tale. Such is the case with Humoresque, whose two powerful presences, John Garfield and Joan Crawford control the story with most able supporting help, most notably that of Oscar Levant, a pianist with a sharp tongue and a heart of gold. The essence of a dark, suffering love that is the inevitable consequence of Garfield and Crawford's affair is portrayed remarkably, stunningly, on 2 occasions by cinematographer Ernest Haller's hazy close-up of Crawford's character, Helen Wright, listening to Garfield's character Paul Boray play his violin, and drawing every sinew of romanticism from the music that permeates the scenes and the film. As Wright sits alone (or alone in a crowd), the lush sounds of the violin and orchestra penetrate her armor, and we see Crawford's lips part slightly, sensuously, and her eyes close effortlessly, as a deceptive and transient serenity overwhelms her. Her love is nebulous, existing somewhere between longing and self-loathing, the only kind of love that she can achieve, for she is a calculating and willing cohort in her seduction of and betrayal by Boray, whose musical nectar she thrives upon, who long before their meeting had sold his soul to the underworld to become a musician, who simultaneously weakens and strengthens Wright, who sees through her pretentiousness, whose power she fears and depends on. In the film's finale we witness a remarkable duet that Negulesco has arranged, as the two lovers, first Garfield, then Crawford, connected only by a telephone wire, deliver their farewell orations. Boray, before the biggest concert of his career, brings down the gauntlet and sets Wright free, even as he mouths empty promises that he is impotent to fulfill. Crawford's character begs Garfield's understanding and forgiveness, saying the words that she needs to hear herself say, proclaiming her self-centered love for a man whose only love is his violin, finally acknowledging that she can no longer demand that he place their relationship above the career that her money and influence engendered. In the final tragic scene at her beach house, we listen with Wright as Boray performs his arrangement of the Love Death from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on the radio broadcast of the concert. We witness her transformation, the mortal and inevitable end to the tragedy, as Wright first drowns her sorrow in an obligatory glass of booze, then, with no where to go, smashes the drinking glass against her window image, and leaves her house to walk aimlessly on the beach. Standing before the roaring ocean waves, peering into infinity, Haller's camera records the peace and recognition in Wright's eyes, the pure, dark side of romantic love that draws her into the endless sea and releases her from her despair. The last strains of Wagner are heard, the concert has finished, the lovers have parted, the tragedy is fulfilled.

SPOILER ALERT: The first problem with this film is that none of the major characters are likable. Joan Crawford plays a self-obsessed, half-drunk socialite who ruins the lives of every husband she has had, and while wallowing in self-pity intends to ruin the life of our other main character -- John Garfield. Garfield plays a violinist who is rude to just about everyone -- because he's an artist -- including his mother and the woman who really loves him. About an hour into the film you're wishing the father had gotten his way and the young Garfield had been forced to take the fire engine (you'll understand if you choose to suffer through this film). The third major character is Oscar Levant, a pianist whose sole purpose in the film seems to be to make wisecracks which often seem out of place. I know, he was the accompanist, but that role could have been played by a bit player. The only acting I enjoyed in the film was by supporting characters -- J. Carrol Naish as Garfield's father, Ruth Nelson as Garfield's mother, and Paul Cavanagh as Crawford's husband. I will give Garfield credit for making his violin playing quite convincing, although closeups of the hands playing the violin were actually the hands of Issac Stern. Nevertheless, Garfield did a nice job here. Also, there's some great music here! By the time we reach the movie's climax, I began wishing that Crawford's character would commit suicide and put us all out of our misery. Take pills with all that alcohol. Slit your wrists on that broken glass. Walk into the waves. I didn't see it coming...but she did! If only she had done it 2 hours earlier. I know some people think this was a wonderful film, but I think it was a dog. The best thing about the film -- Crawford in the movie poster. Early in the film when his brother was complaining about Garfield making no money for the family, I was afraid Garfield was going to become a gangster. Two hours later I wished he had.