Jan Peerce Movies
Operatic tenor Jan Peerce was best known during his tenure at New York's Metropolitan Opera, but he also appeared in several movies, beginning with Something in the Wind (1947). His son, Larry Peerce, became a director. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 2004
- Add Great Stars of Opera, Vol. 3: Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour, 1959-1968 to QueueAdd Great Stars of Opera, Vol. 3: Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour, 1959-1968 to top of Queue
This program features 15 performances by opera stars of the 1959-1968 era including Birgit Nelsson and Jerome Hines. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi
- 1990
This biography of Jan Peerce, covers his 25 years with the Met along with various performances. Includes his first appearance on Broadway doing "Fiddler On The Roof." ~ Rovi
A documentary that covers the life and works of Arturo Toscanini. Includes some rare color home movies of Toscanini at work and play. ~ Rovi
- 1981
- Add Jan Peerce, Marian Anderson and Andrés Segovia to QueueAdd Jan Peerce, Marian Anderson and Andrés Segovia to top of Queue
This 60 minute program features archival footage of great musical performances by Jan Peerce, Nadine Conner, Marian Anderson, and Andres Segovia. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi
Based on one of author Phillip Roth's shorter works, Goodbye Columbus stars Richard Benjamin as Neil, a young man of humble means who falls in love with Jewish-American-princess Brenda (Ali MacGraw). Their romance is out of the question so far as Brenda's suburbanite parents are concerned, so Neil and Brenda rendezvous in some of the sleaziest motels ever seen in a 1960s film (and that assessment includes The Bates Motel). Unwilling to take birth control pills because they upset her tummy, Brenda opts for a diaphragm, which unfortunately is discovered by her mother. Their rocky relationship comprises the bulk of the film. The trendy, New Wave-influenced direction by Larry Peerce gained a great deal of critical attention in 1969, notably such self-indulgent devices as having a close-up of a girl's navel dissolve into a long-shot of a swimming pool. Far more memorable is Peerce's amusingly straight-on depictions of upper-class Jewish/American social functions. In their film debuts, Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw are appealingly awkward; the more memorable performance is delivered by Michael Meyers as MacGraw's adenoidal younger brother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, (more)
- 1953
Tonight we Sing is the life story of legendary impresario Sol Hurok, impersonated herein by David Wayne. A lover of the arts, young immigrant Hurok despairs when he realizes he has no musical or artistic talents. Thus it is that, despite great personal and financial sacrifice, Hurok devotes his life to discovering and nurturing other performers and bringing them to Broadway. Among his more celebrated protégés are Russian opera-singer Feodor Chaliapin (Ezio Pinza) and violinist Eugene Ysaye (Isaac Stern). Other notables making guest appearances are singer Jan Peerce and Roberta Peters and ballerina Tamara Toumanova. Anne Bancroft co-stars as Hurok's gentle, patient wife Emma. Based on the autobiography by Sol Horuk (co-written with Ruth Goode), Tonight We Sing was produced for 20th Century-Fox by George Jessel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Wayne, Ezio Pinza, (more)
- 1950
Of Men and Music can be described as a live-action Fantasia; indeed, both films feature critic-composer Deems Taylor as narrator. A host of world-famous musicians are seen in concert and at leisure. Screenwriters Liam O'Brien, Harry Kurnitz, John Paxton and David Epstein have rather unecessarily added dramatic continuities, wherein the artists are shown dickering with their managers, rushing to meet concert dates, etc. These scenes can be forgotten in the light of the wonderful music provided by such masters as Artur Rubinstein, Jan Peerce, Nadine Conner, Jascha Heifetz, Dimitri Mitropoulos and Victor Young. Trade-screened in late 1950, Of Men and Music was released to the public in 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Auteur theorists who've charted the career of "cult" director Edgar G. Ulmer have seldom mentioned Carnegie Hall, simply because it was more expensive than most of Ulmer's films and thus can't be regarded a "low-budget masterpiece." The wafer-thin plotline concerns a young immigrant woman (Marsha Hunt) who takes a job as a Carnegie Hall cleaning woman. Her love of music leads her to a better job in the Hall, and after several years she rises to the position of concert organizer. The woman uses her clout to promote her own son's career as a pianist. Carnegie Hall showcases a number of celebrated musicians. Selections include: Arthur Rubinstein performing Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat, Jascha Heifetz performing Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G Major by Tchaikovsky, Ezio Pinza singing both the drinking song from Don Giovanni and one of the arias from Simon di Boccanegra, Lily Pons singing The Bell Song from Lakme by Delibes, and Jan Peerce singing O Sole Mio.The film also includes musical performances by Bruno Walter,Rise Stevens, Gregor Piatagorsky, Harry James, Vaughn Monroe, Leopold Stokowski, and others. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marsha Hunt, Emile Boreo, (more)
- 1947
Deanna Durbin stars in the musical shaggy dog story Something in the Wind. When the wealthy uncle of the Read family dies, he leaves instructions in his will to bequeath a set amount of money to his mistress, one Mary Collins. The family assumes it to be a pretty young female radio personality called Mary Collins (and played by Deanna Durbin), when it is, in fact, her aunt of the same name (Jean Adair). Thus, when the young scion of the Read family, Donald (John Dall), tries to buy "Mary" off, he picks the wrong Mary -- and Durbin rebuffs him. Donald and brother Charlie (Donald O'Connor) then resort to kidnapping Mary from the radio station, but Mary turns the tables by demanding a million dollars as a settlement. Meanwhile, Charlie pines for Donald's fiancée, Clarissa Prentice (Helena Carter), while young Mary and Donald argue constantly and start to fall in love with one another. Amid these soapy events, Durbin finds time to sing five pop songs, as well as the Miserere aria from Verdi's Il Trovatore, on which she duets with Jan Peerce. Durbin's pop numbers include: "The Turntable Song," "You Wanna Keep Your Baby Lookin' Right," and "Happy Go Lucky and Free." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Donald O'Connor, (more)
A Carnegie Hall employee who dreams of success for her young son raises him in the legendary concert venue in hopes that inspiration will shine through the music in this film featuring performances by Bruno Walter, Risë Stevens, Jan Peerce, Ezio Penza, Leopold Stokowski and many more. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Produced on behalf of the Office of War Information, Arturo Toscanini is the only extended filmed record of the brilliant orchestra conductor in action. Filmed in NBC Radio's legendary Studio 8H, this 33-minute documentary offers Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra in a specially-commissioned performance, designed to raise funds for the 5th War Loan drive. The centerpiece of the concert is Verdi's Hymn of the Nations, though the same composer's La Forza del Destino is performed with equal fervor. Narrator Burgess Meredith offers a brief history of Toscanini's own patriotic, anti-fascist activities, while Metropolitan Opera tenor Jan Peerce is featured soloist. The film ends with a rousing medley of national anthems, including the French Marseillaise and the Russia Internationale. Long unseen publicly, Arturo Toscanini was reissued in the mid-1970s by Blackhawk Films, a home-movie distributor, under the title Hymn of the Nations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
