Thomas Beecham Movies
A renowned figure at the conductor's podium for 50 years, Sir Thomas Beecham was one of the most important figures in classical music of the mid-20th century. During the second half of the 1940s, he also exerted an influence on two of the most important filmmakers working in England, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburer, and played a key role in the production and creation of two of the most inventive and popular movies ever to come out of England. In 1946, at the insistence of composer Brian Easdale, Powell and Pressburger engaged Beecham and his newly organized Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to record Easdale's "Ballet of the Red Shoes" for their film The Red Shoes. The movie became a huge international success, and so effective and successful was Beecham's contribution, and so pleased was the conductor with the results, that he broached the idea with Powell and Pressburger of working on other projects together in the future. Beecham presented to them the idea of doing a film adaptation of a complete operatic work and, seated at the piano, ran through the entirety of Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. By the time he was finished -- doing every part himself at the piano -- the two filmmakers were sold, and in 1947 Beecham and his orchestra, and the Sadler's Wells Chorus, and a cast of singers that he assembled, recorded the audio track that would serve as the basis for the film at Shepperton Studios. The movie was shot in 1950 and released the following year, and featured the best singers as recruited by Beecham, the best dancers and actors as assembled by Powell and Pressburger, and a version of the score adapted and edited by Beecham with Dennis Arundell. The movie also featured a new opening ballet sequence prepared by the conductor from Offenbach's music. The conductor's creative collaboration with the two filmmakers proved a success, but their relationship ended up steeped in litigation over Powell and Pressburger's decision to license the audio track to Decca/London Records for a soundtrack release. At the time, Beecham had exclusive contracts with EMI in England and Columbia Records in America for the release of his and the Royal Philharmonic's work on the two sides of the Atlantic, and he and the two record labels ended up suing the filmmakers. Powell and Pressburger won the case and the soundtrack remained in print, and Beecham's career as anything but a subject of films ended with The Tales of Hoffmann. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Venerated conductor Sir Thomas Beecham is featured conducting the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in this release of a rare television broadcast that originally aired on Canadian television on March 22, 1956. A performance of George Frideric Handel's "Amaryllis Suite" gets the evening of music off to an appropriately majestic start, with subsequent renditions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Vorrei spiegarvi, oh dio, K. 418", "Voi avete un cor fedele, K. 217" (featuring soprano Maria Stader), and "Symphony No. 38 in D, 'Prague'" offering auditory proof of the maestro's remarkable rapport with his musicians. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Most baby-boomers are familiar with the Powell-Pressburger production of the Offenbach opera Tales of Hoffman only through the full-color stills from the film which were reproduced in the "Motion Picture" section of The World Book Encyclopedia. If this is your only memory of the film, we advise you to seek out a copy of this lengthy but visually enthralling picture as soon as possible. Metropolitan opera star Robert Rounseville plays Hoffman, a university student who is spectacularly unlucky in affairs of the heart. Each of his love affairs with Olympia (Moira Shearer), Giulietta (Ludmilla Tcherina) and Antonia (Ann Ayars) is doomed to failure due to circumstances far beyond our hero's control (Olympia, for example, turns out to be nothing more than a life-sized mechanical doll). As in the previous Powell-Pressburger collaboration The Red Shoes, the film's best moments are its ballet sequences, choreographed by Jane Ashton. Offenbach's score is given a splendid rendition by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of the legendary Sir Thomas Beecham. Most prints of Tales of Hoffman run 118 minutes, eliminating the closing "Tale of Antonia" sequence; the laserdisc version has been restored to 127 minutes, while the search goes on for the complete 138-minute negative. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moira Shearer, Robert Rounseville, (more)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's influential musical tragedy set the stage for the climactic dance ballets that became a staple of the Arthur Freed-MGM musicals (An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon) of the early 1950s. Hans Christian Andersen's tragic fairy tale forms the basis of this film about betrayal, love and art. The story begins as struggling composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) attends a performance of the Lermontov Ballet Company and recognizes his own score in the production of "Hearts of Fire." Julian protests to ballet company director Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) about the unauthorized use of his music. Impressed by Julian's talent, Boris hires him to compose the score for his next ballet -- a dance version of "The Red Shoes." Boris also hires an attractive young dancer, Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), to perform in the ballet. When the lead ballerina announces that she plans to get married, Boris, in a pique over being abandoned, casts Victoria in the starring role. As Julian works on the score and Victoria struggles to perfect her dance technique, the two fall in love. When "The Red Shoes" ballet is premiered -- seen in a stunning and glorious fifteen-minute sequence -- it is a raging success and it makes Victoria a star. But when Boris learns that Julian and Victoria have fallen in love, Boris, who is secretly in love with Victoria, in a fit of rage forces Julian to leave the ballet company; Victoria leaves with him. Since Boris owns the rights to "The Red Shoes" ballet, he forbids Victoria to perform the dance and she becomes unemployable. Time passes and Julian and Victoria are now happily married. Julian's compositions have made him an international success. One day, with Victoria disembarking from a train in Paris, she meets Boris, who implores her to do one performance of "The Red Shoes" in Monaco. Victoria agrees as Julian cancels an engagement in London to travel to Monte Carlo in order to convince his wife not to perform the ballet. But Victoria goes on with the performance, with tragic results. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1936
The oft-filmed life of Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is again cinematized in this elaborate but ponderous British production. Stephen Haggard plays Mozart, the former child prodigy who becomes the fair-haired boy of Austria, only to lose it all and die in poverty before his 40th birthday. The screenplay, by Margaret Kennedy (The Constant Nymph), chooses to sidestep the less-savory aspects of Mozart's life and death, choosing to end on a note of triumph as the composer's The Magic Flute temporarily rescues him from bankruptcy. Conspicuous by his absence is the composer Salieri, whose rivalry with Mozart formed the basis of the 1984 Oscar-winner Amadeus. Completed in the late 1930s, Mozart was released in 1940, as the last non-documentary effort by director Basil Dean (whose wife Victoria Hopper appears as Mrs. Mozart). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Haggard, Victoria Hopper, (more)
