Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Humoresque (1946) - Everything works in Negulesco's music melodrama classic

5/27/2022

Humoresque (1946) - Everything works in Negulesco's music melodrama classic

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Passionate romance - and a violin - is promised on this poster for Jean Negulesco's Humoresque

A stubborn male violinist with big dreams and talent to back it up gets discovered by Mrs. Wright, an alcoholic woman of wealth, whose marriage is platonic. But can he have her as his patron and mistress for the long run?

Humoresque is written by Zachary Gold (Top Man (1943)) and Clifford Odets (Winter Journey (1962, TV movie)), adapting the same-titled 1919 short story by Fanny Hurst (Back Street (1931)), and directed by Romanian-born American master filmmaker Jean Negulesco (Singapore Woman (1941)), whose 6th feature it was.

It is a formidable film, which mixes the juicily erotic and the keenly humorist with strongly melodramatic lines and wonderful music, - and a great venerable air around it. You'll hear pieces of Dvorák, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Grieg, Bach, Prokofiev, as well as Gershwin and Cole Porter, in the luxurious musical side to the romantic drama, making it an absolute treat for music lovers. The photography (by Ernest Haller (The Boy and the Pirates (1960))) is outstanding; the technical expertise surrounding the film is likewise.

Joan Crawford (When Ladies Meet (1941)) is legendary, intense and awe-inspiring, and John Garfield (The Fallen Sparrow (1943)) is just as intense and tough here. Oscar Levant (The Cobweb (1955)) is incredibly funny and eminently believable in his piano scenes. J. Carrol Naish (The Texan (1958, TV-series)) and Ruth Nelson (Shock (1946)) as the young musician's parents are flawless.

Humoresque is one of the undying melodramas, and a truly refined film to boot. SPOILER Something to ponder over: Is Mrs. Wright's suicide in the end propped up too much in the cinematography? Or does it simply point towards her larger-than-life quality?

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2.1 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly somewhere between 3.3-3.7 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.61-1.76 times its cost)

[Humoresque premiered 25 December (New York) and runs 125 minutes. Hurst's story was first adapted by Frank Borzage with the same title in 1920. Crawford was paid 167k $ for her performance, though IMDb also lists 500k $ as her salary, which looks like it must be a mistake. Shooting took place from December 1945 - April 1946 in New York and California. The William Shaefer Warner Bros. ledger recorded a 2.2 mil. $ North-American gross for the film, but Variety reported a 2.6 mil. $ North-American rental in 1947. The two numbers account for the uncertainty in the figures above listed. The international gross was listed as 1.1 mil. $. Despite the small gross compared to the considerable cost, the film is curiously described as a theatrical success. It was nominated for 1 Oscar: For Best Music - Drama/Comedy (Franz Waxman (Elephant Walk (1954))), lost to Hugo Friedhofer for The Best Years of Our Lives. Negulesco returned with Deep Valley (1947). Crawford returned in Possessed (1947); Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice: The Radio Play (1947, voice) and theatrically in Body and Soul (1947). 4.4k+ IMDb users have given Humoresque a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Humoresque?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

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Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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Wolfgang Petersen has died

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Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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5/27/2022

Humoresque (1946) - Everything works in Negulesco's music melodrama classic

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