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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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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