The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)

Eddie Duchin Story

Had not seen this movie in many years. Pleased that you had it, and at a reasonable price. June 13, 2008

Swank digs

Even in its day no-one dreamed they'd see much about the actual Eddy Duchin in a movie like this; the point was to see the fabulous lifestyle of the people Eddy played for and wined and dined with, including his wife the society figure Marjorie Oelrichs and his friends the Averell Harrimans (here given a pseudonym since the real Harriman was running for public office at the time) who raised his son Peter. The scale of everything in this very expensive (and very popular) Fox biopic is grand even by Fox standards: every room is the size of an aircraft hangar, and when Marjorie is dying from a mysterious illness after giving birth to her only child with Eddy the actress who plays her, Kim Novak, is made up to look more glamorous and lovely than ever. Very little is done to retain much of a period authenticity for the film--the first shot, supposed set in 1927, shows the Empire State Building proudly looming over Manhattan several years before it was built, and the ugly expensive clothes reflect the midFifties rather than the late Twenties and Thirties. And Tyrone Power looks absolutely nothing like a college kid in his early scenes when Duchin is supposed to have quit college to come to Manhattan to work as a pianist. But to complain about things like that is to miss the point: audiences came to see it because they wanted to swoon over Power making love to Novak, to shudder when Novak keeps predicting her own early death, and to cry when Power reconciles with his estrnaged son and then has to die of leukemia and pass on his legacy to him.

Novak is pretty welcome in this film: she's not made up to look her best (as she was in VERTIGO), but her extremely relaxed and gracious presence is always a relief in films like this. But the big pleasure here is in Tyrone Power's performance. He's not nearly so handsome here as he was just a few years before, but this was one of the rare opportunities he got to show he could really act. Even if he's physically unconvincing as an undergraduate he's wonderful in the early scenes at seeming coltish and clumsy, and he mimes Duchin's piano playing (actually performed by Carmen Cavalarro on the soundtrack) aboslutely beautifully. One of the highlighted numbers, an extended sequence where Power as Duchin plays "Dizzy Fingers" for his parents and Oelrichs gathered in the crowd at the Central Park Casino, is one of the most lovely musical sequences of the era: it's gorgeously edited, and Power so beautifully mimes Duchin's playing that you feel his pleasure and pride in his own dexterity. Victoria Shaw doesn't add much as Power's second love interest, an English refugee from the Blitz who stays with the re-named Harrimans and gains Peter's confidence when Duchin is away in World War II (creating all kinds of strange Oedipal tensions the film displays but doesn't really acknowledge), but you can mostly ignore her and focus on Power. April 19, 2008

Eddy Duchin Story

As my friend watched with me, who shared the viewing for the first time since it was made, the quote was "Why don't they make more movies like this. We followed up with the Glenn Miller Story.

The music is superb! April 19, 2008

stella

I enjoyed Stella very much and as a bette midler fan my husband and i where very happy to be able to buy this from amazon as we could not buy it in australia. April 19, 2008

Old-fashioned love story

Anyone who's weary of violence, blood, and computerized special effects will love this one. Kim Novak at her luminescent best and Tyrone Power in another matinee-idol performance as the ill-fated romantic couple, Marjorie Oelrich and Eddy Duchin. Bring out a hankie!

Muriel February 22, 2008

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