A film
review by Andrew Wickliffe for thestopbutton.com on 9 Feb 2006.
Interrupted Melody is an interesting example of economic
storytelling. The film covers about ten years, has a number of strong character
relationships, but moves gently through all of it. It’s got moments where there
isn’t any dialogue, just the look between characters, it’s got a great love
story - and, even better, a great struggling marriage. Director Curtis Bernhardt deserves a lot of the
credit - for example, he knows just how long to let these scenes go, and the
first date between Eleanor Parker
and Glenn Ford does better in five
minutes what most films - most good films - spend twenty doing. It’s not just
Bernhardt though. Interrupted Melody
was co-written by Sonya Levien, who
also worked on The Cowboy and the Lady and it had similarly perfect
pacing.
Most of Interrupted Melody is a showcase for its
actors, whether it’s Parker or Ford or even a young (and good-looking) Roger Moore. The film’s structure
varies in focus - for instance, there’s a large part where Ford is the
protagonist over Parker - but manages the transitions back and forth
beautifully. So beautifully, in fact, I don’t even recall the first transition.
The second, later one, I still do.
Besides
being Parker’s best performance (probably, at least in the lead), Interrupted Melody has a great Glenn
Ford performance. Ford never gets the proper respect - search for him on IMDb
and the first title to come up is Superman,
but he’s really good, especially in this, mid-1950s period of his career. Interrupted Melody is available on DVD, and
it occasionally is shown on Turner Classic Movies. Wickliffe’s rating: **** out
of 4 stars.
Blogger’s
comment: In 1956, Eleanor Parker was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in
a Leading Role for her performance in this film
CREDITS
Directed
by Curtis Bernhardt; written by William
Ludwig and Sonya Levien; directors of photography, Joseph Ruttenberg and Paul
Vogel; edited by John D. Dunning;
produced by Jack Cummings; released
by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Starring
Glenn Ford (Dr. Thomas King), Eleanor Parker (Marjorie Lawrence), Roger Moore
(Cyril Lawrence), Cecil Kellaway
(Bill Lawrence), Peter Leeds (Dr. Ed
Ryson), Evelyn Ellis (Clara), Walter Baldwin (Jim Owens), Ann Codee (Madame Gilly), Leopold Sachse (Himself) and Stephen Bekassy (Count Claude des
Vignaux).
Labels:
biography, drama, Eleanor Parker, Fifties, music, romance
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