Klarinet Archive - Posting 000163.txt from 2004/10

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Movie about fictional clarinet player
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 09:06:03 -0400


Adam Michlin wrote,
>"Mo' Better Blues" is a good example of
>convincing actor portrayals of performing
>musicians. It would be perfect if only they
>had added a clarinet player!

Other examples: Hurd Hatfield does a good job on piano, in the 1945 version
of "The Picture of Dorian Gray." The excellent score by Herbert Stothart
(who got a screen credit) and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (uncredited), uses
Chopin's D-minor Prelude from the Opus 24 set (D for Dorian!) as the
anti-hero's leitmotif. Gray was a fine amateur pianist in this version of
the story. Lela Simone played on the soundtrack, but Hatfield, who had
taken piano lessons, learned the music and looks credible. This is also my
favorite movie version of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" --
against competition from at least 17 other English language films!

Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving looked convincing in the 1980 movie, "The
Competition," though I have some reservations about the rather melodramatic
screenplay by the director, Joel Oliansky. The acting sometimes goes a bit
far over the top for me, too, but even so, that movie wears well after
nearly a quarter of a century. I've forgotten who played on the
soundtrack, but Dreyfuss and Irving both studied piano seriously enough to
consider professional careers as musicians, before they committed
themselves to acting, and they both learned a lot of difficult music to
look real in these roles.

Lelia Loban
America can do better: Kerry and Edwards in 2004!

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