Humoresque
Tags: melodrama

Plot synopsis:
In New York City, a performance by noted violinist Paul Boray (John Garfield) is cancelled. At his apartment, Boray is at rock bottom emotionally. His manager Frederic Bauer (Richard Gaines) is angry with him for misunderstanding what a performing career would be like, and for thinking that music is no longer part of his life. To the more sympathetic Sid Jeffers (Oscar Levant), Boray says he has always wanted to do the right thing, but has always been "on the outside, looking in," and cannot "get back to that happy kid" he once was.
In the past, young Paul (Bobby Blake) is choosing a birthday present in a suburban New York Variety store run by Jeffers (Harlan Briggs). He rejects as childish the suggestions of his father "Papa" Rudy (J. Carrol Naish), a grocery store owner, but settles on a violin, which his father rejects as unsuitable; his price limit is $1.50. Esther, his mother (Ruth Nelson), sympathetic at this stage, buys the $8 violin for the boy.
A transition from his faltering first steps to being a gifted young violinist follows. On 15 October 1930, he overhears his father Rudy's dismissal of his chances, and the frustration of his brother Phil (Tom D'Andrea) in finding a job. He resolves to go out on his own and not be dependent on his family. He finds a job with locally broadcast orchestra in which Sid Jeffers is the pianist.
At a party, Paul meets the hostess Helen Wright (Joan Crawford), a patroness in a loveless marriage with an ineffectual aging husband Victor (Paul Cavanagh), her third. Helen is a self-centered, adulterous woman who uses men as sexual playthings and is initially baffled by the strong-willed and independent Boray. After being rude to him at the party, she sends a golden cigarette case to his home the next day. "Papa" Boray is impressed, but Paul's mother is now suspicious.
Helen seems at first interested in his talent rather than Boray as a person, though Boray is quick to press her on the second issue. He gains a manager, Bauer, from her connections, and is now in love with her. On the beach, near the Wrights' Long Island home, he reaches out to Helen after a swim, but she runs away; later in the evening she falls off a horse and he kisses her, but Helen does not want to be touched and wishes to be left alone by Paul.
After a shot of ocean waves, everything is different. Helen warns him he might be sorry love was ever invented, but admits she cannot fight him any longer, and is in love with him. Waiting at home, Esther (Ruth Nelson), his mother, is not fooled by his denials, and points out a missed date with Gina Romney (Joan Chandler), also a musician and his long-time sweetheart. Esther had earlier overheard Victor's putdown of Paul as a "savage" after a concert.
After a tour across America that takes several months, he has lunch with Gina. Sid arrives with Helen, who is immediately jealous. After a scene in Teddy's Bar, in which Helen smashes her drink ("What Is This Thing Called Love?" is performed by Peg La Centra in the background), she is angry with Paul at being neglected. Paul points out her married status, but Helen urges him to let her become more involved in his career.
At his new apartment containing numerous photographs of Helen, he confesses his love for her to his mother. Disquieted by rumors he has heard, Victor asks his wife for a divorce. He is suspicious of her real intentions, but Helen admits this is first time she has known real love.
At a rehearsal, Paul is passed a note from Helen claiming good news. She asks to see him immediately, but he crumples the note and continues with the rehearsal of the Carmen Fantasie (adapted for the film by Franz Waxman from Bizet's Carmen). At Teddy's Bar, Helen becomes increasingly drunk, and is unable to tolerate the house pianist performing "Embraceable You". Paul arrives to take her home. This time, it is Helen who is cool; she repeatedly does not really hear his stated wish to marry her.
Helen listens to Boray play his transcription of Wagner's Liebestod on the radio. Recalling her husband's words, Helen realizes her dissolute past can only taint his future, and then walks to her death in the nearby ocean; in her jaded mind, this is the only logical resolution to their problems. Paul, distraught, is comforted by the loyal Jeffers.
Returning to the opening scene, Paul asks Jeffers to tell Bauer not to worry. He is not running away.

Review: The truth in John Garfield's face rises everything several notches but, perhaps, the biggest surprise from a 2007's standpoint, is Joan Crawford's performance.
In "Humoresque," for example, watch the part where Paul (John Garfield) is delivering his major violin performance, while his wealthy, possessive patron, Helen (Joan Crawford), sits in her expensive box (his mother and "girlfriend" are in the cheaper seats) in a sensuous, almost orgasmic state as she watches him.
In about the mid-point between these two movies, in 1950, Kirk Douglas was Rick Martin in "Young Man With a Horn," based largely of the meteoric, talented career of the great trumpet player, Bix Biederbecke, whose life ended at age 28 - but who was so talented he is well-remembered nearly 75 years later; Harry James' playing in this film is comparable to Stern's and Cavallero's in the other two, and Lauren Bacall and Doris Day are there as Kirk's love interests, the naughty girl and good girl, respectively.
That sentiment sums up the frustration and disappointment of Joan Crawford about her love for and obsession with violin virtuoso John Garfield in an excellent film blessed with great acting and beautiful music.
It's a good drama starring Joan Crawford who gives here one of her finest performances as Helen Wright, a cynical and selfish society woman who set her sight at a young talented violinist Paul Boray (John Garfield), offers help in making his carrier and later becomes concerned with his love, almost an obsession with  his work - music, that comes to the point of neglecting (as she thinks) their relationship and herself personally - "I'm tired of playing the second fiddle!"   Significant part of the film has to do with New York, that is "all full with all kinds of animals, and not all of them are born here" as says the most cynical character in the film Sid Jeffers played by Oscar Levant.
Wittiness of the script is probably the most important ingredient of "Humoresque" (besides Joan Crawford's performance) which turns it into a good classic film that stands repeated viewing.
...was what Borzage's silent version terribly lacked .When the musician plays "humoresque" this music piece which shows that you can laugh at life ,but with a tear behind it ,we would like to hear the sound of his violin !With Jean Negulesco's movie,there's not such a problem;music is everywhere and is throughly enjoyable:my favorite moment is the artist's sensational rendition of Georges Bizet's "Carmen" .
John Garfield -who never made,to my knowledge ,a single mediocre movie - and his violin make the film a winner.For the story is ,all things considered ,rather conventional.Joan Crawford's character ,the average viewer has already seen it a hundred times or more and it takes all the actress's talent to make it endearing.Like Borzage's more obscure version (1920) ,it's based on a Fannie Hurst novel.But the screenplays are so different Negulesco's work is hardly a remake;whereas Borzage devoted almost half of his movie to the hero's childhood in the ghetto ,where he meets the love of his life (Gina who is almost reduced to a walk on in the talkie),only five minutes are given over (as a flashback) to the boy's birthday present.Gone are the mother's prayers -here the mother is a lucid person,not so nice,ready for everything to save her boy's career- which made everything possible.But the biggest difference is the presence of Helen Wright,totally absent in the first version.In a way,she stands in for WW1:after all,this is a war the hero is waging ,not only to gain critical acclaim but also to fight against a doomed passion.Try to see the two films one after the other..
During the Great Depression, Paul overhears a conversation of his father and his older brother about his dedication to the violin and seeks out his best friend Sidney Jeffers (Oscar Levant) asking for a job.Sid introduces Paul to the wealthy Helen Wright (Joan Crawford) and her husband Victor Wright (Paul Cavanagh) in a party.
But Helen is jealous of the love of Paul for his violin and her insecurity ends in a tragedy."Humoresque" is a timeless romance for cinema and music lovers.
When Helen gives a note in the theater to Paul, he is playing Carmen of Bizet and she feels like Don José and learns that she would never have the exclusive love of Paul since he is in love with his violin (and music).
This "Humoresque" boasts a great cast, beautiful music, melodrama, and gorgeous violin playing by Isaac Stern.John Garfield stars as struggling violinist Paul Boray who finally gets his big break with the help of a socialite, Helen Wright (Crawford), when his pianist friend (Oscar Levant) brings him to a party at her home.
Helen Wright is one of Joan Crawford's best performances, too.The film is not without some problems, but you can't fault the incredible music played by Isaac Stern, including the title piece by Dvorak, and music of Sarasate, Lalo and Bizet's Carmen as magnificently adapted by Franz Waxman.
Even if you haven't, it is pretty borderline over the top - what saves it is Helen's anguish.Paul Boray is a perfect role for the talents of John Garfield, a wonderful actor, though for my money he had a limited range.
A socialite who tragically falls for a violinist, John Garfield, who has led a hardscrabble life, and is at odds with her way of life.As a patroness of the arts, Mrs. Wright (Crawford) an unhappily married, wealthy woman, busies herself with promoting artists, and helping them to acquire notoriety and orchestral experience.Some of the early scenes where we see Garfild living with his parents in a "hotbox above a grocery store" show the audience the starkness of the depression, and sheer difficulty of survival.
Joan Crawford was midway through filming 'Humoresque' when she won her Oscar for 'Mildred Pierce'.
Along with 'Possessed', I think these three are her finest performances--and the films themselves aren't bad either!Here she is a sophisticated patron of the arts who falls hard for John Garfield, as a high-strung violinist.
Garfield and Crawford make a good team--though personally I liked his teaming with Lana Turner better in 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'.Oscar Levant supplies some cynical comedy relief with dry humor.
Joan Crawford, (Helen Wright) plays the role of a very rich woman who is married and loves to entertain all kinds of actors, and musicians and she happens to meet a violin player named Paul Boray,(John Garfield).
Otherwise I enjoyed Oscar Levant for his smart mouth throughout the film, John Garfield for looking genuine when playing the violin, and the acting by a young Robert Blake.
Garfield's playing is well known as having been provided, very beautifully, by the great Isaac Stern.Just off the top of my head, two other movies about classical music from Warner are the extremely charming "My Love Came Back" and the fabulous "Deception." To me, that is, along with "All About Eve," one of Bette Davis's absolute best movies.
And within more recent times, the "Hollenius" Cello Concerto by Korngold is being played by symphony orchestras as part of their regular fare.This movie is a must for anyone with an interest in Joan Crawford, John Garfield, or music in the movies.
Well directed, beautiful cinematography, wonderful music (of course--hard to believe that's not Garfield's hand playing the violin), but best of all is the acting.
Such is the case with Humoresque, whose two powerful presences, John Garfield and Joan Crawford control the story with most able supporting help, most notably that of Oscar Levant, a pianist with a sharp tongue and a heart of gold.The essence of a dark, suffering love that is the inevitable consequence of Garfield and Crawford's affair is portrayed remarkably, stunningly, on 2 occasions by cinematographer Ernest Haller's hazy close-up of Crawford's character, Helen Wright, listening to Garfield's character Paul Boray play his violin, and drawing every sinew of romanticism from the music that permeates the scenes and the film.
Her love is nebulous, existing somewhere between longing and self-loathing, the only kind of love that she can achieve, for she is a calculating and willing cohort in her seduction of and betrayal by Boray, whose musical nectar she thrives upon, who long before their meeting had sold his soul to the underworld to become a musician, who simultaneously weakens and strengthens Wright, who sees through her pretentiousness, whose power she fears and depends on.In the film's finale we witness a remarkable duet that Negulesco has arranged, as the two lovers, first Garfield, then Crawford, connected only by a telephone wire, deliver their farewell orations.
Crawford's character begs Garfield's understanding and forgiveness, saying the words that she needs to hear herself say, proclaiming her self-centered love for a man whose only love is his violin, finally acknowledging that she can no longer demand that he place their relationship above the career that her money and influence engendered.
Photography by Ernest Haller, music by Franz Waxman (with assistance from Isaac Stern, who also did many of the close-ups of the violin playing), and direction by Jean Negulesco, who made a number of subtle, highly refined films.John Garfield plays his brooding part with proper broodingness, if not exactly psychological depth.
It's appropriate, overall, and a kind of second fiddle to Joan Crawford, who plays her part from every angle, a great performance.
Right on.The plot will strike some people as old fashioned--a classical violinist played by Garfield, Paul Boray, comes from a lower working class family in New York and conquers the music world.
"Humoresque" is Joan Crawford's and John Garfield's best movie.
Joan Crawford, as his devotee/lover was a good casting choice, although at times she over-did the assertiveness of the character when she first met Paul.
Humoresque (1946) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Paul Boray (John Garfield) dreams of being able to play his violin for a living but he just doesn't have the right connections to make it.
This changes when he meets a rich married woman (Joan Crawford) who takes a liking to his talent but soon the two fall in love as Paul's career takes off.
She made a lot of fine films in the '40s  Above Suspicion (1943), Mildred Pierce - which won Joan Crawford a very much deserved Oscar - (1945), Possessed (1947) and Humoresque.
She's incredibly beautiful in this.Humoresque is about a little boy, Paul Boray (played by usual tough-guy John Garfield), who grows up in the slums.
As he grows older, he becomes a very accomplished violinist but has no connections, that is, until he meets unhappily married, unsatisfied socialite Helen Wright (Joan Crawford, magnificent at playing a woman without morals!) who is his ticket to the recognition he deserves.
Helen says she is purely interested in his work and only his work, but of course sparks fly and they begin a rocky, dangerous affair.I have to admit that Humoresque is certainly not for those who dislike classical music, as there are very long scenes of simply Paul Boray playing the violin, and they seem almost claustrophobic  one long shot, hardly any movement from the camera (however, this is because they needed a certain angle for John Garfield to look like he is playing.
Where was Joan Crawford's Oscar nomination as the hopelessly neurotic woman attracted to the likes of John Garfield in Humoresque?
For John Garfield's final Warner Brothers film, the brothers cast him in Humoresque in which he plays a violinist from the Lower East Side of New York.
Yet this is Ms. Crawford's movie; no other actress could have played her role more effectively.Second, the music.
In the mid 1940s, Hollywood suddenly got the classical music bug and a whole string of lush melodramas were made, among them Columbia's 'A Song to Remember' (a risible biopic of Chopin with Cornel Wilde and Merle Oberon that, in one famous scene, gave Liberace his entire act), MGM's 'Song of Love' (a biopic of Schumann with Robert Walker and Katherine Hepburn) and 'Carnegie Hall' (a film about the famous hall with a dumb plot, stuffed with cameos from the musical greats of the day which is its chief value now).The two best films of the cycle however,'Deception' and 'Humoresque' were made at Warner Brothers, almost simultaneously, and starring those arch rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford respectively.
Check out the moment at Helen Wright's party early in the film ["She's as complex as a Bach fugue"], where she meets Paul Boray for the first time ("Bad manners Mr Boray: the infallible sign of talent").After he insults her and launches into Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Flight of the Bumble Bee', she walks off in a temper, to the bar, to pour herself yet another brandy and as she holds the large brandy glass in her hand, Ernest Haller somehow allows us to see Boray directly through the glass with both Garfield and the glass in perfect focus.
He also films the musical sequences wonderfully well, ably convincing us that Garfield is really playing, borrowing the trick (from 'Deception' being shot on adjoining stages) of using two real musicians out of camera shot for the fingering and bowing and even Isaac Stern himself for close ups of the left hand.The music is superbly performed and recorded, and the repertoire is well chosen.
Joan Crawford and John Garfield star in their most shinning roles as actors.The plot and storyline is very difficult to make entertaining in this movie but these two professionals bring it to life.
Joan Crawford looks particularly hagged out in this film -- only a year after "Mildred Pierce" -- and I don't know what they were thinking with those glasses she wears throughout!
In director Jean Negulesco's 1946 film "Humoresque", John Garfield plays a violin virtuoso, and Joan Crawford, his neurotic high-society patroness.
High melodrama ensues until the relationship becomes a matter of life and death."Humoresque" was the first film I have seen that paired Crawford and Garfield (I believe they have done three) and I did not feel any kind of chemistry between the two characters.
It was best said by a partygoer in one scene, "I don't believe you play the violin, you look more like a boxer." Joan Chandler, however, was refreshing in her (ridiculously small) role as his girlfriend Gina; the only other film I've seen her in was "Rope" where she was somewhat obnoxious.It is also a good thing that I like classical music because there were plenty of long scenes featuring violin and piano performances.
If this were meant to be a significant plot device that would be one thing; but there was no background for the behavior.Probably one of the most bothersome things worth mentioning about the film was actually one of the actors, Oscar Levant, who plays Paul's best friend Sid. He was just plain obnoxious.
Isaac Stern's music, Oscar Levant's wit, and Joan Crawford's lower lip raise this an order of magnitude above just another story of doomed love.
Jean Negulesco's "Humoresque" (1946) ranks as one of Joan Crawford's top three films; the other two probably being Mildred Pierce and Possessed.
The movie is worth the time for every single scene where Oscar Levant was in, especially when he was playing the piano.
Garfield is dynamite and while the violin-playing camera-trickery becomes too obvious every time he picks up his instrument, there's no denying the intensity of concentration, sweat glowing on his furrowed brow, as he gives himself to the music which he prizes above all else, including the love of Crawford.
Looking the most exquisite here since her MGM days, Joan Crawford doesn't make her entrance until 32 minuets into the film, dramatically entering into the life of promising life John Garfield, and like Norman Maine did with Esther Blodgett in "A Star is Born", aids him to success for a damning price.
Garfield trades in his boxing gloves for a fiddle and in some stunning musical sequences, makes love to his violin violently with a passion fit for a Golden Boy.Both invest much emotion in to their dangerous characters, brought together in spite of the odds and doomed from the start, whether it will be his overbearing mother (an excellent Ruth Nelson), his cynical piano player pal (the very droll Oscar Levant) or her possibly impotent husband (Paul Cavanagh), their own personal failings or her many neurosis, this is a doomed affair that can only end in a manner that only Fanny Hurst could envision.The music plays an extremely important role here, the actors expressing their turmoil through close-ups occurring over the dramatic classical music.
Joan Crawford is Helen, the nearsighted socialite in an open marriage who lusts after Paul's artistic fruits.The movie opens with a flashback: a young John Garfield has a choice between a violin and a baseball bat...
Anyway, it's a good movie overall, and John Garfield gave a great performance..
Garfield and Crawford really do a great job in this one but the one who steals the show is Oscar Levant.
His piano playing is really quite stunning (he was actually a classical trained pianist before he was an actor).A really good film with great performances all around but just a little dry.
Whatever, Odets turns in a great script here and Crawford and Garfield play the bejeezus out of it with handy support from Ruth Nelson and Oscar Levant.
Joan Crawford plays a self-obsessed, half-drunk socialite who ruins the lives of every husband she has had, and while wallowing in self-pity intends to ruin the life of our other main character -- John Garfield.
In the end it's the music that wins out with Paul leaving Helen all alone drowning in her sorrows in a sea of liquor tears and finally 15 to 20 foot high ocean tidal waves.Even though you wouldn't expect it John Garfield and Joan Crawford who was some six years older, and looked at least ten to her the very youthful-looking co-star in the movie John Garfield, really clicked in all their love scenes together.