Warsaw Concerto

[mazzymuso]

Apparently Walbrook could play the piano but not well enough to cope with playing such a complicated piece, whilst speaking English, which he was still learning ( having recently escaped from the Nazis himself as an Austrian Jew).

[crazypianolady]

@mazzymuso Yeah I read that too. He has such a wonderful accent!

[crazypianolady]

@mazzymuso Although I don't get why he couldn't have mimed the piano better because it's so obvious!

[riversidefan2]

Cant send a link, can you send me your email address and I'll send u the link.

[VIRIATO1942]

Great movie and, of course, the musical theme is outstanding.

There is something about war movies with great musical themes that enchants me.

The great German movie "Das Boot" ( The U-Boat) with the french song "J'Attendrai" .

I lalso love it interpreted by the great Tino Rossi, here in U-Tube.

[Kdot16]

This song reminds me of shopping at Nordstroms.

[VocalEdgeTV]

I love the dialogue, but DAMN that's some horrible fake-playing.

[cgnbooks]

It's available at Amazon - isn't that fantastic?!

[magos369]

It's too bad they showed the fact that he is only miming playing. He obviously has no piano training. He's not even making a good fake of it.

[kalamandarim]

This movie is my life’s seal. I knew of it and been told about it since I can remember, the theme only and the music. My grandmother watched it in the fourties but she died before I was born. My mother knows only about her mother’s passion. I never found a complete version of it and never watched it. Seeing this video was like reliving something that was once more than a film, a haunting memory that is becoming clear. Something I’m destined to.

[VocalEdgeTV]

@kalamandarim WHOA! I want to hear more from you now! Thanks for such a generous post. Very moving.

[JerryLeeC1]

Polish bravery, Polish tragedy, as the mourning begins for the Polish President and his family and entourage killed in the plane crash April 11, 2010.

[chopinlover49]

The producers of the movie wanted Rachmaninoff's concertos, but couldn't work it out so they turned to Britsh composer Richard Addinsell. What I love about the movie is all the variations and embellishments that never ended up in the pull-together concert version of the Warsaw Concerto. This movie is not available on dvd yet, but I hope it will be. The plot isn't great, but I love the soundtrack!

[BytomGirl]

If the set (Warsaw) is fake than they did a good job of faking it. Do you know where they actually filmed that scene?

[snoozzz]

The movie was made in 1941 but Warsaw fell in 1939 (September). Therefore it must have been a set - probably at Elstrees Studio in London. However I appreciate the comment. I never realized that the set was meant to actually simulate the real Warsaw3 of that time

[BytomGirl]

That's what I figured. The set however did imitate Warsaw, there is a St. Jan square

and not fat is the Castle Square where the shown Column of the King Zygmunt stands (king holds the cross). The Kings Palace is not there because it was destroyed. Rebuilt in the 7os-80s.

Warsaw wasn't totally destroyed in 1939,

most of it was systematicaly destroyed after Warsaw Appraising with fire bombs mostly.

[BytomGirl]

It's such a strange feeling looking at the view from his window onto a Castle Square where King's Castle stood, right at the Kolumn of King Zygmunt knowing ot was filmed in the middle of the war, live. .. strange comparison after beiing there 2.5 months last year. The Castle is there again and the Kolumn stands but the City is so different than it was then. I saw it first time when I was a child, in the 60s when there were still some ruins but beautiful and that will still staj in my memory.

[guggle86]

Aw shucks GuinnevereB that's what we said when we saw the clip - now of course i want the full movie.

[snoozzz]

Trust me, the rest of the movie isn't this good. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they get married, they argue, he tries to get himslef killed (almost suceeds), suffers amnesia, recovers just as she returns and he remembers how to play the piano. Music swells - Curtain! lol

[JerryLeeC1]

@snoozzz However, Walbrook went on to one of the great roles in one of the greatest films, also about cultured music, "The Red Shoes."

[baghend]

@snoozzz Still, pretty entertaining stuff, given the time.

try not to be too jaded- just look at what passes for entertainment today.

And we can always enjoy beautiful music.

-Bill in Canada

[baghend]

@snoozzz gee- compared to so much of the crap that passes for film today (not all, mind you) this is brilliant- wonderful story, memorable music, decent acting, all against a background of the most horrific struggle the world has ever seen.

Still a classic to me.

There were other stories, other dramas and tragedies , and other hero's and villains- and, unlike the States, most of Europe was devastated.

Do we ever learn?

-Bill

[GuinnevereB]

@guggle86 , Oh, I don't knock it, truly. I really do love old movies. But some of the cinematic conventions of the day (heroine always looks like she just stepped out of makeup and wardrobe, even during an air raid; hero gets amnesia and forgets his wife and his music, only to have a dramatic, instantaneous recovery) are funny from the perspective of nearly seventy years later...I'd still like to see the full movie again, too. I might just buy it as well.

[mf2101]

And she lights his cigarette...the art of understatement.

[GuinnevereB]

Aw, phooey! It ends just as he's getting ready to Kiss the Girl.

Still it's very romantic, even if it's totally unlikely that a beautiful American girl (with an English accent) would just be walking through Warsaw during an air raid, her hair and make-up perfect and her nerves unruffled, and then...what's that? she hears a piano being played by a handsome, aristocratic-looking Polish fighter pilot (with an Austrian accent), in the wreckage of a luxurious room.

*Sigh* I love old movies...

[thevangris]

It's not perfect, but i really like this scene

[cali0804]

in case no one knew, DMX sampled this song for his single, "What's My Name"

[Darkbluetest]

About the driving scenes of the 40s, I agree that few ones are a bit exaggerated, but have you ever driven a 40s car? I did several times, they had a hysteresis that asked to move steering wheel much more than today to keep a straight line, moreover if you had the chance to talk to somebody from that time they'd confirm some driving habits, as moving the steering wheel even if it was not so needed. Of course, I agree to some extend, in few movies it was bad reproduced or exaggerated.

[Darkbluetest]

More than hysteresis (it is not the best word), I meant the the reductor between steering wheel and wheels. Little corrections asked for bigger steering wheel turns.

[DeLorean4]

I've had the privilege of driving a car from the 1960s with suspension designed in the 1950s and I agree with what you have to say despite my last comment. Although, I still stand by what I wrote about not looking at the road.

[magos369]

And it's so obvious he is not playing the piano.

[DeLorean4]

It's as ridiculously fake as driving scenes from the 1940s. The driver not looking at where he's going, holding a conversation and moving the steering wheel left and right the whole time despite supposedly driving in a straight line.

[magos369]

I've never seen the movie, but it's always been one of my favorite pieces of music. I was born in 1940, so I heard it early.

[dan1911a]

Its a shame that Sally Gray is almost totally forgotten now, she suffered a break down after this film & this was her last film until after the war. She was a gifted actress & one of the great beauties of the British cinema.

[peedream]

Yes, that's true. I live in the house where Addinsell lived although I didin't know that untill recently..

[manbrighton]

Did you all know that Rachmaninov was actually asked to write music for this film and as he turned down the request Richard Addinsell was invited. At one point a reworking of Paganini Rhap. was considered! I suppose the reason for the Rachmaninov style of the Warsaw Concerto is explained this way.

[permea]

beauty scene!

[tophoca]

...and lets not forget the name of the actual pianist featured on the 78 issue of this concerto. Louis Kentner.

[omybeethoven]

This is amazing and you helped me find the song who the Four Aces made into lyrics. Thanks

[canman5060]

This Warsaw Concerto was modelled after Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto. During the war years the use of classical music in films were subject to heavy censorship and restriction.The British Composer Richard Addinsel used the style of Rachmaninoff and wrote this Warsaw Concerto.

[racingrubberbiker]

A bit over-stated I think, except for possibly Wagner. In any case, most British films of the forties had very little "classical" music in the anyway.

[lyricatonality]

"Most British movies of the forties had very little "classical' music... I'm not at all sure about that statement; one GREAT and notable exception, in any event, is

"BRIEF ENCOUNTER." The score is drawn almost exclusively from the second piano concerto of Rachmaninov.

Check it out!

[tjfreak]

How would you rate Warsaw Concerto, played by the Boston pops ,conducted by Arthur Fiedler ,the version on the 1965 best of.

[gertrudewhite]

So the music was actually written for this movie? That's cool! I've always loved this song!

[twittykins]

For anyone living in the UK, Dangerous Moonlight (1941) will be on BBC 2 at 10:20am on the 30/12/2008.

[snoozzz]

TIVO or DVR anybody?

[twittykins]

Ah, the perils of getting rid of VCR's. If you keep them, then you can transfer the recordings to your PVR/DVR. Takes a lot of time I know, but at least this way I can record two channels at once.

[eorlandopalmieri]

este concerto é lindo

[ratmaaan]

"A great movie but do you feel that Addinsell's music has dwarfed the actual film itself over the decades? Anyway, Anton could have done with just a little more tuition into arm, shoulder positioning whilst miming playing this scene."

Actually, the illmannered git could have gotten up when a lady enters the room.

And put his fag out

[toobyu2859]

I wonder if the movie "The Pianist" was partially inspired by this movie.

[Myself0101]

ah the 'bloody awful warsaw concerto' as spike milligan would put it

[TonyonPiano]

A great movie but do you feel that Addinsell's music has dwarfed the actual film itself over the decades? Anyway, Anton could have done with just a little more tuition into arm, shoulder positioning whilst miming playing this scene. But no criticism implied. Addinsell worked with famous comedienne Joyce Grenfell for years. He was a terrific pianist and talent. Died 1977 aged about 73 I think. I used to play this 35 years ago for ballet girls! Thanks - nice clip.

[jonnyrock26]

hi just wondering where i could get this film from, ive been trying to get hold of it for some time now, for a very old lady i know, can you help?? thanks, jon

[riversidefan2]

I have a copy I could share if you pay the shipping

[jonnyrock26]

yes no problem if thats ok with you, i would be really greatfull thanks

[riversidefan2]

Did you get the DVD I sent to you, early Sept. 08?

[GlennLT1824]

@riversidefan2 I know two years have gone by since you posted this, but if you still have a copy available, i'd also be willing to pay shipping. i play the solo version (piano) and would LOVE to see the whole film. it's NOT available on Amazon currently. Thanks. glenn

[riversidefan2]

@GlennLT1824 Be sure are looking up the correct title. Where are you located, currently I see 11 copies of the film called "Dangerous Moonlight", that is the 1941 British film that introduces the "Warsaw Concerto". In Britain it is called "Suicide Squadron", but I don't see it listed under that title on Amazon. Hope this helps.

[GlennLT1824]

@riversidefan2 I've looked on Amazon.com under both Dangerous Moonlight and Suicide Squadron and both of those go to one link and it is the right movie and they are "currently unavailable" through amazon.com. i'm located in Massachusetts. if you would be so kind as to indicate where you see 11 copies availabe, i'll happily go there myself. thank you. glenn

[jkircher314]

How wonderful! Thanks so much for posting this. When I was a small child the Warsaw Concerto was one of my favorite pieces of music - I have never seen the film it came from.

Walbrook is a great actor. He was sensational in The Queen of Spades, and of course, The Red Shoes.

[helmsdeep84]

Smoking, playing the Warsaw concerto with no effort while talking to a beautiful woman....hahaha...you've got to love old movies, we don't see this kind now a days...lol

[joelpdupuis]

@helmsdeep84 That's entertainement !

[snoozzz]

Glad you enjoyed it. It's a clip from a VHS of the movie that I've had for many years. The movie is a favorite of mine - though honestly, this is the best scene.

[nickcage63]

LOL

[jadore7]

Thank you for posting this. It means more to me than you could possibly understand. x

[BytomGirl]

jadore7, I feel the same. I gew up in Poland and saw Warsaw still in ruins when I was a small child, I watched it rebuild and become beautiful again.

[greeneyesmexico]

thxs for posting this.. the music is beautiful !!! I am trying to find the Liberace version !!! Good luck and Happy New Year.

[chopinlover49]

This is a movie I would love to own if I could just find it. Addinsell was a great English composer, famous for his music for A Christmas Carol (A. Sim version) and this number, among others. At first the studio wanted the Rachmaninoff #2 but had no time to make contractual arrangements with Rach. so they hired Addinsell. It has been a hit ever since.

[dukeofharuson]

Hmnnn. I just happen to have a copy! My father was one of the actors and my grandfather administered the free Polish Squadrons attached to the RAF during the war (on account of our Polish lineage). Drop me a private email if you are interested.