Film: Humoresque.
Starring: Joan Crawford as Mrs. Helen Wright and John Garfield as Paul Boray.
Directed by: Jean Negulesco.
Story written by: Fannie Hurst "Humoresque" (novel)
Screenplay & Dialogues written by: Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold.
Distributed by: © Warner Bros.
Theatrical Release Date: 25 December 1946 (USA)
Niceties by: http://www.youtube.com/IAmOnlyLove
Synopsis!
"Humoresque" is a 1946 Warner Bros. feature film starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield in an older woman/younger man tale about a violinist and his patroness. The screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold was based upon a novel by Fannie Hurst. Humoresque was directed by Jean Negulesco and produced by Jerry Wald.
Plot!
In New York City a performance by noted violinist Paul Boray (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 as he has lived with it for too long. To the more sympathetic Sid Jeffers (Oscar Levant) he says he has always wanted to do the right thing, but has always been outside of himself looking in. He cannot get back to the 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. Carroll 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 him.
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 resolved 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 (Crawford), a patroness in a loveless marriage with an ineffectual aging husband Victor (Paul Cavanaugh), 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 his mother is now suspicious. 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 Wright's 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, 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-term sweetheart. Esther had earlier overheard Victor's putdown of Paul as a "savage" after a concert.
After a tour across America taking several months, he has lunch with Gina. Sid arrives with Helen, who is immediately jealous of Gina, but Helen leaves in a hurry and Paul follows her; Gina cries. 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 had never called her, even when close to New York. Paul points out her married status, but Helen urges him to let her become more involved in his career; she is jealous of Gina's musician status.
During the daytime, at his new apartment containing numerous photographs of Helen, he confesses his love for her to his mother. Later, at night in the Wright's home, disquieted by rumours he has heard, Victor asks his wife for a divorce. He is suspicuious 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/singer performing "Embraceable You". Paul arrives to take her home, but in reality to an impromptu conference. This time, it is Helen who is cool; she repeatedly does not really hear his stated wish to marry her.
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4:13
Joan Crawford Humoresque 1946 - Toxicby cocktail4luv12944,100 views
John Garfield & Joan Crawford--excellent!
1122DLAN 1 month ago
The music is great as well !
?;^)
L4sleeko 4 months ago
One of the most emotional movies ever....WOW!
loserexb 6 months ago
Beautiful film. . . I long to see it one day ~ May someone upload it on Youtube?
Silverbolt100 7 months ago
Have not seen this movie since 1946..I hope I get to see it again ..I loved it so much
patofglory 8 months ago
This a copy from the 1920 silent film. Not a fan of this one.
plupi0609 8 months ago
@toothbrush55 The scene in this trailer at 1:13 is not on the DVD. I just spooled through it a couple of times. I even did not find ANY scene in which Joan wears this same combination of clothing and jewellery. There is often footage in trailers that never made it to the final theatrical version; sometimes discarded, sometimes re-shot or re-wrtten. It is interesting to spot it. I didn't see anything else in this trailer that was not in the cut of the movie on the DVD.
MiscellaneousBytes 1 year ago
@MiscellaneousBytes Also, the scene of them kissing on the couch is not on the version I downloaded, is it included in the dvd?
toothbrush55 1 year ago
@83survivor
I am not familiar with the TCM version, but I am sure both those scenes appear on the Warner DVD.
MiscellaneousBytes 1 year ago
Personally, I think Garfield was miscast, although he was a terrific actor; hard to believe him as a violinist, or sensative lover.
njdriver622 2 years ago