Bernard Knowles was not alone in being a far better cinematographer than he was a director and was eventually banished to the small screen.
This romanticised biopic of genius Nicolo Paganini from dear old Gainborough Pictures begins very well and has some nice comic touches. One of the most delightful scenes involves the Paganini of Stewart Granger playing by sight an almost impossible piece by the Fazzini of Felix Aylmer and being given a Stradivarius as a reward. Granger utters the immortal line "I played that last phrase atrociously." Somewhere along the line alas the film goes horribly wrong and becomes, to use the current patois, 'clunky'.
The weak link I fear is Phyllis Calvert. She is not entirely to blame as she has been lumbered with playing yet another 'nice' person. She herself said that it is more difficult to play 'good' than 'bad' and in this she does not succeed. Stewart Granger admitted in his autobiography that he and Miss Calvert managed to hide on screen the fact that they simply did not get on. Their lack of chemistry in the farewell scene of this film is all too obvious. Her scenes with Dennis Price also fail to convince. He is simply too 'camp' and is as miscast as an officer of Napoleon as he was to be as 'Bad Lord Byron'. Cecil Parker as Paganini's roguish manager Germi (fictional) effortlessly steals all of his scenes. One of the few non-fictional characters is Antonia Bianchi who is not a very good singer but has other attributes. Jean Kent is delightful in the role. As for Mr. Granger he does extremely well given the material whilst his stance, bowing and fingering are excellent following three months of tutoring. He has star quality in spades.
Paganini's music and that of Beethoven and Tartini, is played by Yehudi Menuhin. Ironically, many years later, one of his devotees said "Oh, maestro, you play just like Paganini." To which Menuhin replied "Have you ever heard Paganini?"
There are some good scenes but the film's weaknesses outweigh its strengths. It is simply too 'English' for its own good and lacks passion.
Regarding the passion, subsequent films have gone to the other extreme and shown Paganini to be as much a virtuoso in the boudoir as on the violin. How well cross-over violinist David Garrett or egomaniacal Klaus Kinski have served the genius of Paganini is a moot point. Let us just be grateful that he escaped the clutches of Ken Russell!
This romanticised biopic of genius Nicolo Paganini from dear old Gainborough Pictures begins very well and has some nice comic touches. One of the most delightful scenes involves the Paganini of Stewart Granger playing by sight an almost impossible piece by the Fazzini of Felix Aylmer and being given a Stradivarius as a reward. Granger utters the immortal line "I played that last phrase atrociously." Somewhere along the line alas the film goes horribly wrong and becomes, to use the current patois, 'clunky'.
The weak link I fear is Phyllis Calvert. She is not entirely to blame as she has been lumbered with playing yet another 'nice' person. She herself said that it is more difficult to play 'good' than 'bad' and in this she does not succeed. Stewart Granger admitted in his autobiography that he and Miss Calvert managed to hide on screen the fact that they simply did not get on. Their lack of chemistry in the farewell scene of this film is all too obvious. Her scenes with Dennis Price also fail to convince. He is simply too 'camp' and is as miscast as an officer of Napoleon as he was to be as 'Bad Lord Byron'. Cecil Parker as Paganini's roguish manager Germi (fictional) effortlessly steals all of his scenes. One of the few non-fictional characters is Antonia Bianchi who is not a very good singer but has other attributes. Jean Kent is delightful in the role. As for Mr. Granger he does extremely well given the material whilst his stance, bowing and fingering are excellent following three months of tutoring. He has star quality in spades.
Paganini's music and that of Beethoven and Tartini, is played by Yehudi Menuhin. Ironically, many years later, one of his devotees said "Oh, maestro, you play just like Paganini." To which Menuhin replied "Have you ever heard Paganini?"
There are some good scenes but the film's weaknesses outweigh its strengths. It is simply too 'English' for its own good and lacks passion.
Regarding the passion, subsequent films have gone to the other extreme and shown Paganini to be as much a virtuoso in the boudoir as on the violin. How well cross-over violinist David Garrett or egomaniacal Klaus Kinski have served the genius of Paganini is a moot point. Let us just be grateful that he escaped the clutches of Ken Russell!