# Carnegie Hall 1947



## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I ordered the Bel Canto Society's DVD of Ulmer's "Carnegie Hall" and I was happy with it, so I thought I'd let folks here know...

https://www.belcantosociety.org/store/video/vhsvideo/carnegie-hall-dvd-vhs/

If you haven't seen it, the film is a melodramatic pot boiler, but it's built around extended segments of some of the greatest musicians of the 40s performing live... Rubinstein, Bruno Walter, Heifetz, Jan Peerce, Lilly Pons, Rodzinski, Rise Stevens, Stokowski, Patigorsky, Fritz Reiner, etc. The good news is that the Bel Canto disc is uncut and complete with the Rise Stevens, Bruno Walter and Lilly Pons segments that are edited out of the versions on all other DVD labels. The print quality is good, although the Bruno Walter Meistersinger prelude appears to come from a 16mm print. Electrifying stuff! I showed this to a 20 something friend of mine who has never listened to classical music and he was engaged with the film throughout the 2 hour 24 minute running time. He was particularly impressed with Rubinstein.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Saw it, many years ago. What are the odds that a current Movie Producer would think that including extended segments of todays top Classical Performers would help a movie's bottom line?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

How great that time must have been .


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

The Bel Canto DVD is the correct choice, by the way. Most releases of this film on other labels are missing from half an hour to 45 minutes of the running time---and most of that is musical performances, usually!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

gardibolt said:


> The Bel Canto DVD is the correct choice, by the way. Most releases of this film on other labels are missing from half an hour to 45 minutes of the running time---and most of that is musical performances, usually!


Thanks for the valued info, going to order now.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I had never seen the Bruno Walter segment before getting this DVD.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Painfully bad movie, but great music, obviously. My father grew up going to Carnegie Hall concerts by most if not all of those featured. I have some of the old programs.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

It's more music than movie though when you see the unedited version.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

fluteman said:


> Painfully bad movie, but great music, obviously. My father grew up going to Carnegie Hall concerts by most if not all of those featured. I have some of the old programs.


Why painfully bad if I may ask?


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Pugg said:


> Why painfully bad if I may ask?


Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh, but from a dramatic standpoint the movie is a little more than an excuse to feature some great musicians, imo. It is not remotely in the same league as One Hundred Men And A Girl, for example, which starred the late great Deanna Durbin and featured Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. There have been a number of great movies with a classical music theme, most recently A Late Quartet from 2012, which featured the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, another great actor, who imo gave as convincing a rendition of a classical musician as I've ever seen from someone who isn't actually one.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

That really doesn't bother me, because I bought it for the extended musical scenes, not for the movie. In fact, I might just rip it and edit it down to just the music. It would still come out as a full feature length film if I did that. There's much more music than movie.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

bigshot said:


> That really doesn't bother me, because I bought it for the extended musical scenes, not for the movie. In fact, I might just rip it and edit it down to just the music. It would still come out as a full feature length film if I did that. There's much more music than movie.


Understood. It's certainly worthwhile in terms of musical and historical significance.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

fluteman said:


> Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh, but from a dramatic standpoint the movie is a little more than an excuse to feature some great musicians, imo. It is not remotely in the same league as One Hundred Men And A Girl, for example, which starred the late great Deanna Durbin and featured Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. There have been a number of great movies with a classical music theme, most recently A Late Quartet from 2012, which featured the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, another great actor, who imo gave as convincing a rendition of a classical musician as I've ever seen from someone who isn't actually one.


It's on his way, let you know how feel about it later t


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## adriatikfan (Jul 9, 2016)

Thankyou to the OP for the heads-up on this. 

Just ordered. Am looking forward to this.

Best Wishes,
David


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## adriatikfan (Jul 9, 2016)

What brilliant service from Bel Canto.

Ordered last Saturday (20th August) arrived here in the UK today (Friday 26th).

My weekend listening/watching now organised for me.

Best Wishes,
David


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

adriatikfan said:


> What brilliant service from Bel Canto.
> 
> Ordered last Saturday (20th August) arrived here in the UK today (Friday 26th).
> 
> ...


I did buy one at Amazon, DVD was damaged, so send return, order a new one and now still waiting.


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