Rhapsody (1954)

Sorry, this movie sucks

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The Glenn Miller Story, The Eddy Duchin Story, and Young Chopin are all biopics from the 1950s that show audiences a true story of a famous musician's life. Biopics have always been a popular genre, and in the golden age of musicals, the 1950s produced many true-to-life stories of musicians and singers. Rhapsody is based off of a novel, not real life, so keep that in mind when you watch it.Vittorio Gassman, who made a big splash in the previous year's Glass Ceiling, is placed in the difficult position of having to choose between two passions: the violin and Elizabeth Taylor. Tough decision. In the same Zurich music conservatory, a piano player falls in love with Liz, adding another love triangle to the mix. If you like these types of movies, with lots of classical music in the background and lots of violin and piano playing scenes, you'll probably want to add Rhapsody to your list. It doesn't have the same feel as a biopic, and sometimes the love stories get a little tiresome, but it's not the worst movie to come out of the decade.

This film should be compulsory viewing for all of those of either sex who want to be taken seriously by a talented artist whether a musician, stage, film or television actor, professional sports player and so on. Elizabeth Taylor is quite excellent as the rich, indulged young lady who still thinks that she can be the focal point of her chosen man's world in this case a self obsessed violinist who was still infinitely preferable to so many of her other male co-stars. And his fingering and bowing was quite superb - I only wish that I could have heard the sounds that he actually made and who actually made the beautiful music that forms the solid foundation of what was a thoroughly enjoyable film ? I agree that Louis Calhern as her father was superb - it is a pity that she listened to so little of what he said and in her case beauty was not even skin deep.

No, it's not an excellent movie overall. But it's good, visually beautiful, fun, romantic, and has outstanding music. All three leads: Elizabeth Taylor, John Ericson, and Vittorio Gassman, give very good performances and are the definition of what today we call "eye candy." Some aspects of the plot are actually realistic. You still see women who look to find their identities primarily through their men and expect a man to "make them happy" rather than be responsible for their OWN happiness. And as someone who was more than once involved with an artistic type, a "performer," I can tell you there is some truth in the characters played by Ericson and Gassman. My point: there is melodrama here, but also grains of realism which give the film some substance. And you have to remember, the movie is set in the early 50s. This works as a period piece, displaying culture, styles, values, and gender roles of that time. The instrument-playing which is acted by Gassman and Ericson is outstanding, and you feel like you have the best seat at wonderful performances of classical music, only you did not have to buy a ticket. I did not know who Michael Rabin, the actual violinist, was until I saw this film. Now I am aware he was possibly the greatest violinist of all time. HIS real life story would make an incredible movie! I don't know why Gassman and Ericson did not catch on and become bigger stars in America. Perhaps because this film was not a big hit? John Ericson was in the successful film "Bad Day at Black Rock," but he did not have a sympathetic part so it did not boost his career as a leading man. Too bad,he'd have been a great leading man for many 50s and 60s films. Gassman fortunately did find leading man roles before and after this film, but mostly in Italian films which I don't have access to. There is an absurd "over the top" scene in a café early on, and obviously the film was not shot on location, but even so, if you like 50s films you will enjoy this one, especially if you like classical music and looking at gorgeous hunks and gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor.

RHAPSODY is a typically lush romantic opus from MGM, conceived as a stunning tribute to the 22 year-old ELIZABETH TAYLOR and surrounding her with some melodious classic music from the two men in her life--JOHN ERICSON and VITTORIO GASSMAN.All women should have such romantic woes--torn as she is, between two handsome men with matinée idol looks while she watches on the sidelines dressed in smart outfits by Helen Rose, with sophisticated looks at the camera and everyone else in the cast. She is as poised as a marble statue and just as cold and beautiful.The tale is as wildly improbable as anything Joan Crawford ever did in lush B&W surroundings at Warner Bros. (a la HUMORESQUE), and the story itself is hardly more than routine, presenting Taylor as a spoiled young woman who mistreats men who are too immersed in their careers to notice she's around.But on the plus side, there's that glorious music and some very convincing finger work by Ericson on the piano and Gassman on the violin. They really look as if they're playing their instruments, and both of them are up to the acting demands of their less than dynamic roles.Taylor was certainly one of the most photogenic women who ever stepped before a camera, but it's a pity that her talent (at this stage) is not a match for her fabulous wardrobe and glossy, tremulous close-ups that have her torn between two men without ever ruining her make-up with real tears.Absurd fun, if only for the music and the decent performances, but actually a very routine romantic angle that is a mere trifle against a splendid background of passionate classical pieces.