Cary Grant as the almost-saintly Dr. Noah (He says his real name is Ludwig, probably in reference to the original German play the film was based on.) Praetorius is similar in character to his angel in "The Bishop's Wife". His line reading is, to my mind, a bit mannered and almost sing-song. But he is always worth watching.
The film is dominated by the Brahms Academic Festival Overture which is almost the only music heard here and it is a bit much for film music. It's also mangled quite a bit and when the triumphant Cary "conducts" it at the end, it remains mangled. Not because of Cary who is only following a preexistent recording. He does it with tremendous enthusiasm but virtually no knowledge of how to conduct except to maintain the conducting patterns. Brahms did not put in a choral finale at the end of the Overture as far as I know, and it's inclusion here is no doubt stirring but hokey. Yes Brahms does quote the Gaudeamus Igitur at the end of the Overture and the sung words are correct as far as I can tell.
The Prof. Elwell character is well played by Hume Cronyn and I wonder if the only non-Brahms music heard, Walter's Prize Song from Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger, is meant to suggest his later victory over Elwell as Walter's is over his opponent Beckmesser. I think there is less doubt about (the uncredited) Margaret Hamilton's informant character Miss Pickett who, at one point, uses her "Wicked Witch" voice to perhaps indicate that Elwell is indulging in a "witch"-hunt as in the Senator McCarthy and other Senatorial hearings of the period.
(It's now 9/6/18 and without going into details, all things that are old are new again. I'm referring, of course, to the Margaret Hamilton segment. I'll say no more!)
Walter Slezak is the Professorial "bull-fiddle" player and his musical credentials are impeccable since his father was the Wagner-tenor Leo Slezak. (who, probably not coincidentally, recorded the "Prize Song"! I'm not sure whose performance is heard here.)
Jeanne Crain as Deborah, Finlay Currie as Shunderson and Sidney Blackmer are all fine but that scene with the miniature trains is, like the whole film, laid on too thick.
The film is dominated by the Brahms Academic Festival Overture which is almost the only music heard here and it is a bit much for film music. It's also mangled quite a bit and when the triumphant Cary "conducts" it at the end, it remains mangled. Not because of Cary who is only following a preexistent recording. He does it with tremendous enthusiasm but virtually no knowledge of how to conduct except to maintain the conducting patterns. Brahms did not put in a choral finale at the end of the Overture as far as I know, and it's inclusion here is no doubt stirring but hokey. Yes Brahms does quote the Gaudeamus Igitur at the end of the Overture and the sung words are correct as far as I can tell.
The Prof. Elwell character is well played by Hume Cronyn and I wonder if the only non-Brahms music heard, Walter's Prize Song from Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger, is meant to suggest his later victory over Elwell as Walter's is over his opponent Beckmesser. I think there is less doubt about (the uncredited) Margaret Hamilton's informant character Miss Pickett who, at one point, uses her "Wicked Witch" voice to perhaps indicate that Elwell is indulging in a "witch"-hunt as in the Senator McCarthy and other Senatorial hearings of the period.
(It's now 9/6/18 and without going into details, all things that are old are new again. I'm referring, of course, to the Margaret Hamilton segment. I'll say no more!)
Walter Slezak is the Professorial "bull-fiddle" player and his musical credentials are impeccable since his father was the Wagner-tenor Leo Slezak. (who, probably not coincidentally, recorded the "Prize Song"! I'm not sure whose performance is heard here.)
Jeanne Crain as Deborah, Finlay Currie as Shunderson and Sidney Blackmer are all fine but that scene with the miniature trains is, like the whole film, laid on too thick.