Marsha Hunt is trying to make a classical pianist out of her son in this film, "Carnegie Hall." William Prince plays her grown-up son, who wants to join a popular jazz band, against her wishes. But the plot is secondary to the performances seen here by classical stars of the time. Hightlights (at least to me) include a too short performance by opera singer Rise Stevens, Ezio Pinza's performance, a classical piece conducted Artur Rubenstein, and a violin concerto. Probably only fans of this style of music would watch this and would consider the performances worth "the price of admission" alone. The music aside, the plot is rather flimsy, but Marsha Hunt is very good. Her scene during the violin concerto was very moving. She has never really been given much credit in movies, despite her consistently good performances in her films. William Prince, on the other hand, tends to get a little overboard in his theatrics. The film ends rather abruptly with no real closure, except that one assumes everything is forgiven because of her son playing at Carnegie Hall. While one may find the plot lacking, you can't complain about the outstanding musical performances. This is arguably the best compilation of classical music seen in film. This is pure heaven for classical music lovers, who won't even care about anything else. Marsha Hunt shines as Carnegie Hall lives on through its music!
Review of Carnegie Hall
