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Post by marshamae on Nov 12, 2022 14:55:51 GMT
i have always marveled at the smooth wayDonald OConnor took the baton at the end of Singin in the Rain and had such command of the orchestra. His beat looked like the real thing and I had always taken it for his agility and physical cleverness. Turns out Donald was a serious composer who performed his first Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and had more of his work recorded by the Brussels Philharmonic. So his chops as a conductor are not just an actor’s trick. I could not discover whether he actually could play the piano but he handled those scenes very naturally
i wrote this for my thread on Donald OConnor, but thought it should be saved in this thread on conductors and musicians in film.
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Post by marshamae on Nov 12, 2022 15:40:42 GMT
Two that did not get mentioned, Katharine Hepburn as Clara Wieck Schumann in Song of Love. She trained extensively with a piano coach and Artur Rubenstein , who played the soundtrack, coached her on wrist and finger movements. I see a lot of hand positions with cocked wrists and bent fingers. You decide .
The second is Mary Astor in the Great Liar . She plays a selfish concert pianist trying to recapture George Brent from Bette Davis , for once playing a good girl. Astor was in fact an accomplished pianist, but in the film she played a dummy keyboard while a pianist played off stage. Astor had to sync her hands to the soundtrack as it was playing. This is a clip of her playing Tchaikovsky piano concerto number 1. It’s not too hard to fake, but her finger positions are good, her wrists are relaxed , with no silly flourishes
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,519
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Post by spiderwort on Feb 11, 2023 1:58:44 GMT
The Pianist (2002), the true story of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's struggle to survive the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in WW2. Young Man with a Horn (1950), a fictional account of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, well directed by Michael Curtiz with a terrific performance by Kirk Douglas.
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Post by timshelboy on Feb 11, 2023 17:57:29 GMT
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Post by timshelboy on Feb 17, 2023 9:47:42 GMT
BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
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Post by marshamae on Feb 17, 2023 14:45:09 GMT
Oh this goes with the power of love band backing Dick Shawn’s manic solo in The Producers. Those instruments did not even appear to be plugged in.
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