music movies
List activity
213 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
28 titles
- DirectorAlexander HammidIrving ReisStarsDeems TaylorArtur RubinsteinJan PeerceNoted music commentator Deems Taylor begins this documentary film by stating that many of the great musicians are also great human beings, and in order to allow the public to get to know them and to preserve an enduring record of their artistry, Twentieth Century-Fox, in cooperation with World Artists Productions, has produced an intimate portrait of several great artists. The film then shows famed pianist Artur Rubinstein as he is practicing and recording an album, and comments on his tireless devotion to his art. Mr. Johnstone, a fictional representative of a film company, meets Rubinstein and tells him about the company's intention to produce a series of films called "Personal Record," which would show musicians at work and at home. Rubinstein is reluctant to participate until Johnstone points out how beneficial it would have been if cameras existed in the time of Frédéric Chopin, so that his techniques and greatness could have been captured for all time. Rubinstein invites Johnstone to visit him at home that evening, and there plays several songs for him before showing him a triptych painting that depicts the various phases of his life. As Johnstone leaves, Rubinstein's wife enters his study with their two youngest children, and the pianist treats them to a rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel." Taylor then praises the talents of well-known Metropolitan Opera singers Jan Peerce and Nadine Connor, and the film shows them returning to a concert hall to retrieve a score that Nadine left behind after a performance. When they enter the hall, they find an elderly night watchman listening to one of their records. The man is delighted to meet his idols and explains that he was once a singer, too. Touched by the man's devotion to opera, Jan and Nadine put on a concert just for him, and his imagination vividly supplies their lavish costumes and sets, and a full orchestra to play for them. Taylor then comments on the difficulty of mastering the violin and states that one of the great living masters of the instrument is Jascha Heifetz. Contending that it is not only Heifetz' technical skill that makes him a virtuoso, but his humanity, the film shows scenes of Heifetz with his wife and family during his everyday life in California. Heifetz then goes to his self-designed studio to prepare for a concert tour, and, ever alert to the possibility of mistakes, begins practicing with the simplest scales. The violinist also spends many hours pouring over his sheet music in order to prevent playing automatically or incorrectly, and spends long months practicing with his accompanist. During his concert, the audience is moved by his brilliance, and Taylor remembers the advice given to Heifetz by George Bernard Shaw, who stated that such perfection angered the gods and he should play a few wrong notes to appease them. Heifetz' perfect fingering is often too quick for the naked eye to study, so the cameras record him in slow motion, so that his techniques can be studied by future musicians. For the final sequence, Taylor discusses the orchestral conductor, whom the audience never hears, although he brings great music into their lives. As an example, Taylor mentions Dimitri Mitropoulos, one of the premier conductors of the world, who does not use a baton or a printed score. Mitropoulos greets the members of his orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Symphony, the oldest symphony in the United States, as they arrive at Carnegie Hall for a rehearsal. As they rehearse the third movement of Franz Lizst's A Faust Symphony , Mitropoulos urges them to communicate Mephistopholes' emotions more clearly, and when the piccolo sounds before the flute, Mitropoulos, who has the entire score memorized, gently instructs the players. The rehearsal fades to that evening's performance, and a grateful audience enjoys Mitropoulos' dedication to the music and his orchestra.
- DirectorGérard PatrisFrançois ReichenbachStarsArtur RubinsteinEliahu InbalPaul KletzkiAn Oscar winning look at the life of Albert Rubinstein shortly after he turned 70. It contains some home movies of him and his family, but is primarily him talking and demonstrating his great skill as a pianist.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsMarsha HuntWilliam PrinceFrank McHughA mother (Marsha Hunt) wants her son (William Prince) to grow up to be a pianist good enough to play at Carnegie Hall but, when older, the son prefers to play with Vaughn Monroe's orchestra. But Mama's wishes prevail and the son appears at Carnegie Hall as the composer-conductor-pianist of a modern horn concerto, with Harry James as the soloist. Frank McHugh is along as a Carnegie Hall porter and doorman, and Martha O'Driscoll is a singer who provides the love interest for Prince. Throughout the story a brigade of classical music names from the 20th century appear - the conductors Walter Damrosch, Bruno Walter, Artur Rodzinski, Fritz Reiner and Leopold Stokowski; singers Risë Stevens, Lily Pons, Jan Peerce and Ezio Pinza, plus pianist Artur Rubinstein, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and violinist Jascha Heifetz.
- DirectorPeter ManiuraStarsStephen BoxerTeresa ChylinskaKrzysztof KalczynskiThe life of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski is portrayed and his works performed and evaluated by historians, composers and friends.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsDana AndrewsMerle OberonEthel BarrymoreWhen a beautiful socialite falls in love with an embittered composer who is blind, she feigns blindness herself in order to get closer to him.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDennis MorganAndrea KingArlene DahlThe life of Irish tenor Chauncey Olcott is chronicled from his childhood to his days as the toast of New York. In between, his rise to the top is complicated by romances with two women: his true love Rose Donovan and stage star Lillian Russell, who wants to make him a star.
- CreatorSheldon EppsStarsScott YooJulie AndrewsPlácido DomingoFilmed and televised versions of theater productions, such as plays, musicals, operas, ballets, and concerts from around the world.
- CreatorJohn AylesworthFrank PeppiattStarsRoy ClarkGunilla HuttonBuck OwensTelevised comedy/variety show with a country bent.
- StarsJohn HeilemannTim NaftaliRobert DallekInterviews and archival footage focusing on the politics, music, technical advancements, drugs and the "free love" movement of the 1960s.
- StarsBoy GeorgeGraham CoxonAndrew Loog OldhamThis series tells the story of British pop music through the prism of related art forms, revealing how imagery defined the medium, the phenomenal influence of art schools, the scene's love affair with fashion and the pivotal role of the star-makers and svengalis who invented the rules of the modern music industry as they went along. London Calling cracks the creative code underpinning the global ascent of British pop, to reveal the players that created brand Britannia.
- DirectorSam Taylor-JohnsonStarsAaron Taylor-JohnsonKristin Scott ThomasAnne-Marie DuffA chronicle of John Lennon's first years, focused mainly in his adolescence and his relationship with his stern aunt Mimi, who raised him, and his absentee mother Julia, who re-entered his life at a crucial moment in his young life.
- DirectorAnton CorbijnStarsSam RileySamantha MortonCraig ParkinsonA profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to die by suicide at the age of 23.
- DirectorBill D'EliaStarsMichele LeeChet AtkinsDavid James ElliottThe story of the life of country-music legend Dottie West.
- DirectorAlan RudolphStarsWillie NelsonKris KristoffersonMelinda DillonDoc Jenkins is a country music star who's become fed up with the industry. With some help from an old friend he attempts to right some wrongs and get back at the ruthless promoter who's swindled him.
- DirectorJerry SchatzbergStarsWillie NelsonDyan CannonAmy IrvingBuck is a country singer on the road caught in a romantic triangle with Viv and Lily, the daughter of his longtime musical sidekick.
- DirectorJoel OlianskyStarsRichard DreyfussAmy IrvingLee RemickPaul Dietrich, at almost 30 years old, is a fading piano prodigy. Heidi Schoonover is a talented young pianist with a promising future. When Paul hears of an upcoming competition that could make his career, he dedicates himself to winning.
- DirectorRandall MillerStarsAlan RickmanMalin AkermanJustin BarthaA look at the New York City punk-rock scene and the venerable nightclub, CBGB.
- DirectorBradley KaplanAlbert MayslesStarsRusty AndersonBackstreet BoysJon Bon JoviIn the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, Paul McCartney travels through the streets of New York and organizes a benefit concert.
- DirectorDavid LelandStarsJoe BrownEric ClaptonJools HollandGeorge Harrison's friends, family, and bandmates unite for a tribute concert on the one-year anniversary of his death.
- DirectorJack PriestleyStarsPaul McCartneyLinda McCartneyDenny LaineIn 1975 and 1976 Paul McCartney and Wings undertook the epic Wings over the World tour, the largest scale tour they would ever undertake as a band. From this tour came both the legendary "Wings over America" triple live album and the concert film "Rockshow". Although filmed on this tour at the enormous Kingdome in Seattle, "Rockshow", originally a cut down version of the concert, was not premiered until November 1980 in New York and April 1981 in London. It was released on Betamax and later on laserdisc. Now for the first time the complete full length concert is being made available fully restored from the original 35mm film and with restored & remastered sound, including a 5.1 mix for the first time. This is Paul McCartney and Wings live on stage in a concert that is destined to live forever!
- DirectorAllison AndersStarsIlleana DouglasJohn TurturroSissy BoydEdna wins a recording contract singing her own song at a competition in 1958. After trying to make it as a singer/songwriter for 11 months in NYC, she has success writing songs for others at the Brill Building.
- DirectorJack PriestleyStarsPaul McCartneyLinda McCartneyDenny LaineTV special featuring footage filmed throughout Wings' tour of 1975/76, following the band in England, Australia and America. It contains live concert performances featuring 15 of Wings' greatest hits and home movies of the McCartney family.
- The life story of legendary singer and actor, Frank Sinatra.
- CreatorRich CohenMick JaggerMartin ScorseseStarsBobby CannavalePaul Ben-VictorP.J. ByrneRichie Finestra, a shrewd record executive from New York, tries to promote American Century, his music label, amidst the changing music scene in the 1970s.
- DirectorSara SugarmanStarsPhil DanielsJamie BlackleyPerry BensonAging rock group use a young fresh faced punk band to front new recordings to fool the music industry.
- DirectorWolfgang BüldStarsGaye AdvertJack AirportArturo BassickA contemporary documentary covering the Great British punk rock explosion of 1977.