Adventure in Music is a 1944 American concert film directed by Reginald Le Borg and Ernst Matray. It stars José Iturbi, Emanuel Feuermann, and Mildred Dilling.[2][3]

Adventure in Music
Directed byReginald Le Borg
Ernst Matray
Produced byWalter Lowendahl
Rudolph Polk
StarringJosé Iturbi
Emanuel Feuermann
Mildred Dilling
CinematographyPaul Ivano
Harry Jackson
Walter Lundin
Jackson Rose
Edited byTom Biggart
Harvey Pergament
Richard G. Wray
Distributed byCrystal Films (US)[1]
Monarch Film Corporation (UK)
Release date
  • 1944 (1944)
Running time
62 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film was advertised as the "first concert in film" and featured compositions by several classical artists, including Alexander Borodin, Antonín Dvořák, Frédéric Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The film also featured works by contemporary composers.[4] There are ten compositions in total.[5][6]

Reception

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Showmen's Trade Review wrote that there is no plot, but rather "a collection of musical pieces played as in a concert and caught on celluloid." The review also noted that "only those who are concert devotees will go to see this."[1] Meanwhile, The New York Times wrote that the film "has the static quality of a family album".[5]

Director Reginald LeBorg, in his own retrospective appraisal, dismissed the film as unworthy of serious analysis. Film critic Wheeler Winston Dixon reports that “the film opened in New York to dismissive reviews, and swiftly sank from sight.”[7]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Lewis, Charles E. (May 27, 1944). "Adventure in Music". Showmen's Trade Review. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  2. ^ "Adventure in Music". TCM. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  3. ^ Dixon, 1992 p. 131: Directorial Credits
  4. ^ Wickham, Ina (October 15, 1944). "Catching the Beat in Music World Today". Quad-City Times. p. 30. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "At the Little Carnegie". The New York Times. March 6, 1944. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  6. ^ Dixon, 1992 p. 12: “The film is comprised of three 20-minute musical shorts strung together to give the illusion of a feature presentation…
  7. ^ Dixon, 1992 p. 12: LeBorg informed Dixon in a 1988 interview that the film was “not worth extended discussion.”

References

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