Tyrone Power's performance heads a competent cast in a fanciful bio of the famed pianist. Power is hard working, as is Kim Novak and the other cast members. Alas, they cannot overcome a slick and quite stock Hollywood bio. The script is formula-created and rings of contrivance. The sound track is fine, as are the production values. Results: a slightly below average total effort.

Biographical melodrama traces bandleader Eddy Duchin's life from his meager beginnings as a struggling pianist to his years as a highly successful radio and nightclub personality. Director George Sidney underlines all of Duchin's ups-and-downs with the usual lumbering heaviness. The picture is soapy Hollywood schmaltz which fails to escape superficiality (and a few howlers in the screenplay). There are some strong dramatic scenes near the end, and Tyrone Power fares well in the lead (his piano-playing was dubbed by Carmen Cavallaro). Supporting players Kim Novak and Victoria Shaw aren't so lucky. Lots of studio gloss, yet film is mostly painted cardboard. ** from ****

This is a story of a man, his music and the era when he achieved his greatest success. What we get is a lackluster movie, purportedly, the biography of pianist and bandleader Eddie Duchin whose heyday was the 1930s. Duchin was primarily a "society" favorite—his piano style and manner appealing to the upper crust patrons who were habitués of the swank venues in which he performed. Yet, the most glaring deficiency of this film is its failure to re-create the cultural energy and social vibrancy of 1930s New York City. No attempt has been made to credibly resurrect or even provide the viewer with a reasonable facsimile of the world that was Eddy Duchin's milieu. In essence, the art production is totally inept, the costumes, make-up and hair styling barely referencing the time period. Kim Novak is particularly inauthentic in both appearance and character portrayal. She couldn't get me to buy into the belief that she was the celebrity debutante and heiress, Marjorie Oelrichs. Novak's short, blonde, severe helmet hairdo is completely identifiable as her familiar 1950s screen look, seen over time in numerous films in which she appeared. Tyrone Power, as Eddy Duchin, looks weary, and he and Novak as a pair of young, madcap lovers, just don't mesh. The musical performances may be the only entertaining element in this movie, yet they can barely sustain interest in the storyline. Here we have, yet again, a film representing what movie makers were putting out in an attempt to lure the public away from their TV screens: pure 1950s Hollywood schlock.

The "Eddy Duchin Story" is a great film because it tells the story of a great piano player from the 20's and 30's and how he became a very high classed entertainer for the very rich in New York. Tyrone Power(Eddy Duchin),"Prince of Foxes",'49 gave a wonderful performance as Eddy and helped increase a better understanding of his music among young people in the 50's after he had passed away. Kim Novak(Marjorie Oelrichs),"The Man With The Golden Arm",'55, was attracted to Eddy and his style of playing piano at the "Tavern on the Green" in New York's Central Park. In some ways, Marjorie helped Eddy rise to fame and fortune and also was very cruel to him in her own way. Eddy Duchin, in real life, had a son who followed in his father's footsteps playing piano just like this dad and became very famous among the very rich circles of Manhattan and the United States. He was adopted by a former Governor of New York, the Harriman family. This is a great love story, and Tyrone Power & Kim Novak made this a great Classic Film!

TYRONE POWER does a remarkably convincing job at the keyboard and the camera seems to linger on his dexterity at the piano (on a dummy keyboard, of course) while the magic of Carmen Cavallaro takes over on the soundtrack. He's excellent as the brash and overly eager young piano player who eventually makes bigtime as a popular pianist, marries and loses his sweetheart, KIM NOVAK, with whom he has a young son who at first resents him after Power's desertion, then reunites before Duchin's untimely death from leukemia. That's the plot, in a nutshell, but it's the sparkling music that counts. The richly textured Technicolor photography of Manhattan and its settings evoke the time and period perfectly. I found KIM NOVAK's performance artificial and disturbingly unreal--as though she were affecting a series of poses--while Power is completely natural and appealing opposite her. Novak's performance here is a far cry from her work as Madge in PICNIC. The mood of the film becomes somber after her death and Power's decision to leave the country on tour, leaving his baby son behind. The conflict between Duchin and his son is what has to be resolved before the story ends. The handsome production values are all enhanced by the constant use of Duchin's music, either in the background or with him at the keyboard and these qualities make it one of the most enjoyable musical biographies I've seen in a long time. The film won four Oscar nominations and Power deserved to be included, but was not.

I started watching this movie for only two reasons: Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. I wasn't expecting much, the Hollywood bios in the 50s were never all that great, but I was shocked when I realized I'd been watching the film for an hour and was totally hooked! Although it seems like it couldn't help being slow, (the film covers Duchin's life from the mid 30s to the early 50s), the movie is actually very well paced. The script itself is a challenge. It is either good and not original in some places, or original and not good in others. But somehow it balances out in the end. Kim Novak looks ravishing, but the part she took is cut thin, and I think she could have found a better part in 1956. However, Tyrone hands in one of his best performances. The beginning of the film is not the best part, he is obviously far from a college student age, and he looks it. But later on, when he's struggling to make friends with his son, he's wonderful! As the film progresses, he just looks better and better, perhaps it's because Power never was the jumpy college type, he was always suave. The second part of this movie gives him a chance to be that. It is, rather surprisingly, a worthwhile film - totally satisfying at the end.

I don't remember Eddy Duchin, but I remember his son, Peter. When I was a kid, their style of pop still retained some popularity. Tyrone Power Jr might have been a pretty face, but he was rarely (if ever) accused of being a poor actor. You'd never know it from this film. When he gets angry or upset, he so overdoes it that you can't believe the director didn't ask him to tone it down. Tyrone Power Sr gave an even worse performance in "The Big Trail". I would like to think Jr was trying to carry on the tradition, to make up for his dad not having completed a second sound film. (He died of a heart attack on the set of "The Miracle Man" in 1931.) "The Eddy Duchin Story" is so emotionally overwrought that it's hard to keep a straight face. As they say, "There's a not a wet eye in the house."

This is a moving and entertaining film with fine performances throughout. However, I strongly feel that the real star of this film is the piano artistry of Carmen Cavallero. The sound track album of this film sold over a million copies and most experts concede that Eddy Duchin was not in the same class as Cavallero, the Poet of the Piano. If you listen to the recordings of Duchin and Cavallero, the former pales in comparison. Liberace once remarked, "I copied everything from Carmen except my rings." I never tire of hearing the soundtrack versions of "I'll Take Manhattan," "You're My Everything" and "I'll Take Romance." In watching this film, the scenes are often eclipsed by the sounds of a true piano virtuoso.

Before I get to the film itself, I want to stand on my soapbox for a moment. I have always hated it when Hollywood played fast and loose with facts in order to create a good story. In other words, when "true stories" turn out to be mostly schmaltz and fiction, the history teacher within me goes bananas! Some good examples are NIGHT AND DAY (which bears little semblance to the life of Cole Porter) and POCAHONTAS (which is so chock full of errors I don't even know where to start!). While the films are entertaining, they teach bad history and over-glamorize people--turning them into caricatures of themselves. Because THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY is essentially a work of fiction, I couldn't get that excited about the movie. It was sort of like the opposite of Joe Friday's old motto "The story you are about to see is true, only the names were changed to protect the innocent". Here, however, the names are the same but everything else, to a degree, has been changed. Sadly, when I searched the web for more information about the real life Duchin, I was usually referred to this film--though most sources also said that the film is a fictionalized account! Now, as a work of fiction, the film has its pluses and minuses. First let's talk about the good. I really liked the music--even though I generally don't care all that much for music of this era. Older big band songs were set to a style that were somewhat like subdued Liberace arrangements--but without THAT much improvisation. The acting was also very good and Power's performance had a bit more depth than usual plus he did a good job of pretending to play the piano well. Also, some of the schmaltz worked well--particularly at the end. Now for what was bad. The film all too often was filled with overly sentimental hooey. The death scene with his first wife (played by Kim Novak) was silly. The woman is supposed to be dying following giving birth, but she looks just fine. I am almost surprised that they didn't have the sky open up when she died--in a scene reminiscent of a Biblical epic. It was simply WAAAYY overdone. Also, all the foreshadowing leading up to it (with the silly talk about storms) was just silly and telegraphed the action way too much. Also, while I did like the music, I also thought that several of the songs could have been cut to speed up the action a bit. So, if you like schmaltzy tear-jerkers NOT based on reality, try watching the film...or THE SOUND OF MUSIC (which, I must admit, I still love despite its many, many liberties with the truth) or any one of a number of other very entertaining but historically silly films. As for me, I'd much rather see a film based on the real Duchin--that would have been much more satisfying in the end.

I saw this movie when I was 11 years old in 1959. Although, over the years, I was hooked by the songs in the movie and bought the record and tape to listen to in my adult life, I saw the the movie again last month and it brought a real new meaning of the life of Eddie Duchin. I was seeing the movie as an adult, not as a kid. Tyrone Power, who I have admired for years, play the part of Duchin real well. His portrayal as a father trying to reach to his son was touching and realistic. Kim Novack was very good in her part as his wife. The songs especially Chopin's E flat major and Manhattan were very well played by Carmen Cavallaro. Cavallaro is a favorite artiste of mine. He plays superbly and brings out the flavor of the songs. This movie is a classic and should be highly recommended.