Musical prodigy

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

It must have been back in the 1970s when I saw the film on TV; all I remember is that it was probably set in Austria, was probably made in the early 1940s and concerned a young boy pianist (around 10 or 11 years of age)who concluded the film by performing the last movement of Mozart's 27th piano concerto,K.595. I don't know if the film was British or American.

Please forgive the lousy pun when I ask if my brief description strikes any chords with someone else.

[Wilfried Mueller]

Hi,

prob. Whom the Gods Love (1936)(UK), the american version is from 1940. Its a film about the life of Mozart.

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

</div><div class='quotemain'>Wilfried Mueller:

Hi,

prob. Whom the Gods Love (1936)(UK), the american version is from 1940. Its a film about the life of Mozart. [/b]

Thanks for the suggestion, Wilfried; what I neglected to say, however,was that the setting was definitely a 20th century one - not a periwig in sight!

By the way, don't you look like me?!

[Steve Crook]

Could it be Prelude to Fame (1950) with Kathleen Byron pushes a young musical prodigy (Jeremy Spenser) almost to breaking point?



Steve

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

</div><div class='quotemain'>SteveCrook:

Could it be Prelude to Fame (1950) with Kathleen Byron pushes a young musical prodigy (Jeremy Spenser) almost to breaking point?



Steve [/b]

Oh dear, no; that sounds much too fraught!

The film I saw was definitely "U" certificate material and the little chap with the flying fingers I seem to remember was quite chubby and fair - not at all like Jeremy Spenser. (Prelude to Fame sounds quite good, though. Could it have been a spin-off of the popular "The Seventh Veil" in which Ann Todd is bullied into becoming a concert-pianist by ruthless martinet James Mason?)

[Jim]

</div><div class='quotemain'>SteveCrook:

Could it be Prelude to Fame (1950) with Kathleen Byron pushes a young musical prodigy (Jeremy Spenser) almost to breaking point?



Steve [/b]

By the by - what happened to Jeremy Spenser?

[Hackett]

Well he married a woman who had a few bob.

[JamesM]

What about "The Wonder Kid" a 1951 Austrian / UK coproduction starring Bobby Henrey of Fallen Idol fame. The US title being Wonder Boy. It is about a child piano prodigy who gets kidnapped for ransom but in this time learns of his unscrupulous manager's plans to become his legal guardian in order to profit financially.

[Jim]

</div><div class='quotemain'>HACKETT:

Well he married a woman who had a few bob. [/b]

I don't blame him. I wish I had! frown

[cornershop15]

Does anyone know what this might be? Wikipedia has a list of Mozart's Piano concertos in films but it only goes back to 1967, with Elvira Madigan. I've also checked the long list of films (750 to date) in which the composer's music appears on the soundtrack and it's not included.

This is what the "the young boy pianist" is supposed to have played in the film:



Mozart Piano Concerto No.27 in B flat major, K595 (1) by Mariaclara Monetti