Escape to Happiness
(1939)
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Escape to Happiness
(1939)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Leslie Howard | ... |
Holger
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| Ingrid Bergman | ... |
Anita
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Edna Best | ... |
Margit
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| John Halliday | ... |
Thomas
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Cecil Kellaway | ... |
Charles
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| Enid Bennett | ... |
Greta
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Ann E. Todd | ... |
Ann Marie
(as Ann Todd)
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Douglas Scott | ... |
Eric
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Eleanor Wesselhoeft | ... |
Emma
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Maria Flynn | ... |
Marianne
(as Marie Flynn)
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A concert violinist becomes charmed with his daughter's talented piano teacher. When he invites her to go on tour with him, they make beautiful music away from the concert hall as well. He soon leaves his wife so the two can go off together. Written by Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
A cultured and unfussy weepie. Strong leads from Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman front a strong cast - right down to the excellent Ann Todd as Howard's young daughter.
The story is of a concert violinist who leaves his wife for another woman. Naturally there is quite a bit of music in the film. Great care has been taken to equate the miming with the soundtrack. All the musicians look as if they are really performing, detail typically neglected nowadays. The score itself, despite being the fruit of many hands, is exemplary in its integration with the film: Heinz Provost's titular melody uses the opening phrase of the act 2 love duet of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, showing the long reach of Wagner's fully-integrated musico-dramatic ideas in romantic American film scores more than 50 years after his death.
The final sequences are slightly out of kilter. However mitigating against this lumpen denouement are some wonderful location shots and two outstandingly executed leave-taking sequences as Bergman literally dissolves into the chiaroscuro of the shot. A thoroughly affecting and well-made film. 7/10