The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Samuel A. Taylor (screenplay)
Leo Katcher (story)

Release Date:

21 June 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

The life story of the famous pianist and band-leader of the 1930s and 1940s. |

Plot Keywords:

Pianist | Bandleader | Male Female Relationship | Band | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Tyrone Power	...	Eddy Duchin
Kim Novak	...	Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin
Victoria Shaw	...	Chiquita
James Whitmore	...	Lou Sherwood
Rex Thompson	...	Peter Duchin, Age 12
Mickey Maga	...	Peter Duchin, Age 5
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Sherman 'Sherm' Wadsworth
Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Edith 'Edie' Wadsworth
Gloria Holden	...	Mrs. Duchin
Larry Keating	...	Leo Reisman
John Mylong	...	Mr. Duchin
Gregory Gaye	...	Philip
Warren Hsieh	...	Native boy
Richard H. Cutting	...	George, Destroyer Captain (as Richard Cutting)
Carlyle Mitchell	...	Marjorie's Doctor

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #17752) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Central Park Casino, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Both Joan Fontaine and Eva Marie Saint were tested for the role of Marjorie. George Sidney preferred the younger Kim Novak.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: 1950s cars visible in some scenes. The film is set in the 1930s.

Quotes:

Eddy Duchin: What I want to know is why! Why do they have to destroy a man twice? You work and work and just what do you get? Everything, when it gets too good they take it away.
Eddy Duchin: Oh Chiquita, I don't want to die, I don't.

Soundtrack:

Exactly Like You

Predictable... handsome... and sentimental!

With the help of Marjorie Oelrichs (Kim Novak), a charming socialite he has met at New York's Central Park Casino, Eddy Duchin was part of the two piano team featured by Leo Reisman (Larry Keating) Orchestra in the late 1920's..

Duchin's distinctive playing wins him rapid fame... His measured weight of fingering ensured a balance between poetry and purpose... Every sound conceivable was possible in his artistic palette... He played wonderful music... His piano tone itself was gorgeous and versatile... He amazed audiences with his immense vigor, virtuosity and daring technique... He was soon a darling of Marjorie and high society...

His love affair with Marjorie culminates in marriage... but the perfect happiness is short-lived as Marjorie fades away in child-birth on Christmas Eve...

Heartbroken, Duchin declines to accept his baby blaming him for Marjorie's death and turns him over to Marjorie's uncle and aunt to be cared and raised, and embarks an overseas concert tour with his friend & manager, Lou Sherwood (James Whitmore).

During World War II, while serving as Naval Lieutenant Commander in the Pacific, Duchin realizes the futility of his attitude about his son, now ten, but his attempts to reconcile with him failed because of the boy's resentment...

With the help of Chiquita (Victoria Shaw) Peter's pretty nanny, he finally wins his son over and with his ability to charm as well as to thrill audiences, he proves himself as the pianist of sentiment par excellence... Nothing equaled the lightness & sweetness of his preluding on the piano...

But tragedy once again overtakes Duchin's daisy fingers as he learns he is suffering from leukemia and has only a short time to live...

Duchin's passing from the scene playing a "little double piano" with Peter is a duo-handkerchief climax...

Tyrone Power won the hearts of the audience playing the pianist and bandleader Eddy Duchin... He does not interpret music, he exudes it, breathes it, compelling showmanship with great freedom, taste and intelligence...

With a stupendous distribution of Duchin's fine piano, the film is predictable, handsome & sentimental...