Prelude to Fame

Based on a story by Adolphus Huxley (who is probably best known for the novel "Brave New World"), Prelude to Fame is marvelously presented. The plot concerns a child prodigy and a manipulative rich woman who, under the guise of sponsoring the boy, attempts to control his life for her own glory. To say more would be spoiling the story. While the story does tend to get a bit heavy-handed at times, it's still well-done.

The acting is superb, including the surprising 13-year-old Jeremy Spenser, who plays the prodigy child with the mastery of a mature actor. Spenser is surrounded by some of the best British talent of that era: Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron, Rosalie Crutchley, and the marvelously-cast character actor John Slater as Dr. Lorenzo.

The music is excellently done, as it should be with the longtime British film music director Muir Mathieson at the helm. Among other works, we hear bits and pieces of Beethoven's Eroica and Mendelssohn's Italian Symphonies, the full overture to the opera "Oberon" by Carl Maria von Weber, and at the end of the film, excerpts from Borodin's "Prince Igor", part of which ("Gliding Dance of the Maidens") was used for the song "Strangers in Paradise", which debuted in "Kismet" in 1953 and was highly popular in the mid 50s.

This is a fine movie, which isn't shown often on television anymore, but you can find it on Netflix. If you're a fan of classical music and/or of mid 20th-century British films, you should give this one a look.