O Levant keeps things light....
i personally liked the piano pieces he plays through-out, and also the one liners he throws around; if he weren't in the film, it would have just been almost the same story as "Postman Rings Twice"...
Oscar Levant was terrific and gorgeous in this movie.
I actually found myself waiting to see what his next humorous comment would be.
His piano playing was brilliant.
So much has been made, and very rightly so, of Isaac Stern's violin playing for this movie, but no one has really said anything about the fabulous artistry of Levant that added so much to the film.
Oscar was unique. He can never be replaced.
Oscar Levant was fantastic and added so much to any movie he was in. Great talent there. Very underused and not often seen.
I am fortunate in that i am old enough to have seen Oscar playing on a number of TV shows back in the 50s ... maybe into the 60s. Can't remember the exact shows, but probably Steve Allen, Ed Sullivan and a number of the talk/interview shows of that period. Often he would poke fun at himself for his period of being institutionalized, but hie repartee was always entertaining ... and of course his playing was a real treat for a young piano student, even if my mother drove me nuts telling me to pay attention so I might learn something.
We lost Oscar much too early -- our loss.
Despite the fact that both Joan Crawford and John Garfield gave great performances, it was indeed Oscar Levant that steals the show! It is ashamed he didn't appear in more films than the few he did.
shareHe is always witty whenever he appears. His true artistry and wise-cracks round out the movies in which he appears.
I remember him from the 50's talk shows particularly Jack Paar. He was never feeling very well but was still tossing off bon mots and making it look easy.
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