The musicals had a great season in American celluloid in a period of the 40’s and 50’s; and one of the greatest musicals of all time was ‘Singing In the Rain’ (released in 1952). The movie is also acknowledged to be Gene Kelly’s greatest work (with An American in Paris released in 1951 being another great movie). This was a movie that Gene Kelly had thrown his heart and soul into, with not only delivering a great acting role, but also co-directing, and being the choreographer. The movie had some great dances, with the dance on the title song where Gene Kelly danced with an umbrella, with water pouring, dancing in puddles, and generally having a good rain soaked dance being one of the greatest. It is even more admirable due to the fact that the dance happened when Gene Kelly had 103 fever.
The movie also picturised the transition that the American film industry had from the age of silent movies, to the age of movies with sound. This was a major change, and impacted not only the art of film-making, but also had an impact on the film stars of the silent era. Singing in the Rain captures the transition of some of the stars, while others failed to make the transition, and also heralded the appearance of new stars who were more suited for the sound era.

The movie is about a popular star of the silent era, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly). He has risen through the industry while doing all sort of jobs, and is now the leading star. His leading lady is Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen); Don cannot stand Lina, while she feels that they have an ongoing romance (something created by the studio for more publicity). Once, Don gets to suddenly meet a lady Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) (he jumped into her car to escape from some fans); and after some initial back-and-forth, they start falling into love.
However, there is a major disturbance - a new talking film called ‘The Jazz Singer’ has been released by a rival studio and becomes a success. This forces a change of plans, with the studio boss R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) deciding to convert the upcoming Don - Lina film into a talkie. However, it wasn’t so easy, and they eventually decide to get Kathy to dub for Lina, and to make the movie into a musical. Lina does not like Kathy and her romance with Don, and makes sure that Kathy cannot get screen credit for her voice-over; however, in the premiere, after some delay, the inevitable happens. It is revealed that Kathy is the voice, and also the upcoming star.

Mr. Holland’s Opus was a very touching movie released in 1995, based on the story of a would be composer (trying to create his magnum opus, the piece of music that would become so popular that it would make him famous). Instead, as a result of circumstances, he is forced to take a job teaching music to a generation of students; it is this teaching the properties of music, the love of music, about confidence, respect. This development of his students is his actual legacy, his major achievement in life. Mr. Holland’s Opus is a movie that celebrates the noble profession of teaching, where a good teacher can mould his students to become good human beings. The movie went to be a decent commercial success, not of the same level as the action oriented movies, but made a respectable $100 million worldwide.

The role surely is a role that Richard Dreyfuss will treasure as one of his best performances, and he was nominated for an Oscar for this role (he did not win, the Best Actor role going to Nicholas Cage for ‘Leaving Las Vegas’). The movie reviews get 2 different types of reviews: Some see it as a great movie that spans 3 decades of a man’s life, his most productive years and sees what he has made of those years (and that accomplishment does not necessarily mean being rich or having a great name); the second type of reviews see the movie as a tear-jerker that plays on one’s emotions with a finale scene that is written to bring out the tears of the audience. I agree with both, but see the tear jerker as a natural part of the storyline.
The movie is set in Oregon in 1964 where Glen Holland is an aspiring composer and musician wanting to create his great work of music that will be his glory and lead to success; however, his responsibilities (his wife is pregnant) leads to him having to take up the job of a music teacher at a local high school. Like any other school, he faces a wide group of students, some are willing, some are rebellious, some are very talented and others not so. He strives to inculcate a love of music in them, using this as a method to better their character. At the same time his ambition to teach his son to become a great musician reaches a high level of frustration when he realizes that his son is deaf. He has to conquer this frustration and form bonds with his son while dealing with a wide variety of students, during a time when the US was going through major upheavals - Vietnam, civil rights, the assassination of John Lennon, etc. The movie also showcases the priorities of school life, with sports and science getting a much higher priority over music, and including the cutting of the music budget.
Probably the best way to summarize the theme of the movie is this line:
Mr. Holland might think himself a failure…” one former student laments near the end of the story… “and he would be wrong…”
The soundtrack of the film has the following songs:
1. Visions Of A Sunset - Shawn Stockman (of Boyz II Men)
2. One, Two, Three - Len Barry
3. A Lover’s Concerto - The Toys
4. Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group
5. Uptight - Stevie Wonder
6. Imagine - John Lennon
7. The Pretenders - Jackson Brown
8. Someone To Watch Over Me - Julia Fordham
9. I Got A Woman - Ray Charles
10. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - John Lennon
11. Cole’s Song - Julian Lennon
12. An American Symphony (Mr. Holland’s Opus) - Michael Kamen

Amadeus is the middle name of one of the greatest composer of all time, the Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who lived in Vienna during the 18th century. And thus it is pretty natural that a movie on the life of this great composer (and another composer of the same age, Antonio Salieri) should have the name Amadeus in it. The movie, released in 1984 was a drama film about these 2 men, and caught the attention of critics to such a great extent that it cleaned up on the awards, winning 8 Oscars, and a clutch of BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. The movie was also a commercial hit (although on a smaller scale) since it made around $51 million on a budget of $18 million. Inspite of some creative licenses with the truth (the movie assumes that the murder of Mozart is due to a devious plan by Salieri, when this was not a proven fact).

The movie also served to make a lot more people aware of the life history of Mozart, and his amazing musical skills. The depiction of his talent was pretty good, wrapped in a story that touches all the human emotions of skill, envy, jealousy and anger, distress, depression, hatred and downfall. All of these were exhibited in the inter-twined life history of Salieri and Mozart, down to the downfall of both of them.
The story is all set in flashback, when a priest visiting Salieri in a mental health institution visits him, trying to get a confession from Salieri about having committed the murder of Mozart. Salieri is initially uninterested, but then opens up and discloses the full story, including his role in the downfall of Mozart. Salieri had a troubled start to his musical career, since his father was not interested in letting his son study music, but then his death opened the door to a musical career. Salieri was not an exceptional musician, and was happy being the court composer to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, believing his talent to be God’s gift. And then Mozart burst onto the screen.
Mozart was funny, he was brash, he was lewd, and he was a genius. He started out with taking a work that Salieri had spent time making, and modified that into a new musical work (conversion of “March of Welcome” to “Non più andrai” march from Mozart’s opera ‘The Marriage of Figaro’). Salieri is sinking into depression, believing that actually god is laughing at him for his mediocre music. In the meantime, Mozart goes through a whole gamut of emotions; feeling happy at his success and with his wife Constanze and his son Wolfgang, and then getting shaken by court rivalry, depression over his father Leopold’s death. He starts to fall down as his family expenses increase and the income starts to fall.
And then the ultimate plan. Salieri decides to deceive Mozart, so he disguises himself to be like Leopold (Mozart’s dead father), and gives Mozart a down payment to write a requiem mass (also known as a funeral mass). Mozart starts down to write his best piece of work, not aware that the plan was for Mozart to be killed in the end, and Salieri would then appropriate the Mass and deliver it (in a delicious irony), at Mozart’s funeral. Mozart drives himself to madness while writing this work, and his wife leaves him along with their son. His condition continues to decline, and he collapses during a performance. Salieri takes him home, and continues to make Mozart work during his illness.
Mozart’s fie returns the next morning, and is shocked to see his condition. Salieri has by now abandoned his plan, and he credits Mozart with work on the composition, and Constanze locks the manuscript away. However, all this is in vain, since Mozart dies, and the composition is left incomplete. Mozart is taken away and buried in a pauper’s grave (although his body is recovered later and buried more appropriately). The work remains incomplete, and Salieri is driven to the mental asylum with the thought that God would kill Mozart rather than let Salieri share the glory of the beautiful composition.

The music from the movie:

(all composed by Mozart except as noted)

* Disc One

1. Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K 183, 1st movement
2. Stabat Mater: Quando Corpus Morietur and Amen (Pergolesi - performed by the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, directed by Simon Preston)
3. Early 18th Century Gypsy Music: Bubak and Hungaricus
4. Serenade for Winds, K. 361, 3rd movement
5. The Abduction from the Seraglio, Turkish Finale
6. Symphony No. 29 in A, K 201, 1st movement
7. Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, 3rd movement
8. Mass in C minor, K. 427, Kyrie (Mozart)
9. Symphonie Concertante, K. 364, 1st movement

* Disc Two

1. Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482, 3rd movement
2. The Marriage of Figaro, Act III, Ecco la Marcia
3. The Marriage of Figaro, Act IV, Ah Tutti Contenti
4. Don Giovanni, Act II, Commendatore scene
5. Zaide aria, Ruhe Sanft
6. Requiem, K. 626, Introitus (orchestra introduction)
7. Requiem: Dies Irae
8. Requiem: Rex Tremendae Majestatis
9. Requiem:Confutatis
10. Requiem: Lacrimosa
11. Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466, 2nd movement

Movie awards at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri), Best Director (Forman), Costume Design (Theodor Pistek), Adapted Screenplay (Shaffer), Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Sound

The Piano is a movie that was released in 1993, and went to earn great critical acclaim, along with a bunch of Academy Awards. The movie was the brain-child of Jane Campion, who wrote and directed the movie (the movie was produced by Jan Chapman). It is a movie that is very different, with the depiction of the silent lady, who has a strong will, and who struggles for her own feelings in a land far away from her own. The movie was a big hit at the Oscars as well, with 3 awards (and a total of 8 nominations), along with a host of other movie awards as well (such as Palme d’Or (Golden Palm), BAFTA, Australian Film Institute, Golden Globe, etc). Holly Hunter, who won the Best Actress Oscar, was only the second actress in the non-silent movie era to get the Best Actress Award.

Academy Awards Won:

* Best Actress (Holly Hunter)
* Best Screenplay - Original (Jane Campion)
* Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin)

Nominated:

* Best Cinematography (Stuart Dryburgh)
* Best Costume Design (Janet Patterson)
* Best Director (Jane Campion)
* Best Editing (Veronika Jenet)
* Best Picture

The movie is set in a harsh, rainy, mid-19th century New Zealand backwater. The subject is one that is not dealt with too often, making this an even more interesting movie - the movie deals with the wishes and aspirations of a young mail order bride who is not able to strike a bond with her husband, but instead becomes closer to her husband’s neighbor.
Alistair Stewart (Sam Neill) lives in New Zealand in a frontier backwater and desires a bride. In Scotland, Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), who has a daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) marriage is arranged with Alistair and she is sent via ship to New Zealand. Ada can speak, but remains silent, and has done so since she was six years old (the reasons for why she stopped speaking are never clearly outlined in the movie). She is able to make herself understood through sign language (with the help of her daughter), through writing, and through usage of the piano (something she loves). For some special people, they are able to understand her without her needing to use speech, and that includes her former teacher who was also Flora’s father.
She reaches New Zealand along with Flora, and spends the night over there along with her luggage (including a piano - something that will form the center-piece of the movie). The next day Alisatair reaches there with a Maori crew to pick her up (having taken the help of his neighbor Baines (Harvey Keitel) to hire the crew). They find that they cannot carry everything, and so the piano is left on the beach. In the marriage, Ada stays distant from Alistair (displeasing him a lot), and her desire to go to the piano is very great, so she asks Flora to talk to Baines to take her to the piano. Baines agrees after some hesitation, and they spend a fine day at the beach; Baines is very impressed by Ada’s playing of the piano. Soon, Baines suggests to Alistair that Alistair can have a piece of land that he wants, if he gives the piano along with lessons from Ada to Baines. Ada is shocked, but Alistair goes along with the deal.
Baines then offers a deal to Ada, he will sell her back the piano one key at a time (for a total of 36 black keys) if she lets him do what he likes when she is playing. This leads to a series of intimacies that Alistair soon discovers. Ada has grown much closer to Baines and further away from Alistair, and he furiously boards her inside the house. Baines also returns the piano in order that they can get away from this arrangement, but it may be too late already; they are in love with each other.
Baines is planning to leave soon, and Alistair visualizes a new beginning with Ada, when he discovers (via Flora) a love letter that Ada was sending to Baines in a piano key. He is furious and chops off Ada’s index finger, with the promise of doing more if she continues to meet Baines.
Alisatair is soon able to read Ada’s face, and discovers that she can only be at peace with Baines, and sends her away on a ship with Baines; at the start of this journey, in a beautiful scene, Ada gets the piano thrown into the water, goes down with it and then comes up again in a sort of re-birth. She settles into a life with Baines in a different town along with her daughter Flora.