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I've Always Loved You

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I've Always Loved You
Directed byFrank Borzage
Screenplay byBorden Chase
Based onstory Concerto by Borden Chase[1]
Produced byFrank Borzage
StarringPhilip Dorn
Catherine McLeod
William Carter
Maria Ouspenskaya
Felix Bressart
Elizabeth Patterson
CinematographyTony Gaudio
Edited byRichard L. Van Enger
Music byWalter Scharf
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Republic Pictures
Distributed byRepublic Pictures
Release date
  • September 6, 1946 (1946-09-06) (New York)[2]
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5-2 million[3] or $1,954,325[4]

I've Always Loved You is a 1946 American drama musical film produced and directed by Frank Borzageand starring Philip Dorn, Catherine McLeod, William Carter, Maria Ouspenskaya, Felix Bressart and Elizabeth Patterson.[5][6][7]

The screenplay is based on Borden Chase's magazine story "Concerto", based on the career of his first wife. The film was originally titled Concerto and was the most expensive film ever produced by Republic Pictures.[1][8] In unusual fashion for a Republic film, I've Always Loved You is a high-budget prestige production with an A-list director in Borzage.[9]

Plot

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Concert maestro and famous pianist Leopold Goronoff takes Myra Hassman, daughter of the legendary pianist Frederick Hassman, as his protege. Myra is a country girl who plays Rachmaninoff beautifully on the piano. Despite the wishes of farmer George Sampter, who loves Myra, Leopold takes Myra to New York and they fall in love. However, Leopold is habitually unfaithful and domineering while Myra, who calls him Maestro, tries to serve and learn from him. Leopold belittles Myra by asserting that there is no place for women in music.

Leopold arranges for Myra to perform at Carnegie Hall and conducts the orchestra while she plays Rachmaninoff. However, Myra plays the piece forcefully and Leopold looks at her scornfully. She rushes off the stage and Leopold confronts her, enraged that she would attempt to surpass his skill level by imitating his style in such a brash manner. After Myra leaves, Leopold's mother Madame Goronoff tells him that Myra is indeed the superior pianist.

Myra returns to her country home and finds that she can connect with Leopold over the great distance through the piano. However, she reconnects with George, who professes his love for her. Despite her lingering feelings for Leopold, Myra agrees to marry George.

Time passes and Myra and George have a young daughter named Porgy, but Myra is unhappy and is thinking of Leopold. In New York, Leopold tells Madame Goronoff that he desperately misses and loves Myra, but she tells him that his true mistress is music. Just before she dies, she warns Leopold not to pursue Myra, and he agrees. George confronts Myra and knows that she is thinking of Leopold. Myra is conflicted but determined to preserve her blessings.

Many years pass and Porgy is a young woman who has inherited her mother's talent. George introduces Myra to professor Michael Severin, who takes Porgy to New York to launch her career. Myra is worried that Porgy's piano playing lacks feeling and might cause her to fail in her Carnegie Hall debut. George urges that Myra seek Leopold for his opinion, but Myra senses that George's desire is that she confront her lingering feelings by reuniting with Leopold. Myra and Porgy visit Leopold, who approves of Porgy's playing but asks Myra why she chose her life with George.

At Carnegie Hall, Myra is announced as the featured pianist in place of her daughter. She delivers a command performance, after which Leopold admits that he was wrong about a woman's place in music and Myra professes her love for George now that she no longer has lingering doubts.

Cast

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Reception

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In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called I've Always Loved You a "silly, mawkish film" and wrote: "In short, it is one of those pictures which takes on a terribly phoney air about the rapturous realms of music and the beauty of simple, home-grown love. (Why protest that, in the story, there is a hopeless confusion of ideals?)"[2]

Radio adaptation

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I've Always Loved You was presented on Lux Radio Theatre on November 4, 1946, starring Joseph Cotten and Catherine McLeod.[10]

Restoration

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A restoration of I've Always Loved You by Paramount Pictures, the Film Foundation and Martin Scorsese screened at the Museum of Modern Art on February 10, 2018 as part of the museum's program of showcasing 30 restored films from the library of Republic Pictures, curated by Scorsese.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Film Stars in the News-- A "Sun" Thursday Feature". The Sun. No. 11, 068 (LATE FINAL EXTRA ed.). Sydney. 12 July 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 12 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ a b Crowther, Bosley (1946-09-07). "The Screen". The New York Times. p. 11.
  3. ^ FRED STANLEY (29 July 1945). "THE HOLLYWOOD SCENE: Directing Again Writers' Earnings HOLLYWOOD ADDENDA Fire Prevention Tutoring Melchior". New York Times. p. X1.
  4. ^ Mathis, Jack (1999). Republic Confidential Volume 1 The Studio. Jack Mathis Advertising. p. 384.
  5. ^ "I've Always Loved You (1946) - Overview". TCM. Turner Classic Movies, Inc. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  6. ^ Crowther, Bosley (7 September 1946). "Movie Review – Crack Up – THE SCREEN; I've Always Loved You' Is New Feature at Loew's Criterion- 'Crack-Up' Bows at Palace, Carole Landis in Rialto Film At the Palace At the Rialto". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  7. ^ "I've Always Loved You". American Film Institute. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  8. ^ "FILMS AND FILM STARS Music of the rumo[?]tals". The Examiner. Vol. CVI, no. 26. Tasmania, Australia. 12 April 1947. p. 6. Retrieved 12 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ a b "Martin Scorsese Presents Republic Rediscovered: New Restorations from Paramount Pictures" (PDF). MoMA Press. The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Radio Debut". Harrisburg Telegraph. Harrisburg Telegraph. 2 November 1946. p. 19. Retrieved 28 September 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
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