So violin prodigy John Garfield's mother scolds him. And indeed, he has taken up with a married woman. And a pretty neurotic one, at that.

The woman is chic and wears glasses. And she is Joan Crawford. This is one of Crawford's best roles. And Garfield is extremely good in it, too. The play well off each other.

This was made in the days when being Jewish was still pretty much unacceptable in big-budget movies. Garfield's father, a shopkeeper, says "Saturday is always my busiest day" -- just in case anybody was getting suspicious. It's too bad, because that would be fine today and would have added to the story of ill-fated lovers.

Warner Brothers did more movies about and including classical music than any of the other studios. Or so I feel. Garfield's playing is well known as having been provided, very beautifully, by the great Isaac Stern.

Just off the top of my head, two other movies about classical music from Warner are the extremely charming "My Love Came Back" and the fabulous "Deception." To me, that is, along with "All About Eve," one of Bette Davis's absolute best movies. And within more recent times, the "Hollenius" Cello Concerto by Korngold is being played by symphony orchestras as part of their regular fare.

This movie is a must for anyone with an interest in Joan Crawford, John Garfield, or music in the movies. Not to mention anyone who likes Oscar Levant! (And who possibly could not?) He is delightful in it and plays piano beautifully.)

First, and foremost, if you are a classical music fan you will love this movie. The score was perfect for the somewhat lame story going on between Crawford and Garfield. Neither, in my opinion, quite pulled it off as to who they were supposed to be. He, a moody and temperamental musician and she a lonely and desperate wife. The movie is worth the time for every single scene where Oscar Levant was in, especially when he was playing the piano. And yes, that was him. And yes, those were Isaac Stern's fingers playing away. We never know who was doing the bowing, other than some other "famous" violinist, and those who play can tell when there were a few misses, but we ignore them. It's all worth it just to see Oscar and hear all that beautiful music and see real musicians playing (the orchestra). Anyway, Boray, played by Garfield, is a natural prodigy and he somehow gets the attention of Helen (Crawford) at a party. She likes to support the arts, and we're supposed to believe that she falls in love with him from the very beginning. Hard to tell really. He claims he loves her, but we all know what he loves is his music, and even the young lady, also a musician, who happens to love him too, realizes this. Now, that could be seen in her face. She knew that Boray could never belong to anyone. Then we have the ending scene, where, with the beautiful music of Wagner's classic Tristan and Isolde, Helen makes her final sacrifice so that Boray can go on doing what he is meant to do. The tagline said this was like a soap opera, a real tear-jerker, but the only time I shed a tear was remembering Isaac Stern. There was nothing in the movie to make one feel oh so awful and sorry for Helen, nor Boray.