Mine is the Pianist. Good combination of history drama, awesome settings, great clothing, emotional stirring and an awesome piano solo at the end.
what is yours? reason why i ask, i just recently been interested in seeing movies centered around the piano, or the piano as a major backdrop. i want to go rent these based on your choices.

I liked The Pianist, too. I also liked "The Piano" (with Holly Hunter) very much, in large part due to Michael Nyman's moving score. (Harvey Keitel's naked butt I could do without. ) One of these days I WILL learn "The heart asks pleasure first"!

Hi Briian 13 ....

Can't go wrong with the Liberace story. He is credited with the best quote (for my money) regarding reviews of his playing ...

"...It doesn't matter what they say about me -as long as they say something!"

Balladeer

The Pianist for sure. And what was the name of the one where the kid went nuts trying to learn the Rach3? That was a good one.

So far "The Legend of 1900." There is a piano duel in it between "our hero" and Jelly Roll Morton that will make you sweat. On the peripheral side, there's nice little piano bits in "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte," and in another good old Brit gothic, "The Uninvited."

The Pianist hands down. Chopin soundtrack and moving story.

Con Amore - a Polish movie about 2 pianists and Chopin piano competition in Warsaw.

Amadeus!!! Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet...

Interesting thread!

"Shine" - David Helfgott bio.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Its not about the piano, and I'm not sure its a movie, but just listen to that piano !!

-angelojf

Imortal Beloved: Story of Beethoven

Another vote for "Amadeus". I love the part in the royal palace where Salieri is playing, and Mozart picks up on his theme, and improvises how the piece "could" sound...very funny.

thank you, i have seen Shine and Amadeus, both great movies.
I have made a mental list of all the recommendations; I just hope my blockbuster even carries at least one of those names. probably not.

let me add that my favorite scene in The Pianist is when the kind German officer wanted Brody to play the piano, probably thinking, "pianist?? show me then" and then Brody slowly crept up to the piano, almost looking like he was lying, played a few notes like anyone could do, but then displayed a masterpiece that not only confirmed to the officer, but blew him away.
the acting of that scene was very subtle but incredible, without any words you could tell what both were communicating to each other. and then at the end, the German officer (we find out he has a very high status) brings him a cloth of bread and jam (which Brody almost dies for, i also took out my jam from the fridge to do the same thing after i saw that) and the metal hinge that Brody tried to use to open the can. very touching, very thoughtful for the officer to supply that, remembering that from the night before...showing that even the wicked german regime has a few human beings with a warm heart.

my favorite scene in amadeus, was when Mozart was entertaining the club of people he worked with, imitating Salieri and such. I always dreamed of being able to play the piano for a group of people, or at a place so that everyone can gather around and smile.

what is your favorite scene of a movie?

Madame Sousatzka, with Shirley MacLaine is one of my very favorites.

Mel

briiian,

There are a couple of scenes in the Pianist which are my favourites:

- When Szpilman gets moved to a new flat (with a piano in it ). He is under strict instruction to be 'very quiet'. He slowly adjusts the stool, the orchestra begins the piece, he raises his hands above the keys and .....

- I also liked the scenes in the ghetto cafe, first when he gets asked to stop for a few minutes - he starts blowing a kiss to the lady. And the second time, when his sister is there - he plays the ending of the piece in record time to go and see what is wrong.

One thing I never understood about the film - when Szpilman plays to the German, we see guards outside. Surely they would hear the amazing playing through the ruins and realise that Hosenfeld wasn't that good at the piano?

Euan,
i thought about that too, but then on second thought, i figured,
the guards cannot question their commander and must stay on guard. they may think probably he does secretly know how to play that piece, and maybe also the guards may not have any interest in piano to take any notice.
whatever their commanding officer told them to do , they must do, and whatever he does inside is no business of theirs.
that is what i rationalized about that peculiarity.

anyways, lazy saturday today, nothing to do, maybe i'll pop the pianist dvd in and watch again!

Yes, that is a logical answer to the problem.

Another one is that the guards probably wouldn't be thinking of a scenario involving a world-class pianist found hiding in the ruins, and now playing in the same building as a german officer. That would be a little fantastical (yet true!)

Another movie which is good is 'Richter: The Enigma'. Lots of good footage of Sviatoslav Richter and a detailed look at his life and playing.

Enjoy watching The Pianist again!

Agree, Immortal Beloved is great. I also have mixed feelings about Impromptu. I should be incredibly grateful to that movie though since it inadvertently it led me back to Chopin. I'd rented it because I'm partial to Julian Sands (Liszt) and my nickname in college was "George Sand." (I'd never been into her or anything. I just lived in a language hall with a lot of French students and they came up with the nickname. I'm a dark brunette, a scribbler, and was at the time even more inclined to dress like a guy than I am now. Skirt? Do I OWN a skirt?) I thought the movie was "OK" but I remembered that affair had ended in tears, not all sweetness and light as in the movie so I had to check my facts. That led me to Chopin's letters. Turns out we share the same neuroses, sense of humor, astrological sign and weak chest. And the rest is history - - - -

Ironically, my daughter cannot stand Chopin (too dissonant). She once asked me, "can't you play some music from Immortal Beloved?" (Sorry kid, no orchestra.)

Chopin, Desire for Love isn't a bad movie. It's a bit melodramatic and all from Sand's side with a lot of misinformation but there are some great piano scenes and it's beautifully photographed. Filmed on site in Majorca for one thing. My favorite scene in that movie is when a very young Chopin, newly in Paris get a "piano lesson" from a publisher after he rejects Chopin's compositions. "Don't you know what a piano is for?" the publisher asks sarcastically, and then tinkles off some pretty prissy little ditty and Chopin holds his peace but looks like he can't decide whether to deck the patronizing *** or barf. There's also a very effective but historically inaccurate "music video" of the Revolutionary Etude thundering while Russian soldiers smash in the clavier of Chopin's childhood piano with the butts of their rifles and then burn it. That happened but not until 1866.

the Competition.. Richard Dreyfus

"An American in Paris" ... Concert pianist Oscar Lavant playing Gershwin's "Piano Concerto in F".

i have several...really almost EVERY movie having ANYTHING to do with the piano or the great master composers.

the first one, it introduced me to classical music, believe it or not, was fantasia. i was spellbound by the beauty of that magnificent music...beethoven, schubert, tchaikovsky, bach, stravinsky. i've been 'hooked' ever since.

Madame Sousatzka...super, especially the ending.

a song to remember...a bio of chopin's life. not much truth to it, but the music was the star. i especially liked it because almost every composition (and there were a lot of them) played was finished...to the end. boy, do i hate when they'll start a famous piece and then cut it after a minute.

to be honest, i didn't have the stomach to watch the pianist when it first came out. i did rent it later on, and while it was painful to watch, it was also a tribute to the human spirit.

i thought amadeus was weird. was mozart really that nutty? i read recently that his father had him until his thumb from the age of 4 until his early 20's. so when mozart was finally free to act on his own, he acted as a child because he never really had a childhood. he was irresponsible and lived beyond his means and in a dream word. a genius...absolutely. i actually sobbed at the end when they threw his body in that open pit of other corpses and then threw salt all over it...to cover the smell. how tragic.

immortal beloved...i loved it, each and every part. and the music, throughout, was, again, the star.

the competition was great...but they could have left out the romance and put in more music.

there are many others, but i'm sure you're bored by now.

kathleen

Yeah, he was that nutty. Kathleen's description makes him sound a lot like Michael Jackson. I never saw
the correlation until now.

I agree. I enjoyed this movie alot. this is the only movie i've seen out of all the movies everyone has listed (except Charlie Brown Christmas). I've been looking for more piano based movies this is definantly helping out. now if i can just find them somewhere! Anyone think Blockbuster would have them? I got Amadeus from my local library. I just looked on their website and they have "The Pianist" .

No not bored at all i've been looking for piano based movies i've written a list of all the movies posted.I did see Amadues and watched the special feautures they said that they added more drama to it and they exagerated some of the facts. But i think that alot was true just with exageration.

Most people don't know this but Mozart was probably the best billiards player in Vienna. (This was a skill George Sand tried to teach Chopin with very limited success. Apparently he kept dropping cues.)

My favourite piano(ish) film, would have to be "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"... Although I'd have preferred it if the piano took a slightly more promninant role, it's still an excellent film, and I'd reccommend it.

I like the "Amadeus" and so does my daughter, so we have seen it a couple of times.
My favourite scene is the one where Mozart on his death-bed is instructing Salieri how to write the music to "Confutatis Maledictis".
In my history-book it is not Salieri but a student named Sussmayer who finishes Mozarts Requiem, but the story is good even if its pure fiction.

It might be true that Mozart was a little "nuts", but his music is divine !

Ragnhild

My favorite piano movie of recent is The Legend of 1900, with Tim Roth.

I also enjoyed Amadeus on Broadway (many years ago) and the movies.

~~Sharon