Moonlight Sonata

It is a wonderful movie for classical music lovers. I consider this film almost as a historical record of the famous pianist Ignace Paderewski's marvellous playing. There are several performances that take place during the story which will hold you spellbound.

Charles Farrell and Barbara Greene are the romantic leads and the tale revolves around the survivors of a plane crash who are guests of the aristocratic Baroness Lindenborg (Marie Tempest). There are conflicts and heartaches as it is expected in most love affairs but eventually they learn and overcome the serious challenges to their relationship.

An excellent film devoted to great music and tender romance.

I must say, this film is marvelous. I wasn't expecting very much from it (it was incredibly cheap and paired with films of much lower quality on a compilation DVD) but it pleasantly surprised me.

The only reason I didn't give it a 9 is because the piano concert at the beginning is literally 20 minutes long and I felt it detracted from the overall interest of the film. I feel like one piece by the amazing Paderewski would have been sufficient. His "Moonlight Sonata" literally gave me goosebumps.

Marie Tempest's portrayal of the baroness is superb. She has impeccable timing and brings a lot of spunk to a dully-written character.

I must say that fans of old musicals as well as appreciators of fine piano playing would enjoy this film immensely. It is amazing how much can be said with a gorgeous Beethoven piece and no dialogue at all.

The great Paderewski, the concert pianist who became Prime Minister of Poland, plays himself in a very strange film.

Some victims of a plane accident find themselves marooned in the house of a countess. All these people have problems with their lives, and it is like a 1930s soap opera. But the little stories are so cleverly put together that in each case there is only one solution to the problem: if only...if only...Paderewski would play the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata...then all problems will be solved, and everything will be all right.

The expectation rises as the film heads towards its close. And finally the wild-haired maestro sits down at the grand, and plays the first movement. And it just goes to show that good things really are worth waiting for. However lightweight we thought the film was to begin with, it is all swept away as we listen to the great man play. The performance is wonderful.

Anybody who loves good music must see this film.

Performers of classical music were often to be seen in films of this era.Though,as in this film,their participation was limited by their acting ability.So Paderewski gets the first 20 minutes to himself,after which we get on with the trifle of the love story.Charles Farrell is the parachuted in American star for distribution purposes.Portman makes a dashing villain and Marie Tempest is a sympathetic grandmother Some really effective sets particularly the theatre at the beginning.

Brilliant and internationally famous, the Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski plays himself in this autobiographical story of plane crash survivors who become the guests of a Swedish baroness. Interwoven throughout this gentle tale are piano solos performed superbly by the elderly pianist in eerie black-and-white, four years before his death and two years before the Nazi invasion of his beloved homeland. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013