Conductor
Louise, ballerina at the Garnier Opera in 1895, rushes home after a show but is stopped by a friend asking for money. Louise knows what to do in order to repay her.
Self
"Alan Pakula: Going for Truth" encompasses the personal and professional life of Alan J. Pakula, a lauded filmmaker and extremely private man, who was unflinching in his commitment to bringing some of the most memorable movies of the last half of the 20th century to the big screen. Always placing story first and going for truth, with anonymity being his preferred style of directing, this elusive artist finally gets his spotlight. Select cast and crew members from his wide ranging filmography including To Kill A Mockingbird, Klute, All the President's Men, Sophie's Choice, Presumed Innocent, and The Pelican Brief bring Pakula to life once more after he was lost so tragically; while family and friends share their memories of knowing him as an artist, a husband, and a stepfather.
Self
Admired and praised by the likes of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer has been described as "one of our great folk poets" and "the most perfect American lyricist". Throughout his extraordinary career, he collaborated with hundreds of composers to write legendary movie songs such as "Hooray for Hollywood", "Jeepers Creepers" and "Moon River". Mercer then went on to co-found Capitol Records in 1942 and became a successful Broadway producer of St. Louis Woman and L'il Abner.
Self
Sir André Previn, born in Berlin in 1929, figures among the most prominent musicians of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He won four Academy Awards for his film scores, he composes concertos, musicals and operas. He conducts, arranges music, and is a renowned pianist, as well as a jazz musician. Previn’s first opera, ‚A Streetcar Named Desire’, based on Tennessee Williams’ play, successfully premiered in San Francisco, in 1998. Our film mirrors Sir Previn’s affinities to Europe as well as to the United States. He is at home in both worlds, with their rather different cultural realities.
Self - Pianist
Anne-Sophie Mutter teams with long-time collaborators Andre Previn on piano and Daniel Mueller-Schott on cello for performances of the finest of Mozart's Piano Trios, filmed in Mantua's magnificent 18th-century Teatro Bibiena. Piano Trios KV 502 · KV 542 · KV 548
Self
Film Noir burrows into the mind; it's disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing intimate peeks at its tough, scheming dames, mischievous misfits and flawed men - all caught in the wicked web of a twisted fate.
Self
Arthur Rubinstein performs Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, and Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 with Andre Previn at the London Symphony at Fairfield Hall, Croydon, England.
Self (archive footage)
Director — and piano player — Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addition to interviews and performances by such living legends as Pinetop Perkins and Jay McShann, as well as Dave Brubeck and Marcia Ball.
Self (archive footage)
American Masters Series. Documentary on Gene Kelly that gives insight into his dancing, how he formed a style (first "blue collar dancer") and developed different cinematique techniques, such as brilliantly shot dancing sequences.
This biography, shown on American television as part of the PBS "Great Performances" series, examines the life works of one of Hollywood's most celebrated animators, Chuck (Charles M.) Jones. He is best known for Warner Brothers cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, and Pepe LePew. Included are plenty of behind-the-scenes descriptions of how an animated film is made, and (best of all) many clips from Chuck's cartoons.
Himself
The life of composer, conductor, pianist and Oscar-winner Andre Previn, filmed during a year which culminated in the world premiere of his first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, in San Francisco. Wherever he went, the camera followed. To Tokyo for a concert with Kiri Te Kanawa. To Philadelphia for a teaching session in the Curtis Institute. To Tanglewood for an incredible jazz improvisation recording of Gershwin Variations. To New York to play with the Ray Brown Trio at the Blue Note Club. To Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic. To Washington DC for a concert with the Emerson Quartet. To Boston for a conductor's masterclass with, among others, Daniel Harding. And, of course, the rehearsals and first performance of Streetcar with the incomparable Renee Fleming and director Colin Graham.
Conductor
This program is part of the acclaimed Sounds Magnificent series, showcasing some of the great works in Western classical music. Andre Previn acts both as conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and host of the show, which explores the lives and times of the composers, as well as featuring selections from their works. This episode presents renditions of Haydn's Symphony 87 and Mozart's Symphony 39.
Original Music Composer
In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.
Additional Music
A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.
Original Music Composer
A cameraman is knocked over during a football game. His brother-in-law, as the king of the ambulance-chasing lawyers, starts a suit while he's still knocked out. The cameraman is against it until he hears that his ex-wife will be coming to see him. He pretends to be injured to get her back, but also sees what the strain is doing to the football player who injured him.
Original Music Composer
A girl on the road to stardom fights the dehumanizing effects of Hollywood life.
Original Music Composer
While traveling home from Vegas, an amorous lounge singer named Dino gets conned by a local mechanic/songwriter into staying in town for the night. The mechanic's songwriting partner, Orville, offers Dino his home for overnight lodging and enlists a local waitress/call girl to pose as his wife in order to placate Dino's urges.
Original Music Composer
When a cavorting Hollywood writer is killed by the angry husband of a woman he was having an affair with, he comes back as a spirit in the form of a beautiful woman and moves in with his/her best friend as a base operation for enacting sweet revenge.
Conductor
A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
Music Supervisor
A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
Music
The working class twin sister of a callous wealthy woman impulsively murders her out of revenge and assumes the identity of the dead woman. But impersonating her dead twin is more complicated and risky than she anticipated.
Original Music Composer
Nester Patou, a naive police officer, is transferred to the red light district in Paris and organizes a raid on a dodgy hotel running as a brothel. In doing so he inadvertently disrupts the corrupt system of the police and the pimps union, and even nets his station superior. Fired from his job, Nester goes to the local bar for a drink and befriends a pretty young lady named Irma la Douce. Upon realizing she is a prostitute, Nester invents a crazy scheme to keep her from seeing other men.
Himself
Bing celebrated the holidays by starring in his first color special, which aired on Christmas Eve. This time the show concluded with an extended holiday-themed segment featuring Bing and his guests, Mary Martin , Andre Previn and The United Nations Children’s Choir . Bing delivers a standout version of “ The Little Drummer Boy ” and performs “ White Christmas ” with Mary Martin. The other musical selections are dominated by two extended Crosby-Martin medleys, but there’s also a fine solo by Bing on “ I Left My Heart in San Francisco ” and the positively surreal production number, “ Doin’ the Bing ”. (A dance craze was not started.) This would be the last Crosby holiday show not devoted entirely to the Christmas theme.
Original Music Composer
Jerry Ryan wanders aimlessly around New York after giving up his Nebraskan law practice. His wife asks for a divorce. He meets Gittel, a struggling dancer from Greenwich Village and they try to sort out their lives. An extended conversation piece with a static camera, but reflects the moral climate of the time.
Music
Over the course of one day in August 1912, the family of retired actor James Tyrone grapples with the morphine addiction of his wife Mary, the illness of their youngest son Edmund and the alcoholism and debauchery of their older son Jamie. As day turns into night, guilt, anger, despair, and regret threaten to destroy the family.
Original Music Composer
Karl from Germany and Marcelo from France emigrated to Argentina and became brothers-in-law. Karl soon returned to Germany to serve in the army. Marcelo and his children Julio and Chichi became Argentinean citizens but later returned to Paris. Karl became a general with a son (Heinrich) in the SS and in WWII he got a high job within the occupation administration in France.
Conductor
C.R. MacNamara will do anything to get a promotion within the Coca-Cola company, including looking after boss W.P. Hazeltine's rebellious teenage daughter, Scarlett. When Scarlett visits Berlin, where C.R. is stationed, she reveals that she is married to a communist named Otto Piffl -- and C.R. recognizes that Otto's anti-establishment stance will clash with his boss's own political views, possibly jeopardizing his promotion.
Original Music Composer
C.R. MacNamara will do anything to get a promotion within the Coca-Cola company, including looking after boss W.P. Hazeltine's rebellious teenage daughter, Scarlett. When Scarlett visits Berlin, where C.R. is stationed, she reveals that she is married to a communist named Otto Piffl -- and C.R. recognizes that Otto's anti-establishment stance will clash with his boss's own political views, possibly jeopardizing his promotion.
Original Music Composer
After the sudden death of magazine publisher Colonel Ryder, his nephew, Tony inherits the magazine and has big plans to expand it. While negotiating a loan from the bank, Tony gets a call from a detective surrounding his uncle's death. It turns out Colonel Ryder died in his hotel room with a smile on his face and a young woman was seen fleeing his room wearing only a towel. Suspicious of this woman and afraid the magazine's wholesome image may be tarnished and their loan denied, Tony asks the detective to stick around and find her.
Original Music Composer
Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno is a hired hand, Pepe, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director buys a white stallion that belongs to Pepe's boss. Pepe, determined to get the horse back (as he considers it his family), decides to take off to Hollywood. There he meets film stars including Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabór, Bing Crosby, Maurice Chevalier and Jack Lemmon in drag as Daphne from Some Like It Hot. He is also surprised by things that were new in America at the time, such as automatic swinging doors. When he finally reaches the man who bought the horse, he is led to believe there is no hope of getting it back. However, the last scene shows both him and the stallion back at the ranch with several foals.
André Previn
Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno is a hired hand, Pepe, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director buys a white stallion that belongs to Pepe's boss. Pepe, determined to get the horse back (as he considers it his family), decides to take off to Hollywood. There he meets film stars including Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabór, Bing Crosby, Maurice Chevalier and Jack Lemmon in drag as Daphne from Some Like It Hot. He is also surprised by things that were new in America at the time, such as automatic swinging doors. When he finally reaches the man who bought the horse, he is led to believe there is no hope of getting it back. However, the last scene shows both him and the stallion back at the ranch with several foals.
Original Music Composer
When hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer, a roadside revivalist, he feigns piousness to join her act as a passionate preacher. The two make a successful onstage pair, and their chemistry extends to romance. Both the show and their relationship are threatened, however, when one of Gantry's ex-lovers decides that she has a score to settle with the charismatic performer.
Conductor
Ella Peterson works in the basement office of Susanswerphone, a telephone answering service. She listens in on others' lives and adds some interest to her own humdrum existence by adopting different identities for her clients. They include an out-of-work Method actor, a dentist with musical yearnings, and in particular playwright Jeffrey Moss, who is suffering from writer's block and desperately needs a muse.
Music
A disillusioned writer explores the subterranean depths of San Francisco's North Beach district.
Himself
A disillusioned writer explores the subterranean depths of San Francisco's North Beach district.
Original Music Composer
In order to get back into the good graces with his wife with whom he has had a misunderstanding, a young chemistry professor concocts a wild story that he is an undercover FBI agent. To help him with his story he enlists the aid of a friend who is a TV writer. The wife swallows the story and the film's climax takes place in the sub-basements of the Empire State Building. The professor and his friend, believing themselves prisoners on an enemy submarine, patriotically try to scuttle the vessel and succeed only in rocking the building.
Original Music Composer
Story of twin brothers - one trying to help another escape from prison.
Conductor
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
Music Supervisor
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
Music
A sportswriter who marries a fashion designer discovers that their mutual interests are few, although each has an intriguing past which makes the other jealous.
Original Music Composer
An out-of-work reporter (Leslie Nielsen) seeks out a bank robber, and his bride (Colleen Miller) has to rescue him.
Original Music Composer
Whenever it becomes known how good he is with guns, ex-gunman George and his wife Dora have to flee the town, in fear of all the gunmen who might want to challenge him. Unfortunately he again spills his secret when he's drunk. All citizens swear to keep his secret and support him to give up his guns forever -- but a boy tells the story to a gang of wanted criminals. Their leader threatens to burn down the whole town, if he doesn't duel him.
Original Music Composer
At breakfast, Jane announces that she and Ralph are getting married the next week. All Jane and Ralph want is a small wedding with the immediate family and no reception. This is because Jane's parents are poor and Jane and Ralph can borrow a car for their honeymoon. However, at dinner that night all Ralph's parents talk about are the big weddings they gave their daughters and everything escalates. All of a sudden, it is a big wedding breakfast with hundreds of guests. The problem is that for 12 years, Tom has been saving money to buy his own cab and license, but now that he can, all of his money is going towards a wedding neither he, or Jane or Ralph really want.
Composer at Piano
Three completely different stories are told through dance.
Music
Three World War II buddies promise to meet at a specified place and time 10 years after the war. They keep their word only to discover how far apart they've grown. But the reunion sparks memories of youthful dreams that haven't been fulfilled -- and slowly, the three men reevaluate their lives and try to find a way to renew their friendship.
Original Music Composer
One-armed war veteran John J. Macreedy steps off a train at the sleepy little town of Black Rock. Once there, he begins to unravel a web of lies, secrecy, and murder.
Music Director
Fred and Lilli are a divorced pair of actors who are brought together by Cole Porter who has written a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play. A fight on the opening night threatens the production, as well as two thugs who have the mistaken idea that Fred owes their boss money and insist on staying next to him all night.
Original Music Composer
When the temperamental star of a new Broadway musical revue in rehearsals walks out, director and choreographer Ted Sturgis suggests casting an unknown for the role. When it is announced in the newspapers, throngs of hopefuls show up. The revue's musical composer, Leo Belney, champions ballerina Joanna Moss, while gofer Bob Dowdy is enchanted by novice Suzy Doolittle. Then producer Felix Jordan persuades Ted's former dance partner, Madelyn Corlan, to come out of retirement to try out, much to Ted's great discomfort.
Music
Attorney's daughter falls for one of his gangster clients.
Original Music Composer
A bedridden and gravely ill man believes his wife and doctor are conspiring to kill him, and outlines his suspicions in a letter.
Original Music Composer
During the British Raj, the orphan of a British soldier poses as a Hindu and is torn between his loyalty to a Buddhist mystic and aiding the English secret service.
Original Music Composer
A killer holds the customers at a bar hostage.
Music Director
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury for while, so he has to earn his money as a lyricst. Per chance he meets composer Harry Ruby and their first song is a hit. Ruby gets Kalmar to marry is former partner Jessie Brown, and Kalmar and Jessie prevent Ruby from getting married to the wrong girls. But due to the fact, that Ruby has caused a backer's withdrawal for a Kalmar play, they end their relation.
Original Music Composer
Angered that her sister Celia has stolen her fiance, Dell Faring kills her and allows Celia's husband David, knocked out in an argument with Celia, to take the blame and end up on death row. Later Dell, finding out that David's young daughter Susan was witness to the crime and is undergoing psychiatric treatment, plans to eliminate her before her memory returns.
Original Music Composer
Late in the Civil War, three Confederate soldiers escape from a Union prison camp in Missouri. They soon fall into the hands of pro-Confederate raiders, who force them to act as "outriders" (escorts) for a civilian wagon train that will be secretly transporting Union gold from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to St. Louis, Missouri. The three men are to lead the wagons into a raider trap in Missouri, but one of them starts to have misgivings....
Original Music Composer
Warren Quimby manages a drugstore while trying to keep his volatile wife, Claire, happy. However, when Claire leaves him for a liquor store salesman, Warren can no longer bear it. He decides to assume a new identity in order to murder his wife's lover without leaving a trace. Along the way, his plans are complicated by an attractive neighbor, as well as a shocking discovery that opens up a new world of doubts and accusations.
Original Music Composer
When Lassie's master dies, an old friend tries to convince a judge that the dog's life should be spared.
Original Music Composer
The story concerns two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, who are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.
Original Music Composer
A cop investigates the shooting of another policeman... that may have been involved in crooked activities.
Original Music Composer
Set in the rural south of the United States, a bereaved war widow learns to put aside her bitterness and grief as she grows to love a young orphan boy and his dog.
Original Music Composer
Flavia's been told that her Aunt Susan's fiancé, Steve, has been on a trip around the world, but in truth he's finished his prison term. Steve wonders how he can make some money and is approached by his old associates. When Flavia discovers the truth about Steve, she loses all faith in her family and in God, and it will take a miracle to restore Flavia's belief and Steve out of trouble.
Longhair
A beautiful young concert pianist is torn between her attraction to her arrogant but brilliant maestro and her love for a farm boy she left back home.
Music Supervisor
After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.
Famed conductor Andre Previn serves as both the host and subject of this compilation of live performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. After introducing each piece with some background on its composer (including excerpts from the composer's other work), Previn conducts the legendary orchestra in performances of symphonies by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.