Prelude to Fame

Ty You really need to be into classical music to get any enjoyment from this film.The sight of a young boy earnestly conducting a symphony orchestra becomes by turns funny and tiresome.If they had cut out the concert scenes it might have given the story more of a chance to come through.As it is it is overwhelmed by the music.No wonder the boy was suicidal.

Guido is just an average little boy whose father jokingly says has the musical ear of a goat, but the truth is in fact the opposite, as Guido's friend Nick's father finds out. Guido actually has an astonishing musical ear, and when neighbour Signora Bondini finds out, she insists that the boy be taken to Naples and taught musical properly. Guido ends up realising her dream and becomes an astounding success, and the world's youngest conductor, but at great toll on his personal life. The signora's intentions start of well enough, but before long it is obvious to all but her that she is pushing the little boy too far, and the consequences could be dreadful.. Not a bad movie, though there are far too many scenes of just the boy conducting his orchestra. OK, so he's a genius, but do we really need about a half hour of just the music? ;-)

Aldous, Brave New World, and then this?? I was completely enthralled with this storyline given my penchant for classic orchestration. I attend many concerts at Disney Hall in Los Angeles which represents the finest of acoustic accommodations. I rarely get to see and hear such selections of fine composition on screen and was delighted to see a young boy attempt a conductor's role. I wondered how he prepared for his scenes, they were almost convincing but the prodigy label prevented any realistic interpretation. I found the ending endearing but abrupt expecting this to be a true story ala Mozart. Fine job of portraying close family interaction, social climbing, boy meets big world, and man finds strength to save a life. High recommend for an account of how to interpret musical scores and a sneak peak behind the curtain of conductor presence.

Hey I'm a sucker for these mid-20th century British films. This is a good one especially the last half of the film. The film starts out a little slow in the beginning, especially if you're not a classical music fan (as I'm really not), but keep watching, don't give up on it. It builds to a nice crescendo in the end. The boy (Guido) really does an impressive acting job, as does the lady who is there guiding Guido's career musical path. Not to say that the film doesn't have an issue. The producers of the film obviously enjoyed classical music (an perhaps spent a little more time on the music than some may like) but this music was very popular during the time period when the movie was released. if you like British films made in the 1950s, give this one a look. It's not a long movie at just 87 minutes and I think well worth watching.