Themes: Musician's Life, Rags To Riches, Dying Young
Main Cast: Tyrone Power, Kim Novak, Victoria Shaw, James Whitmore, Rex Thompson
Release Year: 1956
Country: US
Run Time: 122 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Tyrone Power stars in this tear-jerking biography of the beloved but short-lived pianist and bandleader Eddy Duchin. Boston-born Eddy Duchin (Tyrone Power) moves to New York City to pursue a career as a pharmacist. However, Eddy is also a skilled piano player, and when he meets pretty socialite Marjorie Oelrichs (Kim Novak) who hears him play, she encourages him not to short-change his musical abilities. Marjorie helps get Eddy a job playing at the Central Park Casino; his playing goes over well with the crowd, and Eddy goes over well with Marjorie. Able to support himself full-time with his music, Eddy asks Marjorie for her hand in marriage; she accepts, and soon Marjorie is expecting a child. Tragically, she dies while giving birth to their son Peter; Eddy, shattered by the experience, finds himself unconsciously blaming Peter for Marjorie's passing, and leaves the boy behind with his family and their nanny, Chiquita (Victoria Shaw), while Eddy and his manager Lou Sherwood (James Whitmore) head out for the first of many lengthy world tours. Years later, while serving in the Navy during World War II, Eddy realizes the error of his ways, and begins a long and difficult reconciliation with Peter (Rex Thompson), while falling in love with Chiquita. Eddy and Chiquita marry and budding pianist Peter joins Eddy on stage for an emotional duet; however, Eddy's new contentment with life is cut short when he contracts leukemia. Pianist Carmen Cavallaro dubbed in Duchin's piano parts for non-musician Tyrone Power. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Hollywood never did do right by musical performers when it decided to make one the subject of a "biopic." The Eddy Duchin Story continues the time-honored tradition of playing fast and loose with the facts, but at least it has a different tone than so many other films in this genre, opting for a soapish tearjerker approach rather than settling for a standard thin storyline that serves as nothing more than an excuse for presenting musical numbers. Duchin has its share of songs, of course, and they're the highpoints of the film, but much more time is devoted to plot. Unfortunately, that plot is tricked out with plenty of clichés and strung together with terribly trite dialogue; as a result, a potentially interesting story comes across as a series of unconvincing episodes, usually colored with artificially heightened emotions. Under the circumstances, Tyrone Power does as well as can be expected, despite the fact that he's too old for the opening sections of the film, a fact which makes his eager-to-succeed routine discomfortingly pathetic. Kim Novak turns in some surprisingly fine work, and she has a genuine rapport with Power -- something that cannot be said of Victoria Shaw, whose performance is grating and mannered. Duchin is not a bad film -- and it does benefit from some actual on-location shooting in many places, but it's also not terribly involving. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Mickey Maga - Peter at 5; Shepperd Strudwick - Mr. Wadsworth; Frieda Inescort - Mrs. Wadsworth; Gloria Holden - Mrs. Duchin; Larry Keating - Leo Reisman; John Mylong - Mr. Duchin; Warren Hsieh - Native boy; Jack Albertson - Piano Tuner; Carlyle Mitchell - Doctor; Lois Kimbrell - Nurse; Kirk Alyn; Richard Crane; Richard H. Cutting - Captain; Gregory Gaye - Philip; Joan Reynolds; Gloria Ann Simpson - Mrs. Rutledge; Brad Trumbull - Seaman; Richard Walsh - Young Man; Xavier Cugat - Himself; Peter Norman - Waiter; Arline Anderson - Guest; Ralph Gamble - Mayor Jimmy Walker; Howard Price - Range Recorder Operator
Credit
Walter Holscher - Art Director, Jean Louis - Costume Designer, George Sidney - Director, Viola Lawrence - Editor, Jack W. Ogilvie - Editor, Jonie Taps - Executive Producer, George Duning - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Composer (Music Score), Harry Stradling - Cinematographer, Jerry Wald - Producer, William Kiernan - Set Designer, Robert Priestley - Set Designer, George Cooper - Sound/Sound Designer, John P. Livadary - Sound/Sound Designer, Leo Katcher - Screenwriter, Samuel A.Taylor - Screenwriter, George Greeley - Musical Performer, Leo Katcher - Book Author
Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra recorded ten timeless standards for this collection, including "Nocturne in E-Flat," "Shine on Harvest Moon," "My Blue Heaven" and "Embraceable You." ~ Keith Farley, All Music Guide
The Eddy Duchin Story is a 1956biopic of band leader and pianistEddy Duchin. It was directed by George Sidney-helmed film, written by Samuel A. Taylor, and starred Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. The musical soundtrack recording, imitating Duchin's style, was performed by pianist Carmen Cavallaro. Harry Stradling Sr. received an Academy Award nomination for his cinematography in the film. It had four nominations in total, but won nothing. However it was one of the highest grossing films of 1956. Some of its box office success can be attributed to the appearance of Novak in ads for No-Cal diet soda. Novak became one of the first celebrities to be featured in advertisements for soft drinks, and each ad also featured a reminder to see Novak in The Eddy Duchin Story.
Score
There was a musical tribute soundtrack, played by Al Lerner, A Tribute to Eddy Duchin. Released by Tops Records, featuring the following tunes:
(A special detail from the vinyl record of this tribute is that it is not black, but is made of yellow translucent material, with some brown figures in veneer)
