I've Always Loved You

This 1946 romantic drama set in the world of mid-century classical music stardom features Philip Dorn (a Dutch actor who came to Hollywood during World War II) as the arrogant, womanizing piano maestro Leopold Goronoff, and Catherine McLeod as Myra, the daughter of a fellow European impresario, who becomes his young protégé. When her debut at Carnegie Hall (a superb sequence, musically and dramatically) shines so brightly that it threatens to eclipse Leopold's fame, he banishes her from his home. Myra then turns her back on the piano to marry farm boy George (William Carter) and raise a daughter, but of course there's unfinished business with Leopold and an unfulfilled professional career. What appears on the surface to be a trifling romantic melodrama actually offers a mature look at love, commitment, and responsibility. Director Frank Borzage's I've Always Loved You is driven by a belief in love as a transcendent power, and he masterfully uses music here as both thematic accompaniment and catalyst for the dramatic action. McLeod “finger syncs” Arthur Rubenstein's performance of the many classical piano selections, which include an extended presentation of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor. Costarring Maria Ouspenskaya and Felix Bressart (two excellent character actors featured in numerous Hollywood classics), this is not a well-known film (and the leads are practically unknown), but it's visually beautiful, and boasts a rich soundtrack performed by one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)