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The Eddy Duchin Story

  • 1956
  • Approved
  • 2h 3m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
Tyrone Power and Kim Novak in The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:32
1 Video
28 Photos
Tragic RomanceBiographyDramaMusicRomance

The life story of the famous pianist and band leader of the 1930s and 1940s.The life story of the famous pianist and band leader of the 1930s and 1940s.The life story of the famous pianist and band leader of the 1930s and 1940s.

  • Director
    • George Sidney
  • Writers
    • Samuel A. Taylor
    • Leo Katcher
  • Stars
    • Tyrone Power
    • Kim Novak
    • Victoria Shaw
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    2.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • George Sidney
    • Writers
      • Samuel A. Taylor
      • Leo Katcher
    • Stars
      • Tyrone Power
      • Kim Novak
      • Victoria Shaw
    • 46User reviews
    • 15Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 4 Oscars
      • 1 win & 7 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Eddy Duchin Story
    Trailer 1:32
    The Eddy Duchin Story

    Photos28

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    Top cast54

    Edit
    Tyrone Power
    Tyrone Power
    • Eddy Duchin
    Kim Novak
    Kim Novak
    • Marjorie Oelrichs
    Victoria Shaw
    Victoria Shaw
    • Chiquita Wynn
    James Whitmore
    James Whitmore
    • Lou Sherwood
    Rex Thompson
    Rex Thompson
    • Peter Duchin, Age 12
    Mickey Maga
    • Peter Duchin, Age 5
    Shepperd Strudwick
    Shepperd Strudwick
    • Sherman Wadsworth
    Frieda Inescort
    Frieda Inescort
    • Edith Wadsworth
    Gloria Holden
    Gloria Holden
    • Mrs. Duchin
    Larry Keating
    Larry Keating
    • Leo Reisman
    John Mylong
    John Mylong
    • Mr. Duchin
    Gregory Gaye
    Gregory Gaye
    • Philip
    Warren Hsieh
    Warren Hsieh
    • Native Boy
    Richard H. Cutting
    Richard H. Cutting
    • George - Destroyer Captain
    Carlyle Mitchell
    Carlyle Mitchell
    • Marjorie's Doctor
    Richard Sternberg
    • First Boy
    Andrew Paul Smith
    • Second Boy
    Lois Kimbrell
    • Nurse
    • Director
      • George Sidney
    • Writers
      • Samuel A. Taylor
      • Leo Katcher
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews46

    6.82.2K
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    Featured reviews

    JRme-2

    It's the music, after all!

    The "Eddy Duchin Story" was one of the nicest movies to ever come out of Hollywood. I remember my father taking my mother to see it at least half dozen times. Reason? The music.

    For a number of years we had the old soundtrack LP around and if anyone knows where I can get a copy of this on either CD or cassette, I would be eternally grateful for the information.

    If I were a critic (and I have yet to have anyone adequately tell me how one goes about becoming one), I would not be so cavalier in dispatching this movie as a contrivance. If you do, you miss the point - the music.

    Lights!
    10edwagreen

    Heartbreakingly Wonderful "Eddy Duchin Story Shines" ****

    Eddy Duchin's music was so beautiful. He had a magic touch at the piano. Unfortunately, his real life was so tragic.

    Tyrone Power shines as Duchin. From his beginnings to success, Power evoked the right temperament in portraying this musician brilliantly.

    Kim Novak, just off an awful performance in the acclaimed "Picnic," the year before, gives a wonderful supporting performance as Duchin's ill-fated first wife. Who can forget her fear of rain and thunder? Who can forget that thunder scene in the hospital as her life ends?

    Victoria Shaw, as Eddy's second wife, is also quite good. She brings Eddy back so that life is worth living for him and is able to reconcile him with his young son, whose birth Duchin blamed for the death of his first wife.

    We are fortunate to have had such a picture made and the legacy that Duchin left-his playing as well as his son, musician Peter Duchin.
    7Doylenf

    Pictorially, it's like a lovely Valentine to Eddie Duchin's memory...

    TYRONE POWER does a remarkably convincing job at the keyboard and the camera seems to linger on his dexterity at the piano (on a dummy keyboard, of course) while the magic of Carmen Cavallaro takes over on the soundtrack. He's excellent as the brash and overly eager young piano player who eventually makes bigtime as a popular pianist, marries and loses his sweetheart, KIM NOVAK, with whom he has a young son who at first resents him after Power's desertion, then reunites before Duchin's untimely death from leukemia. That's the plot, in a nutshell, but it's the sparkling music that counts.

    The richly textured Technicolor photography of Manhattan and its settings evoke the time and period perfectly. I found KIM NOVAK's performance artificial and disturbingly unreal--as though she were affecting a series of poses--while Power is completely natural and appealing opposite her. Novak's performance here is a far cry from her work as Madge in PICNIC. The mood of the film becomes somber after her death and Power's decision to leave the country on tour, leaving his baby son behind. The conflict between Duchin and his son is what has to be resolved before the story ends.

    The handsome production values are all enhanced by the constant use of Duchin's music, either in the background or with him at the keyboard and these qualities make it one of the most enjoyable musical biographies I've seen in a long time.

    The film won four Oscar nominations and Power deserved to be included, but was not.
    10Lolly2222

    Music, Cinematography, Beautiful People, Great Actors, well cast

    If you like to watch actors who are skilled, have on screen chemistry to die for (and they do) and enjoy cinematography that might make you want to take a stroll in Central Park, then rent, buy, borrow this CD and sit back and watch it over and over and over again. This is a well adapted screen play that moves through a life, tells the story well and makes this love story very believable and of course tragic. Watch the life of an extraordinary talent and sit back and enjoy. Tyrone Power never disappoints and if you can capture his voice and keep it in a bottle, you would And Kim Novak is stunning, sweeping and is well cast. As Marjorie Oelrich she couldn't be more perfect. Also, besides being an exceptional beauty, she, too, has a lovely voice. In a very understated way, you want her to go on and on and on. James Whitmore always delivers. All cast members are charming. You'll love the actor who plays Lou Reisman, the orchestra leader at the Central Park Casino. Enjoy folks. This one is a keeper. OHHHHHHHHHHH, you'll be amazed at how well Tyrone Power plays the piano, or seemingly appears to be playing. The music!!!! Oh, the music.

    Now to the truth. There are many changes to the real story of Eddy Duchin. Peter Duchin was raised by Marie (he called Ma) and Averell Harriman. Peter's mother, Marjorie Oelrichs, died in July. Not as depicted in the film after Eddy Duchin's radio show from the Central Park Casino in the Winter, Christmas. The Harriman's are portrayed as the Wadsworth's. Why? I don't know why but if you read Peter Duchin's book "A Ghost of a Chance", you will get more of the inside scoop. Still a wonderful film.

    I don't believe the young actor Rex Thompson was even close to Peter Duchin's persona. But that's my story.
    7claudio_carvalho

    A Life of Music and Tragedies

    In the late 20's, the talkative newly graduated in pharmacy and aspirant piano player Eddy Duchin (Tyrone Power) comes from Boston to New York expecting to play with the orchestra of Leo Reisman (Larry Keating) at fancy New York's Central Park Casino. However he had misunderstood the invitation of the maestro and while leaving the place, he meets the wealthy socialite Marjorie Oelrichs (Kim Novak) that asks Leo Reisman to give a chance to Eddy. He plays in the intermission and becomes a successful piano showman. Two years later, Marjorie and Eddy get married and in the Christmas, Marjorie has a baby, Peter, but she dies after the delivery. Eddy rejects Peter blaming him for the death of Marjorie and only five years later he meets his son. With the World War II, Eddy Duchin breaks up his band and enlists to fight in the war. With the end of the war, Eddy returns to New York with the intention of getting closer to Peter but he sees the boy connected to his friend Chiquita (Victoria Shaw). When Eddy discovers that he has a terminal disease, he proposes Chiquita and they get married.

    When we see the biography of a personality by Hollywood, we are never sure that it is a true story or a fairy tale created by the cinema industry. Despite of that, the melodramatic "The Eddy Duchin Story" is a nice story of a man's life surrounded by music, beautiful ladies and tragedies. The forty-two year-old Tyrone Power has good performance and he really seems to be playing the piano, but it is funny to see him in the role of a newly graduated man. Kim Novak shines with her beauty, elegance and her sweet voice. Victoria Shaw is also gorgeous. The cinematography and the music score are awesome and deserved the nomination to the Oscar. My vote is seven.

    Title (Brazil): "Melodia Immortal" ("Immortal Melody")

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The music was played by pianist Carmen Cavallaro in his own style. He had a completely different, and more technically precise, style of playing than Eddy Duchin had. The orchestral arrangements and style of playing are also anachronistic - Cavallaro's of the 1950s versus Duchin's, typical of the late 1920s and early 1930s. (Duchin's orchestra also included a tuba and banjo). If you listen to recordings by both, this is clearly evident.
    • Goofs
      Eddy Duchin suffered from acute myelogenous leukemia. This blood disease would not have created the hand paralysis shown in the movie. The paralysis was done for dramatic effect. Eddy Duchin died at Memorial Hospital in New York City on February 9, 1951. He was 41.
    • Quotes

      Eddy Duchin: What I want to know is why! Why do they have to destroy a man twice? You work and work and just when you get... everything. When it gets too good they take it away.

      Eddy Duchin: Oh Chiquita, I don't want to die. I don't.

    • Connections
      Featured in TCM Guest Programmer: Humberto Martinez (2017)
    • Soundtracks
      Manhattan
      (uncredited)

      Music by Richard Rodgers

      Performed by Carmen Cavallaro

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 21, 1956 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Prica o Ediju Ducinu
    • Filming locations
      • Central Park Casino, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 3m(123 min)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.55 : 1

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