Strong and Moving!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't Believe the Hype

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I am a great-niece of Marjorie Lawrence. It's a very sad fact that Marjorie is best known outside of Australia. However, she was recently honored as one of 100 Australian Entertainers of the Century. It's also a bit of a shame that this movie is a Hollywood producer's interpretation of an American publisher's version of my Great-Aunt's life. The real family story is actually much more interesting. Auntie Marj never smoked a cigarette in her life - but it seems everyone smoked in the movies of the 50s. My mother and my aunt attended the world premiere here in Melbourne. I remember meeting Auntie Marj as a child in the 70s.

Eleanor Parker's third Oscar nomination came in 1955 for a musical, an opera, "Interrupted Melody." The film is based on the life of opera singer Marjorie Lawrence who, at the height of her career, was stricken with infantile paralysis while in Mexico to perform.The lovely film begins in Australia, birthplace of Lawrence. Against the wishes of her father, she auditions in a contest and wins.We see a variety of operas. Though she did not sing, Parker is excellent in emulating the voice of an outstanding Eileen Farrell, who sang for her. Ms. Farrell, who died several years ago, performed at the Met as did Marjorie Lawrence. Her beautiful voice is a further tribute to this excellent biography.The film chronicles the successes of Lawrence, her tours, her father's sudden death(Cecil Kellaway in an interesting but all too brief performance.)The film introduced a young Roger Moore as Cecil, her brother, who feels deep guilt for having his sister go to Mexico.Along the way, she meets her husband-to-be, a doctor, played very well by Glenn Ford.The second part of the film depicts Lawrence's struggle against the disease. Her despair, her attempted suicide and her rejuvenation are shown. Lawrence comes back to the Met to sing and amazes all by standing up after her performance.The film will leave us with those beautiful operas and a positive outlook on life despite such adversity. ****.

I was lucky enough to be channel surfing about 15 years ago when I saw a beautifully staged aria from Madama Butterfly on TV. Being an opera lover I stayed tuned to see what it was. It was the amazing story of Marjorie Lawerence- an opera singer who's career was "interrupted" by polio. The movie does follow her book very closely and the opera arias are just beautifully staged! They don't make movies like this anymore. Eleanor Parker does a masterful job on lipsynching to Eileen Farrell's tremendous singing! Parker does weird histronics occasionally like leaning backward on a high note, but it is still a remarkable job of lipsynching in 3 different languages. Eileen Farrell who plays a voice student in the beginning of the film actually does all the singing for the movie, uncredited as usual during that time. She does soprano roles, mezzo and sings in French, German and Italian and every aria is superb! Glenn Ford lends nice support as the husband who believes in his wife despite his idea of having her at home with children as opposed to a life of touring and singing in the kind of international career she has dreamed of and accomplished. Look for a very early appearance by Roger Moore as Marjorie's brother. This is a movie that can be enjoyed by anyone- the opera scenes are never too long and the major theme of the movie is the triumph of the human spirit.

The film does a fine job with the crippling illness of Lawrence and her comeback onstage, but most notable are the performances by the stars. Glenn Ford and Eleanor Parker were never better. Just superb. The scene where she tried to commit suicide and Ford stopped her, broke down, and asked God for help is magnificent and a must-see. Ford and Parker should be well-remembered as excellent actors.