RHAPSODY (1954)

Elizabeth Taylor announces to her wealthy, disapproving father (Louis Calhern) that she is leaving his home in France to go to a conservatory in Zurich. She says she wants to polish up her piano style, but mostly she wants to be where her boyfriend (Vittorio Gassman) is as he finishes up his violin studies. Taylor gets a room in a boarding house where she hits it off with another first-year piano student (John Ericson), which triggers Gassman's jealous streak. Ultimately, Taylor bombs her audition, and as Gassman's studies become more intense, his ego grows. At a rehearsal for a concert with the Zurich Philharmonic, Gassman butts heads with the conductor, and decides that he shouldn't see Taylor at all until after the concert, which leaves room for Ericson to step in and spend time with her. The concert becomes a star-making event for Gassman, but when he starts paying too much attention to orchestra groupie Barbara Bates, Taylor tries to kill herself. Ericson devotes himself to her during her recovery and eventually the two get married, but it's clear that Taylor is still carrying a torch for Gassman. Eventually, the paths of all three cross again, and Taylor is going to have to choose between the now famous Gassman and the depressed Ericson.

This is a fairly slow-moving romantic melodrama which fans of classical music may enjoy for its interludes of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. The whole point of the film seems to be to showcase Taylor's beauty, and she does indeed look beautiful, both in her close-ups and in her colorful wardrobe. Gassman and Ericson try their darndest to compete with Taylor for focus (narrative if not visual); the handsome Gassman is more successful, giving a fairly strong performance, with Ericson (pictured with Taylor), more appealing looking than handsome, struggling a bit with the passive second-lead male role, but he's OK. Old pro Calhern is welcome in a couple of short scenes. Look for a young Stuart Whitman as one of the musical students. There's a fun scene early on in which Gassman and his buddies take over a small diner for an impromptu concert. I was impressed with the skill with which both Gassman and Ericson appear to play their respective instruments (especially the vigorous workout Ericson gives the piano in the final sequence), though the music is actually played by professionals. Of its kind, the MGM sheen makes it watchable, but probably not for casual classic-era fans. [TCM]