Paul Marvan (Hugo Haas) is a once-promising concert pianist whom we first see listening to a piano recital at the Carnegie Hall stage door. Dressed shabbily, we see him go to a Salvation Army hall where he plays piano for no one. In a flashback, we see Paul a few years earlier in Salzburg where he has won accolades for his performance of Chopin pieces. Rich widow Diana Fowler (Mona Barrie) thinks he could be a hit in the States and offers to sponsor a concert tour for him; he would start small (in Columbus, my home town!) and slowly build to an appearance at Carnegie Hall. Divorced from his pianist wife due to career jealousies, Paul has no ties in Salzburg so he accompanies Diana to New York City where he lives in a wing of her luxury apartment. Her children and her bitchy card playing friends don't quite approve of the arrangement but it seems rather innocently one-sided; she's clearly in love while he's focused on his piano playing. He feels bad about asking her for more favors, primarily needing money to pay for the insurance on his hands, but she never turns him down. Alone at a club one night, fussing about his table and chair, he unwittingly spoils the timing of Margo (Cleo Moore), the performing dancer. She thinks he did it on purpose and when she finds out who he is, she goes to his recital, intending to spoil it by fussing and making noises, but she becomes wrapped up in his playing and winds up getting his autograph and meeting him for drinks. One thing leads to another and, both admiring him but also sensing that he might make a good meal ticket, Margo breaks up with her dancing partner Carlo and moves in with Paul, eventually marrying him. Diana is not happy but remains faithful and continues to supply him with money when needed. After a leg of his concert tour is canceled due to weather-related disasters, his career dreams begin to fade and Margo goes back into show business in a musical that her former partner Carlo is choreographing. Driven by desperation and remembering his hand insurance, he deliberately sticks his hand in a printing press, mangling it so he can't use it. But the insurance claim is turned down when the company becomes suspicious. We return to the beginning of the film, with Paul playing in the Salvation Army hall with one hand. Could some kind of happy ending be in store for him?
Hugo Haas made a name as director, writer, and star in B-picture melodramas which usually followed the outline of this one in which he plays an older man taken advantage of by a young, sexy woman, often played by the blonde and buxom Cleo Moore (this was the first of seven films they made together). Moore's bad girl characters usually had some mildly redemptive quality, and here, Margo, though certainly a gold digger, is also truly appreciative of Paul's talent, and sticks with him longer than she needed to. She's also not the cause of his downfall. Diana is the character who is the most used; she hides her love for Paul and somewhat masochistically continues to help him out despite being largely ignored by him in the last half of the film. Some viewers on IMDb call this movie sad and depressing, but it's no more so than any generic melodrama of the era. In fact, against all odds, there is a relatively happy ending for Paul, and hope is held out that he might be able to play concerts again. The acting all around is par for the course, with Moore giving the best performance. Haas typically underplays a bit, which works in some scenes and doesn't in others. Barrie doesn't seem to understand her character and she reacts to everything with a blank, underplayed stoicism. Rick Vallin is fine as Carlo, in a role that should have been better developed. Though Diana's world is supposed to be high class, the film's low budget undercuts that with cheap sets that don't begin to suggest the world of a socialite. Otherwise, this is watchable, and highly recommended for fans of Haas, Moore, or soapy melodrama. [Criterion Channel]
