Pure classic melodrama at it's best! Joan Crawford and John Garfield star in their most shinning roles as actors.The plot and storyline is very difficult to make entertaining in this movie but these two professionals bring it to life. And Oscar Levant is the icing on the cake. By all means if you get a chance to see this movie with these two Hollywood legendary actors and a script that is in any description more than brilliant - please watch it.A rare treat for classic Hollywood movie fans.

BEAUTIFULLY shot. Great musical performances. Witty and humorous lines, Oscar Levant got some pretty good one-liners. Joan Crawfords was gorgeous as ever! Even though her eyebrows were a little too thick (I find her eyebrows perfect in A Woman's Face). However the story doesn't really hold up, nor does the characters. Especially the mother? probably the worst mother on earth. Gina? Her role is very ineffective. Helen? I felt this role was too weak for Crawford, also very unreasonable. The acting was also stiff and contrived. John Garfield as a violinist wasn't convincing to me (maybe he's too deadpan?), and there's no chemistry between him and Crawford.

In New York, the performance of the virtuoso violinist Paul Boray (John Garfield) is cancelled. In his apartment, Paul recalls when he was a boy and chooses a violin as a birthday gift from his working class parents. Paul dedicates his youth playing violin studying in the National Institute Orchestra with Professor Rozner and dreams on becoming a concert violinist. During the Great Depression, Paul overhears a conversation of his father and his older brother about his dedication to the violin and seeks out his best friend Sidney Jeffers (Oscar Levant) asking for a job.Sid introduces Paul to the wealthy Helen Wright (Joan Crawford) and her husband Victor Wright (Paul Cavanagh) in a party. Helen is an unhappy alcoholic woman that sees that Paul is a talented violinist and brings him to work with the influent agent Bauer (Richard Gaines). His career starts to take off and Paul becomes her protégée. Sooner they have a love affair and they fall in love with each other. But Helen is jealous of the love of Paul for his violin and her insecurity ends in a tragedy."Humoresque" is a timeless romance for cinema and music lovers. The screenplay has awesome dialogs with unforgettable lines. When Helen gives a note in the theater to Paul, he is playing Carmen of Bizet and she feels like Don José and learns that she would never have the exclusive love of Paul since he is in love with his violin (and music). In the end, he is playing the tragic Tristan and Iseult of Wagner. Therefore, the film has many layers associated to the classical music. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Acordes do Coração" ("Chords of the Heart")

I've seen this film before but decided to watch it again tonight. After all, I couldn't exactly remember whether I liked it or not. But before it even began, I wondered by Warner Brothers cast the film the way they did. First, Joan Crawford seemed a bit scary as the patron/romantic interest. Second, who would believe tough-guy John Garfield as a concert violinist? Despite this odd casting, is the film worth seeing? Possibly....possibly not.To try to describe the film, it's a lot like combining "Golden Boy" (the William Holden boxing/violinist film) and "A Star is Born". John Garfield has a gift--he's a world-class violin player. But on his way up, he attracts a screwy patron (Crawford) who manages both to help him and screw him up at the same time. For Garfield to break free and attain all he's meant to become, something has to happen to this ill-fated relationship (think 'Norman Maine').The acting is generally pretty good, but one serious problem bothered me. The film was so incredibly overly-dramatic. Towards the end, the combination of intense music, over-emoting and tension just about made my head explode...and I think the director seriously overdid it. It was, at times, almost comical--it was THAT intense. However, it was, apart from that a pretty good film. But, if the way this was handled is too much and you are not a huge fan of hard classical music, then this just might be one best skipped.