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Melba (1953)

Posted: September 27th, 2012, 9:14 pm
by Fossy
Melba (1953)

Nellie Melba is portrayed by Patrice Munsell . The movie begins with Nellie droving cattle on her father`s Ranch. Actually her father was a builder and she grew up in Richmond, an inner Melbourne suburb. But of course we must have a good story. As with all biopics the real story is set to showcase the star of the show, and this movie does it beautifully.

An interesting aside—Nellie is portrayed whistling while running through a market . Patrice actually studied whistling before she became a singer.

With a feast of beautiful singing this is probably my favourite biopic, with So This Is Love (1953), Kathryn Grayson, and The Great Victor Herbert (1939) Susanna Foster and Mary Martin following closely.

Re: Melba (1953)

Posted: October 4th, 2012, 9:51 am
by moira finnie
Fossy, I have never even heard of this movie. Thanks for posting this mini-review. I guess the director Lewis Milestone agreed with you about the need for idealizing every situation for dramatic purposes. He was supposed to have said this film should have been called "Melba" like he should have been called "Napoleon."

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After looking this up on IMDb, I was really impressed with the cast surrounding Patrice Munsel: Robert Morley, Martita Hunt, Theodore Bikel, Sybil Thorndyke. I wonder if this United Artists movie might be in "copyrights limbo" here in the States?

Re: Melba (1953)

Posted: January 11th, 2013, 9:42 pm
by Fossy
I have just revisited my comments on Melba. I notice that there is a question from Moirafinnie. This movie is available on Amazon. The eight episode 1974 mini series Melba would be much closer to the true story. I apologise for overlooking your question.

On Oct 12 2012 Moirafinnie said.
After looking this up on IMDb, I was really impressed with the cast surrounding Patrice Munsel: Robert Morley, Martita Hunt, Theodore Bikel, Sybil Thorndyke. I wonder if this United Artists movie might be in "copyrights limbo" here in the States?

Re: Melba (1953)

Posted: January 11th, 2013, 11:52 pm
by Jezebel38
A film clip/excerpt from this movie has been popping up in this weeks television broadcast on the Classic Arts Showcase.I'd never seen the clip before - it was part of the Mad scene from Lucia. I'm not really familiar with Patrice Munsel, so I was trying to guess who the soprano was - had to wait for the credits. I just looked at the film credits on IMDb, and in addition to those listed by Moira, supporting cast also includes John Justin and Alec Clunes. Well, another movie to try and locate a copy of!