Broken Strings (film)

Last updated
Broken Strings
Broken Strings FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Bernard B. Ray
Written by Bernard B. Ray (story)
Carl Krusada (adaptation)
Carl Krusada (continuity)
Clarence Muse (additional dialogue) and
David Arlen (additional dialogue)
Produced by Lewie C. Borden (producer)
StarringSee below
Cinematography Mack Stengler
Edited by Frederick Bain
Music by Elliot Carpenter
Distributed byInternational Road Shows, Inc.
Release date
  • 1940 (1940)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Broken Strings is a 1940 American race film, directed by Bernard B. Ray and produced by L.C. Borden. It has been described as "the all-black version of The Jazz Singer". [1]

Contents

Plot summary

Concert violinist Arthur Williams and his manager Earl Wells are involved in a car accident in which Arthur's fingers are paralyzed. Instead of playing at concerts he becomes a music teacher. He favors his student Dickie Morley's classical musical preferences over his own son John's, which tends towards modern swing.

Williams' daughter Grace is romantically interested in a man named Gus, and they both work for the same company that makes hair products, which is owned by a James Stilton. Stilton's son, Sam, is attracted to Grace and is jealous of the attention she gives Gus. As a result, Sam refuses to give Grace an advance when she needs to pay for her father's appointment at a doctor that specializes in neurology, Dr. Charles Matson. The doctor promises Grace that she can pay the fee of $1,000 later, when her brother John has raised the money.

Sam goes on to frame Gus for something he did not do, and when Gus finds out, both he and Grace quit their jobs at the Stilton company. Fortunately, Johnny is a big success at the Miller Café when he is playing swing.

An angry Arthur chastises his son for playing such, in his view, awful music, and punishes him by making him play the violin until he faints. Soon after, Grace tells her father that Johnny only played at the club so that they could pay for the neurologist and support themselves since she is currently between jobs. Arthur feels guilt over how he treated his son.

Johnny and Grace go on to enter a music contest broadcast on the radio. At first it looks like their performance will be stopped when two strings on his violin, but then he gets the idea to play swing, since there are enough strings for that. The rest of the radio musicians all start playing the same way, and the performance is a success. When his son wins the contest, Arthur realizes his talent, and starts to regain sensitivity enough in his fingers to applause his son. Later it turns out that Dickie had sabotaged the violin before the contest, for which he apologizes. Arthur continues his career as a violinist. [2]

Cast

Soundtrack

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin</span> Bowed string instrument

The violin, colloquially known as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jascha Heifetz</span> Russian-American violinist (1901–1987)

Jascha Heifetz was a Jewish-Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy and was trained in the Russian classical violin style in St. Petersburg. Accompanying his parents to escape the violence of the Russian Revolution, he moved to the United States as a teenager, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. Fritz Kreisler, another leading violinist of the twentieth century, said after hearing Heifetz's debut, "We might as well take our fiddles and break them across our knees."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double stop</span> Playing two strings at once on an instrument

In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performing a double stop, two separate strings are bowed or plucked simultaneously. Although the term itself suggests these strings are to be fingered (stopped), in practice one or both strings may be open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto (Sibelius)</span> Concerto in three movements by Jean Sibelius

The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 of Jean Sibelius, originally composed in 1904 and revised in 1905, is the only concerto by Sibelius. It is symphonic in scope and included an extended cadenza for the soloist that takes on the role of the development section in the first movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Nance</span> American jazz musician (1913–1976)

Ray Willis Nance was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark O'Connor</span> American violinist and composer

Mark O'Connor is an American fiddle player, composer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards and was a member of three influential musical ensembles: the David Grisman Quintet, The Dregs, and Strength in Numbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Szigeti</span> Hungarian violinist

Joseph Szigeti was a Hungarian violinist.

<i>Kansas City</i> (film) 1996 American crime film by Robert Altman

Kansas City is a 1996 American crime film directed by Robert Altman, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy and Steve Buscemi. The musical score of Kansas City is integrated into the film, with modern-day musicians recreating the Kansas City jazz of 1930s.

<i>Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star</i> 2003 film by Sam Weisman

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Sam Weisman and starring David Spade, Mary McCormack, Jon Lovitz, Craig Bierko, Alyssa Milano, and Rob Reiner. Spade portrays a child actor who fell into obscurity as an adult and who attempts to revive his career by getting a part in Rob Reiner's next film. In addition, the movie shows Dickie interacting with numerous former child stars, played by over two dozen actual former stars lampooning their careers, such as Leif Garrett, Barry Williams, Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis, Dustin Diamond, and Danny Bonaduce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regina Carter</span> American jazz violinist

Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Frigo</span> American jazz musician

Johnny Frigo was an American jazz violinist, bassist and songwriter. He appeared in the 1940s as a violinist before working as a bassist. He returned to the violin in the 1980s and enjoyed a comeback, recording several albums as a leader.

<i>Star Spangled Rhythm</i> 1942 all-star cast musical film

Star Spangled Rhythm is a 1942 American all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, generally musicals, frequently with flimsy storylines, and with the specific intent of entertaining the troops overseas and civilians back home and to encourage fundraising – as well as to show the studios' patriotism. This film was also the first released by Paramount to be shown for 8 weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Muse</span> American actor (1889–1979)

Clarence Muse was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a film, 1929's Hearts in Dixie. He acted for 50 years, and appeared in more than 150 films. He was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Dodd</span> Musical artist

Richard Dodd is an English cellist, recording artist and musician. He has appeared on numerous records beginning from The Three O'Clock's Album Sixteen Tambourines, and spanning different musical genres in Pop, with acts like Jonas Brothers, Vanessa Carlton, The Chicks Taking The Long Way album, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera and Taylor Swift and with rock bands including Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and on Aerosmith's album Music From Another Dimension, alternative acts including Silversun Pickups, Sam Phillips, Ryan Adams, and Jenny Lewis and British acts including Robbie Williams, James Blunt, Snow Patrol, The Last Shadow Puppets, and Paul McCartney's Egypt Station. He has also worked with jazz greats Eugene Wright and Al Viola, on the Hadda Brooks album "Time Was When". He appears Beyoncé's Lemonade and on the track "I Corinthians 15:15" of Johnny Cash's posthumous album American VI: Ain't No Grave. He continues to contribute his cello sound to bands like Band of Horses, and artists Weyes Blood and Father John Misty.

<i>Boots Malone</i> 1952 film

Boots Malone is a 1952 American drama film directed by William Dieterle. It stars William Holden as a down-on-his-luck sports agent and Johnny Stewart as a rich runaway who wants to become a jockey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz violin</span> Musical style

Jazz violin is the use of the violin or electric violin to improvise solo lines. Early jazz violinists included: Eddie South, who played violin with Jimmy Wade's Dixielanders in Chicago; Stuff Smith; and Claude "Fiddler" Williams. Joe Venuti was popular for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Improvising violinists include Stéphane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty. In jazz fusion, violinists may use an electric violin plugged into an instrument amplifier with electronic effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American fiddle</span>

American fiddle-playing began with the early European settlers, who found that the small viol family of instruments were more portable and rugged than other instruments of the period. According to Ron Yule, "John Utie, a 1620 immigrant, settled in the North and is credited as being the first known fiddler on American soil". Early influences were Irish, Scottish, and English fiddle styles, as well as the more upper-class traditions of classical violin playing. Popular tunes included "Soldier's Joy", for which Robert Burns wrote lyrics, and other tunes such as "Flowers of Edinburgh" and "Tamlin," which have both been claimed by both Scottish and Irish lineages.

Samuel "Savoirfaire" Williams is a classically-trained, American jazz violinist from Chicago.

Billy Contreras is an American jazz violinist and bluegrass fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, session player and educator.

References

  1. "Documentary offers look at early black films". The Jackson Sun . 1990-06-08. p. 37. Retrieved 2023-06-20 via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Broken Strings (1940) - Overview". TCM.com. Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  3. Nemerov, Alexander (2005). Icons of Grief: Val Lewton's Home Front Pictures. University of California Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN   978-0520241008.