Biography of the famous--and notorious--Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini.Biography of the famous--and notorious--Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini.Biography of the famous--and notorious--Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini.
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations
Leslie Phillips
- Audience Member
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaStewart Granger had two tutors train him on posture, stance and playing the violin. The music was recorded by American-born Jewish virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin. He took six weeks and used two violins to create the masterful music heard in the film.
- Quotes
Nicolo Paganini: Forgive me, I'm in a bad temper.
Jeanne de Vermond: Perhaps I could cure it.
Nicolo Paganini, Jeanne de Vermond: I believe you could.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Ellery Queen: The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument (1975)
- SoundtracksRomance
(uncredited)
Music by Philip Green
based on a theme from "Violin Concerto No.1" by Niccolò Paganini
Featured review
Mr. Paganini, Sotto Voce
The Magic Bow is the alleged story of 19th century violin virtuoso and composer Niccolo Paganini as played by Stewart Granger. Granger looks the part and plays it well, at least what I heard of it.
I'm not sure if it was the film or the VHS copy I saw, but the music score drowned out the players during much of the film. It would have helped to have been a lip reader and then only if the players were facing the camera head on. The great Yehudi Menuhin did the playing for Granger and if this had been one of his concerts that would have been just fine.
After consulting the Wikipedia article on Paganini I found the Magic Bow to be quite a work of fiction. The plot has Granger as the young violin prodigy, seemingly content with his music and mistress Jean Kent who is also a budding singer. But one sight of Phyllis Calvert, a noblewoman quite a bit above him on the social scale and Granger starts losing sight of his career goals. It also doesn't help that French nobleman Dennis Price is also interested in Calvert and he's willing to back his desires up with a sword.
The article contains no mention of Calvert or Price's character, but in real life Paganini and Bianca did have a kid out of wedlock before they broke up. In real life Paganini never married.
I'm reluctant to criticize a film knowing that it could be my bad copy, but if it was the original film with the heavy handed soundtrack, be forewarned.
I'm not sure if it was the film or the VHS copy I saw, but the music score drowned out the players during much of the film. It would have helped to have been a lip reader and then only if the players were facing the camera head on. The great Yehudi Menuhin did the playing for Granger and if this had been one of his concerts that would have been just fine.
After consulting the Wikipedia article on Paganini I found the Magic Bow to be quite a work of fiction. The plot has Granger as the young violin prodigy, seemingly content with his music and mistress Jean Kent who is also a budding singer. But one sight of Phyllis Calvert, a noblewoman quite a bit above him on the social scale and Granger starts losing sight of his career goals. It also doesn't help that French nobleman Dennis Price is also interested in Calvert and he's willing to back his desires up with a sword.
The article contains no mention of Calvert or Price's character, but in real life Paganini and Bianca did have a kid out of wedlock before they broke up. In real life Paganini never married.
I'm reluctant to criticize a film knowing that it could be my bad copy, but if it was the original film with the heavy handed soundtrack, be forewarned.
helpful•112
- bkoganbing
- Oct 27, 2009
Details
- Runtime1 hour 46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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