The Legend of 1900

Rating:
Summary: Love This Film...no extras?
Review: This is a magical film. First saw part of it on a plane home from Italy. Didn't realize til near the end what I was missing by napping. FINALLY it comes out in DVD. Beautiful story, BRILLIANT music (and faking...take it from a professional pianist!!!!!!) Oh, how I'd love to see/hear the little backstage tidbits that mark the usual DVD versions!!!!!! I know Tim Roth spent 6 months training for this. Wouldn't you LOVE to hear what he thought/learned?!?!?!? This is a prescious film. Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: ah-at last!
Review: I, like one of the other reviewers, briefly saw this on a transatlantic plane-ride...but didn't realize til halfway thru (and less than 1/2 hour out of JFK) what it was, not having my headphones on!, til too late. I searched the web for months and months afterwards trying to find it. FINALLY it has been released, and what a gem it is. I didn't realize it was by the director of CINEMA PARADISO (another MUST-SEE), but it totally makes sense. First of all, as a pianist, I can tell you that the piano "faking" by Roth and Williams is FABULOUS! (We won't go into the trumpet mimicry, although I think Pruitt Taylor Vince is a major talent.) And the pianists and piano music for the film's soundtrack are spectacular. This is a magical, mystical fairytale type story. It would make a mesmerizing stage musical, and I hope to see that someday. If you love magical,romantic, witty and intelligent fables, this is for you. The original Italian novel (NOVECENTO) has yet to be translated into English, which is a shame, because it's VERY short and should have come out with the US release. Although there are no extra features on the DVD, enjoy!Tim Roth at his BEST!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I have ever seen...
Review: I don't cry at movies--ever. But this one brought me to tears. There are no great tragedies, no huge twists of fate, no massive deus ex machina to put everything right or smite anyone down. It's just a fairy tale of sorts, the simple yet extraordinary story of a man who could play piano like a god, but never quite figured out where he fit into life. This film proves beyond a doubt Tim Roth's talent and versatility as an actor; he is outstanding. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, "The Legend of 1900" is well worth anyone's time. It is simply incredible.

Rating:
Summary: Why the "R" rating?
Review: Great movie - couldn't remember why the "r" rating though....

Rating:
Summary: The opening scene gave me chills!
Review: Imagine a ship full of immigrants at the turn of the 20th century sailing through a fog, when suddenly one man looks up and begins shouting ecstatically when he sees the Statue of Liberty emerge from the mist... This sets the stage for what turns out to be a story of a musical genius who lives his entire life onboard a tran-atlantic oceanliner.

There are scenes that I will never forget in this film. A piano duel with the father of Jazz, a spontaneous composition when the hero sees a beautiful woman through a porthole, and many more.

This is beautiful cinematography, excellent stroytelling, and incredible musical scoring.

This is one you will watch over and over again!

Rating:
Summary: If Only People Knew...
Review: I first heard about this movie from my father who saw it on a plane and loved it. At that time it was unreleased in the US but I, somehow and oddly enough, was able to see it on a cable movie channel. I LOVED the movie and had to see it again. I was so excited to see that amazon was carrying such a beautiful movie that has, undoubtedly, not receieved nearly enough recognition. The Legend of 1900 is one of the most amazing movies that I have seen and has an amazing soundtrack to accompany it. Why this movie has not recieved the recognition it deserves, I do not know. But I do know that this movie is an amazing story that is unique and incredible. Today's films are lacking everything that his movie has. An amazing cast, good music and more importantly an orginal and captive plot line that has you paying full attention all the way through. Bravo to Tim Roth for a beautiful, beautiful performance in this magnificent film.

Rating:
Summary: A nice start to the century
Review: In today's cynical Hollywood, magic in the movies is usually limited to the special effects department. What a treat it is for us to get an English language film from the creator of CINEMA PARADISO and have it deliver a different kind of magic. Giuseppe Tornatore uses the movie camera and the films performers the way a magician creates spectacular illusions. Although not the greatest of his films, this is still a charming, adventurous piece of film.

1900 was abandoned as a baby onboard a luxury cruise liner, and he has never left its confines. Although he is not a worldly man and has a limited education, he is in many ways a savant. Especially when it comes to tickling the ivories. In fact, his piano playing is so remarkable that it could easily be his ticket to a great life on terra firma. But, is that the life he is seeking?

Tim Roth plays the oddly named 1900 with extreme class. He stalks the ship like the Phantom of the Opera, comfortable with its limitations. And when he takes a friend for a ride on his unanchored piano during extremely choppy seas we see his sea legs are limitless. Occasionally, his comforts are challenged. First, an egotistical Jelly Roll Morton demands a piano duel. Again, Tornatore pulls all the stops out during the challenge. But 1900 finds his greatest concern is internal when he falls in love with a passenger.

THE LEGEND OF 1900 is an inventive story filled with unique filmmaking but at films end, the story seems very slight, a character study on an epic scale. The DVD has a great widescreen video transfer and the audio is great. Especially focusing on the beautiful musical score by Ennio Morricone. This is a nice film.

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood: please, please, please take note:
Review:
Give us MORE of this sort of movie.

Not because of the cinematography, or the special effects, or the "star billing" but because this film captures an emotion that we are all familiar with and portrays it so excellently.

Tim Roth steps out of his Tarantino mold and does a SUPERB job of capturing the essence of an ellusive and eccentric and talented musician... and (to the credit of another fav of mine) "all that that implies..."

My wife picked this up because it looked like it was "outside the usual pale of [hollywood] orthodoxy." And man was it ever.

Just the ordinary story of an extraordinary person - even if it is a fiction.

Completely riveting from start to finish.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Special Film
Review: After Cinema Paradiso, I thought Giuseppe Tornatore had peaked. Wow, was I wrong. The Legend of 1900 is a rich and moving film that is sure to capture the hearts and minds of the viewer. Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Clarence Williams III, among others, perform at their very best and the soundtrack rivals any soundtrack in recent memory. With early Jazz and Big Band tracks, the music with take you to a place and time, we seldom get to see or remember. Please do yourself a favor and watch:The Legend of 1900

Rating:
Summary: terrific movie
Review: This is a sort of fantasy, or fable. Roth plays the title character, who is abandoned as a baby on an ocean liner, right at the turn of the century, and is fancifully given "1900" as a surname by the stoker who finds him. He spends his whole life on the ship, never setting foot on land, and becomes a fantastically accomplished pianist. Vince plays his friend, a trumpeter who is a fellow musician in the ship's band.
He narrates some of the story, to a music store owner (Peter Vaughan) to whom he sells his trumpet, and in whose store he finds the only copy of the only recording ever made by his friend; and to the man in charge of blowing up the now-decrepit liner after WW2.

I had barely heard of this movie, and rented the DVD without great hopes because I didn't see anything else on the shelves that much appealed to me. As it turned out, I loved it. It is visually beautiful, Roth and Vince are excellent, and the score by Ennio Morricone is great. It is one of those relatively few movies that I know I will want to watch again, probably more than once. There are scenes that are just wonderful, in which some action occurs or story is told as "1900" plays the piano.

I won't presume to try to nail down exactly what the movie is "about", but it touches on the social role of the musician, and the relationship of art and life. It is, admittedly, somewhat sentimental, and not all scenes are equally successful. But all in all, I think this is a really terrific movie.

Btw, dialogue is in English; there are no subtitles, for those who care.