FILM 2039: HUMORESQUE

TRIVIA: John Garfield's violin "performances" are actually played by two professional violinists standing on either side of him, one to bow and one to finger. The actual music was performed by Isaac Stern. In Stern's autobiography, "My First 79 Years" (New York: Knopf, 1999; page 51), when the movie shows closeups of the hands alone playing the violin (without Garfield in the frame), those are Stern's hands. Somewhere, there must be a bootleg medium shot of the 3 actors combining body parts to give the impression that Garfield is actually playing. It would be most interesting to see.

For the scene where Helen falls off the horse, Joan Crawford claims that she performed the stunt herself, and, relieved that it had gone well, she nevertheless was forced to do the stunt again when it was decided that Paul (John Garfield)'s rushing over and laying on top of her was too racy. It was reshot, and instead, Helen lies on top of Paul. Crawford later remarked: "I couldn't really understand what was the difference, him on top of me or me on top of him. Well, the difference was I had to fall off the horse again. I did, and I lived to tell the tale." An HD freeze frame tells the truth: it was a stunt double who falls off the horse.

The famous beach scene at the end of the movie was recreated by Madonna in her 1998 music video "The Power of Good-Bye".

In 2013 on Piers Morgan Tonight (2011), to promote his autobiography, Robert Blakerelated that when he was playing John Garfield as a boy in this film, there was a scene he could not get right. Garfield cleared the set and directed Blake himself. After the scene was finished, Garfield told the nine-year-old. "Robert, remember this for the rest of your life. Your life is a rehearsal. Your performance is real."

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