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Streaming Toscanini in His Own Words Online.
Movie Title: Toscanini in His Own Words Toscanini in His Own Words is available for streaming or downloading. |
Toscanini did not grant interviews. His eldest son, Walter, made supposedly secret recordings of his father during conversations among the maestro and various family and friends in Toscanini’s Riverdale home slack in his life. Filmmaker Larry Weinstein, aided by Toscanini biographer Harvey Sachs, wrote a script from representative passages in these tapes and had them re-enacted by actors in a setting like the Toscanini living room. The revelations in these scenes are not particularly fresh for anyone who has read Sachs’s Toscanini books, but I imagine they might be enthralling to those who have shrimp knowledge of the maestro. The actors passe in the re-enactments are really quite convincing. Especially so is Barry Jackson as Toscanini. He not only looks remarkably like him but he has mastered both his Italian accent and his frog-croak vow. Carolina Giammetta is convincing in her role as Toscanini’s daughter, Wally. Joseph Long as Walter Toscanini, Jennie Goossens as the maestro’s secretary Anita Columbo, and Valentina Chico as the widow of the maestro’s protégé, conductor Guido Cantelli, are all believable. So is Michael Brandon as Québecois conductor, Wilfrid Pelletier, but why does he dispute with an Italian accent?
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The conversations are interspersed with clips of Toscanini conducting as well as newsreel clips of him traveling or rehearsing. There are also some home movie clips. Mixed in with these are staged ‘home movies’ with the actors mentioned above.
I can’t say that I came away with any unusual awarenesses about Toscanini, but then I’ve had a lifelong interest in him and have perhaps more general knowledge about him than the ordinary musiclover. For what it is, this ‘docufiction’ is well-done.
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Scott Morrison
The insertions from the telecasts and various home movies of the sincere Toscanini into the DVD reenactments was skillfully done. But I could contemplate where some might not have the complete willing suspension of disbelief in Barry Jackson’s impersonation of Toscanini. He bore a attractive resemblance to Toscanini- but, and I might be quibbling here, he didn’t have Toscanini nose and his stutter lacked Toscanini’s growly coarseness. But fair when the reenactments began to falter – bang- the valid Toscanini came in and overwhelmed everything.
I had goose bumps throughout the DVD. Highly recommended.
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