Intermezzo (also called Intermezzo: A Love Story) (1939) is a romantic film made in the USA by Selznick International Pictures. It was directed by Gregory Ratoff and produced by David O. Selznick. It is a remake of the Swedish film Intermezzo (1936). The screenplay by George O'Neil was based on the screenplay of the original film by Gösta Stevens and Gustaf Molander. The music was by Robert Russell Bennett, Max Steiner, Heinz Provost, and Christian Sinding. The cinematography was by Gregg Toland who replaced Harry Stradling.

It stars Leslie Howard as a (married) virtuoso violinist who falls in love with his accompanist, played by Ingrid Bergman in her Hollywood debut.

It featured Oscar-nominated cinematography by Gregg Toland -- later to film Citizen Kane -- and a stirring main theme in Heinz Provost's piece of the same name, written previous to the film's production.

Production

The musical duets, with Howard and Bergman, were dubbed for the soundtrack with professional musicians; however, the actors' hands show the actual music being played: Ingrid Bergman plays the full piano parts (for Edvard Grieg's "Concerto in A minor" and Christian Sinding's "Rustle of Spring"), so her hand positions are correct for the music soundtrack; Leslie Howard could not play the violin, but Ingrid Bergman explained the trick used in the Swedish film: 2 violinists held the bow & violin before Howard in closeups (one held the bow and the other held the violin), while Howard kept his arms at his sides.

1939 Situation

At the crucial scene where the film's two main protagonists stand looking into the river and realize that they have fallen in love with each other, Leslie Howard makes a casual remark on "the time when Vienna was a happy city" - obviously referring to that city being under Nazi rule since the Anchluss on the previous year.

The film (unlike some other Howard films) makes no other overt references to the Nazis or to the impended war. Nevertheless, in depicting the protagonists travelling - superficially happily and carefree, but with an ever present background of foreboding and melancholy - the filmakers could have hardly been unaware of the prevailing international situation and the already manifest possibility that this was the last year of peace in Europe (as indeed it proved).

Radio adaptations

Ingrid Bergman was in a radio adaptation of Intermezzo on Lux Radio Theater on January 29, 1940, which also starred Herbert Marshall. She was also in another adaptation on the same show on June 4, 1945 with Joseph Cotten.

Remake

It was remade as Honeysuckle Rose in 1980.

Notes

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