Humoresque Reviews

Humoresque would have better if a few cuts had been made, or if they had decided on a consistent tone for the piece. But, as it stands, it’s slightly campy and has its own kind of peculiar charm and luscious production values. The best way to sum it up would be to say this: Joan Crawford’s character wasn’t in the source material and was included only to generate star power for the vehicle. Without her, we might have had something a bit more intriguing and real, instead of so mannered and quirkily charming.

I’m not exactly a fan of Joan Crawford, I find her stiff and prone to campy hysterics which mar her performances and films more than she helps them out. To me she is a pop figure: someone who made it to the top through sheer willpower despite limited talent and a penchant for refusing to face the facts. (Check any of her later films where she tries to play things young and sexy when she’s clearly too old for that kind of kittenish behavior.) Her extended close-ups have the air of a star demanding, beating the camera into loving and desiring her. She wants nothing more than to be lauded with attention and applause from the camera, and the audience by extension. Her character is a drunken sugar-mama whose main goal in the film is to make masochistic alcoholism look as glamorous and wonderful as possible. Her death march into the ocean is inevitable, and played as high-camp theatricality. Even though she meant it to probably be taken as earnest and tear-inducing.

Humoresque gives us a great John Garfield performance to counteract Crawford’s scenery-chewing (that last scene has to be seen to be believed). Garfield tries to anchor the film in realism and offers up a study in a working class kid’s quest to become a great artist. There’s only one great love of his life, and it isn’t Crawford’s doomed proprietress. He nails the role, and Oscar Levant provides caustic and hilarious support, even if his scenes and character feels like they should be part of a different movie altogether. They play off of each other incredibly well and I found them to be more engaging a duo than Garfield-Crawford. Although the insults he lobs at her are priceless.

But the real reason to watch Humoresque is to hear the intricately composed and conducted pieces of classical music. There are about 25 musical sequences throughout the film, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, and each is astoundingly gorgeous. It took practically an entire village to make Garfield look like a virtuoso, but the effect works seamlessly. Lush and velvety, Humoresque is highly recommended for the production values, the music and Garfield’s nicely executed central performance. A bit too long, and slightly overindulgent in spots, it’s still a fine piece of melodrama from the golden age of those kind of weepy women's pictures.