The Legend Of 1900

Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso regularly appears in Top 10 Films list. Although I have never understood the reason for this, The Legend Of 1900 could well be a contender for a Top 10 Stinkers list.

Simultaneously majestic and bathetic, it's a mix of Sergio Leone-style sumptuous visuals with sweeping camera movements and ponderously sentimental imagery and ideas. The subject, the story of a musical prodigy who spends his entire life on a luxury trans-Atlantic liner, is, to say the least, unusual, and is told in a series of flashbacks which keep breaking the narrative pace.

In the lead Tim Roth does a good job not to be swamped by the lavish production but he must have worked even harder at keeping a straight face with the cringe-inducing dialogue.Tornatore's first English language film (he might have been advised to get someone else to do the screenplay), the US release print was lopped to two hours from an original three. It's hard to imagine this being anything but a blessing.

 

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