The Legend 1900

It is the turn of the century and aboard the passenger ship “The Virginian”, Danny Boodman (Nunn) discovers an orphan boy, whom he decides to raiss as his own son, dubbing him ‘Danny Boodman T.D.Lemon Nineteen Hundred’. 1900 is subsquently hidden on the ship as Danny fears the authorities will take the boy from him and grows up never once setting foot on land.

After his adoptive father’s accidental death, the boy discovers the piano - and is immediately able to play an amazing blend of jazz and ragtime with no training - a child prodigy, with inate ability. The adult 1900 (Roth) makes chums with a new addition to the ship band, Max (Taylor Vince), who is astounded at the pianist’s ability, and fomr there on constantly attempts to convince 1900 of the amazing career he might have if he left ship.

However 1900 is not to be convinced and stays long after Max
disembarks prior to World War II. By a series of fateful events, Max rediscovers “The Virginian” at the end of the war, a disused hospital ship that is about to be demolished. Certain 1900 is still living on the vessel, he hunts for him on board in the hours just prior to the ship being blown up in the hope that he will convince his friend to finally leave.

Many will have seen Giueseppe Tornatore’s academy award winning,
“Cinema Paradiso” and no doubt go into “The Legend...” with
expectations of a similar high quality film. Unfortunately, despite some strong elements that certainly provide some very nice celluloid moments, the film as a whole doesn’t quite go the distance.

The story itself is interesting and ‘fairytale-like’, with the
sceenplay being adapted from the theatrical monologue “Novecento” by Alessandro Baricco. As a stage monologue, I could see this working very well as so much of the script has a “one-man’s tale” feel to it - in fact much of it essentially narrated by Vince Taylor. On screen however this doesn’t translate so well. The skipping back and forth between Vince Taylor’s accidental discovery about the fate of “The Virginian” and the story of 1900, is an oft used device - a kind of race against time to tell the story before some fateful encounter or event might occur. This is a neat way to try and keep the audience in, but in a tale such as this, there is a central problem - the core premise of the film, being 1900’s inability to leave the ship tied in with his amazing piano ability, is too easily covered Thus, these themes were played and replayed over and over, which wasn’t enough to keep one absolutely inside the story.

Another flaw was some of the holes in the script/plot - how could 1900 exist so long onboard ship, entertaining cruise after cruise, and yet not until Max’s arrival have anyone try and convince him to leave the ship...and also be on board so long and not meet a love interest, or at least have wealthy dowagers after him for his looks and ability? There is also no sign of anyone in authority attempting to come onboard and investigate his background. ‘Minor’ issues these maybe, but to offer a water tight plot they should have been addressed earlier or at least explained away in some way.

There are certainly some nice cinematographic moments - the opening scene with the immigrants approaching America, and the reflection of New York in someones eyes...the ‘roving piano’ scene when Max first meets 1900...the piano duel...the scene where 1900 relates how he plays his music according to the people around him (nicely scripted also!)...the gramophone ‘hunt’ for 1900 in the closing stages of the film. These are offset by, of all people, James Cameron! Why? Because after a gargantuan effort like “Titanic”, it was difficult not to compare the two films when it came to sea faring scenes and it probably would have been a safer bet for Tornatore to steer clear of ‘big ship effects’ as they tended to look somewhat ‘cheap and tacky’.

The actors are all of a relatively high standard. The movie is
clearly a two hander between Roth, who is engaging and endearing, yet also eerie at points, in his childlike portrayal of 1900, and Vince Taylor (watch out for that scary eye movement and surely it’s difficult to miss the resemblance to Orson Welles) who I felt was sometimes a little caught up in over playing certain emotional moments, possibly at the behest of Tornatore. The supporting cast were fine in their small roles for the most, with Williams over the top in the best sense as Jelly Roll Morton, and the beautiful Thierry whose etheral screen presence will surely be seen again sometime soon.

What holds this movie together however, and rightly so, is the music. Morricone’s score is sensational and the piano playing is a delight to hear - I have a feeling that this film will be more remembered for its soundtrack than anything else. Not a movie to rush out and see - but one worth seeing, or hearing at the least! (Paul Bugeja--filmnet.org.au)