Review: The Magic Bow

Stewart Granger (and his not terribly flattering wig) stars as Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini who falls for wealthy woman Phyllis Calvert and earns the ire of foppish soldier Dennis Price. Jean Kent plays aspiring singer Antonia Bianchi, whilst Cecil Parker plays Paganini’s manager and friend, and Felix Aylmer appears briefly as a composer who offers Paganini a Stradivarius if he can play a supposedly near-impossible piece on the spot.

 

A very serious, imperious-looking Stewart Granger is actually rather good as Italian violinist Paganini in this solid 1946 biopic from director Bernard Knowles (more known to me as a cinematographer on several early Hitchcock films like “The 39 Steps” and “Sabotage”). Critics didn’t take favourably to this one, but I rather like it. I don’t believe a moment of it to be remotely true of course, but if taken as more of a Stewart Granger film than an accurate biopic, it does the job just nicely. Yes it’s a bit silly that Stewart’s Paganini gets challenged to a duel at one point and the scene is rather dopey (this is pre-swashbuckling Granger, and he’s playing a bloody violinist!). However, I think this one’s a bit underrated on the whole.

 

Stewart is solid in the lead, Phyllis Calvert is lovely, Jean Kent has a good role, and Cecil Parker gives one of his best-ever performances. I would’ve liked larger roles for Felix Aylmer and a foppish Dennis Price, but otherwise I have few complaints if any.

 

An entertaining romantic costume drama with a really solid cast and an enjoyable, if not likely very fact-based story. It’s no “Song of Love”, but this one’s underrated, and a must for Stewart Granger fans. The screenplay is by Roland Pertwee (“The Ghoul” with Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger) and Norman Ginsbury (who mostly wrote for TV and the stage), from a novel by Manuel Komroff.

 

Rating: B-

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