New Wine
Cast & Crew
Reinhold Schunzel
Ilona Massey
Alan Curtis
Binnie Barnes
Albert Basserman
Billy Gilbert
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Vienna, circa 1820, Franz Schubert, an aspiring composer, is forced to resign his position as a mathematics professor because of his unconventional teaching methods. Later that evening, soldiers arrive at the local tavern with orders to escort the unemployed Franz and his bohemian friends to the barracks for mandatory conscription in the Emperor's army. A brawl breaks out and, with the help of his kindly landlord and friend Poldi, Franz manages to escape across the border into Hungary. Destitute and hungry, Franz seeks employment on a large country estate and is hired as a sheepshearer. While wrestling with a recalcitrant animal, Franz encounters a proud young Hungarian woman named Anna who, unknown to him, is the manager of the estate. Franz is fired for incompetence on his first day, but Anna, feeling sorry for him, gives him room and board for the night. That evening, Franz charms Anna with his skill on the piano and, before leaving the following morning, offers her one of his own songs as a parting gift. Impressed by Franz's talent, Anna finds him work on the estate as a bookkeeper. Soon after, the owner of the estate, a vain and simpering countess, orders Anna to begin preparations for a sumptuous ball in honor of the Archduke's imminent visit. The duke, an amateur composer, gives the countess his latest piano opus, and Anna encourages Franz to perform the piece at the ball as a means of attracting a wealthy patron. At the ball, Franz attempts to play the duke's halting composition, but it proves to be so awful that he is soon improvising with his own music. The enraged duke orders Franz to stop, and after Anna steps forward to defend him, denouncing the assembled aristocrats as dilettantes unable to recognize true genius, the countess fires her. The conscription now ended, Franz is free to return to Vienna, and Anna accompanies him. Taking up lodgings at Poldi's, Franz devotes his time to composing, while Anna tries to interest music publishers in his work. When her efforts are unsuccessful, Anna seeks out the influential and greatly admired Ludwig van Beethoven for help. Describing Franz's music as "new wine," Anna eventually convinces the stubborn Beethoven, who is distrustful of inexperience and youth, to take a look at Franz's latest symphony. As he pours over the sheets on which Franz has scribbled the symphony, Beethoven hears the music in his head and is overcome by its beauty. Proclaiming Franz a genius, Beethoven promises to help, but advises Anna to say nothing of their visit until Franz has completed the symphony. When Franz declares his intention to return to teaching, Anna implores him to wait until he has finished the piece, asking him to present it to her as a gift for her upcoming birthday. A month passes, and when her birthday finally arrives, Anna excitedly anticipates Franz's gift, but Franz greets her instead with word of Beethoven's death, and is unable to comprehend the depth of Anna's grief over the news. To add to her despair, when Anna opens her gift, she finds not the symphony, but a neatly tied bundle of money that Franz has earned after secretly returning to teaching. Declaring that his symphony shall remain unfinished, Franz informs Anna that he has decided to quit "chasing rainbows" so that he can marry her and support a family. That evening, Anna sets off alone for Hungary, leaving behind a letter in which she tells Franz that he must not give up his dream on her account, for he would end up despising her. Gazing at an engraving of the Virgin Mary, Franz remembers that Anna once described his music as a "window to another world," and he then sits down to compose the "Ave Maria."
Director
Reinhold Schunzel
Cast
Ilona Massey
Alan Curtis
Binnie Barnes
Albert Basserman
Billy Gilbert
Sterling Holloway
Richard Carle
John Qualen
Barnett Parker
Sig Arno
Gilbert Emery
Marion Martin
Forrest Tucker
George O'hanlon
Maynard Holmes
Erno Verebes
Paul Sutton
Lou Merrill
Ann Stewart
Kenneth Ferrill
Lane Allan
Patricia Farr
Reginald Leborg
The St. Luke's Choristers
Crew
Howard Estabrook
Arthur Gutmann
Julia Heron
René Hubert
Nicholas Jory
William Kernell
Raymond A. Klune
Alexander Korda
Douglas Maclean
Walter Mayo
John Mescall
Erno Metzner
Franz Schubert
Sir Walter Scott
William Sekely
James E. Smith
Blagoe Stephanoff
P. Adam Storck
Anthony Dare Stuart
William H. Wilmarth
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The viewed print bore the title The Melody Master, which May have been either a re-release or television release title. The film contains a contemporary frame story which opens with a man and a woman, both of whom have been stood up by their dates, meeting at a concert featuring Framz Schubert's music. In the closing sequence, the woman has tears in her eyes as the orchestra and chorus perform the "Ave Maria," and the man informs her that Schubert died at age thirty-one, poor and unrecognized. They agree to meet in the future to talk more about the great composer's works. The main story as presented, bears little resemblance to what is known about the life of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and, apart from Ludwig van Beethoven, all of the other characters are fictional. A number of romantic stories have been inspired by Schubert's famous Unfinished Symphony, written in 1822 and containing only two movements, but most scholars believe that he either forgot about it, or abandoned the work due to a lack of inspiration.
According to a Los Angeles Times article dated October 29, 1940, Burgess Meredith was slated first to play Schubert, while Hollywood Reporter reported that as late as January 7, 1941, one week before the start of production, the producers hoped to sign Leslie Howard for the role. A January 10, 1941 Hollywood Reporter news item indicates that New York fashion model Elsa Deaner was tested for a role, but her appearance in the film has not been confirmed. News items published in Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety and Los Angeles Times a few months prior to the start of filming indicate that Ladislaus Bus-Fekete was writing an original script for New Wine; however, he is not credited onscreen and the extent of his contribution to the finished film has not been determined. Some exteriors were shot on location at the Guasti vineyards in Colton, CA. A radio adaptation of New Wine was performed on the Columbia Radio Network's Screen Guild Players program in June 1945, with Massey reprising the role of "Anna" and Paul Henried playing Schubert.
