Humoresque Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Humoresque Blu-ray Movie Review

Sex and violins.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 14, 2025

Ambitious to a fault, Jean Negulesco's Humoresque is a sprawling melodrama about one man's rise from the slums of New York City to musical immortality. John Garfield and Joan Crawford, fresh off their respective roles in The Postman Always Rings Twice and Mildred Pierce, offer reliably strong performances and carry most of the necessary weight here. An overcrowded story and occasional pacing issues keep it from reaching higher, but during its most focused moments, Humoresque offers quite the emotional roller coaster and plays the audience like... well, a fiddle.

During one particularly dark moment in his otherwise successful career, virtuoso violinist Paul Boray (Garfield) reflects back on selected moments that got him there. His first encounter with the instrument came during a trip with his father (J. Carrol Naish) to pick out a birthday present, where he's urged by a piano player to follow his musical instincts. Dad would rather pay for a less expensive toy and pulls him back home, but his mother (Ruth Nelson) strongly objects and marches Paul back to the store for his desired gift. Childhood friend Gina (Joan Chandler) is there when he gets it and they reconnect at music school years later but, despite his obvious talent, most of his family doesn't think Paul's skills will pay the bills. Determined to make it on his own, Paul lands a job alongside pianist Sid Jeffers (Oscar Levant) in a locally broadcast radio orchestra... but he finds more luck at a posh party where Sid is invited to play.

The hostess of said party is wealthy Helen Wright (Crawford, who doesn't appear until well after the 30-minute mark), a patroness drinking her way through a third marriage to Victor (Paul Cavanagh) and, quite frankly, looking for a way out. She's immediately impressed by Paul's ability and confidence during an impromptu performance but is rude to him afterwards. The initial friction gives way to an apology of sorts and Helen soon takes Paul under her wing, using wealth and connections to help him get seen by a wider audience and even finding him a manager in Bauer (Richard Gaines). Not surprisingly, things eventually get a lot more complicated than that, much to the dismay of two women in Paul's life: his now domineering mother and lovely Gina, who's looking to make a second reconnection.

Humoresque is Hollywood melodrama with a capital "M", as it features a number of rather soapy twists while running its characters through the wringer. In a way it's the opposite of an early performance by Paul where he's nervous during the first half; the story feels balanced and confident at the outset and maintains a comfortable groove, only to slowly fall apart while gradually wearing out its welcome long before the home stretch. From Helen's spiraling behavior to the intervention by mom and Gina (and let's not forget the never ending one-liners of Sid, which get really old), the film's second half eats away at the good will it's built up and saps Humoresque's momentum as it chugs along.

Our main through lines during all of this are the performances by Garfield and Crawford, of course, not to mention Paul's briskly engaging violin solos that will likely leave new viewers completely transfixed. (These songs were really played by musical advisor Isaac Stern, while two other violinists performed the fingering and bow movements around Garfield's body, and the result is extremely convincing.) Sid's piano playing, which was actually all performed by the talented Oscar Levant, is another obvious highlight. Are all these combined elements -- not to mention a number of standout scenes and moments -- enough to recommend Humoresque as a whole to newcomers? Of course. It may not be an all-time classic, but there's more than enough here to make it a film worth (re)discovering on Blu-ray from Warner Archive, who as usual work their magic in the A/V department to make the film shine like new.

Humoresque Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Advertised as being sourced from a recent 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative, Humoresque looks as good as you'd expect on this striking new 1080p transfer from Warner Archive. As usual, the boutique label's light touch and proprietary method of manual cleanup does most of the heavy lifting here, wiping away decades of dirt and debris while maintaining as much organic grain as possible yet feeling smooth and film-like. Occasional focus issues aside, this is a consistently crisp and satisfying presentation that stands toe-to-toe with some of Warner Archive's very best releases from this era of filmmaking, and of course the end result has been dutifully encoded on a dual-layered disc and runs at a supportive bit rate with no obvious signs of posterization, banding, or macro blocking. It goes without saying that die-hard fans and newcomers alike will be enormously impressed with Humoresque's new facelift.

Humoresque Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Any music-themed melodrama better sound great, and Warner Archive's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix -- which as usual, splits the original mono track in a two-channel container -- delivers the goods with a clean and overwhelmingly problem-free audio experience. The dialogue, sound effects, and music (diegetic and otherwise) all sound solid with minimal clipping on the high end and only a few traces of age-related wear-and-tear, which were presumably treated lightly to avoid compromising the track's dynamic range. As usual, a fine effort that gets the job done.

Optional SDH subtitles are included (in ALL CAPS, unfortunately) during the main feature only, not the extras.

Humoresque Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with vintage poster-themed cover art and a few era-specific extras.

• The Music of Humoresque (9:45) - The lone retrospective featurette included here, this short piece features a handful of film historians and musicians discussing the film's themes, characters, and uses of music.

• Racketeer Rabbit (7:54) - The first of two decently restored Looney Tunes shorts starring you-know-who, this enjoyable 1946 Friz Freleng-directed cartoon takes place in an impromptu gangsters' hideout and features a few plot elements that would later be borrowed for the more well-known Bugs and Thugs eight years later.

• Rhapsody Rabbit (7:38) - Another 1946 short directed by Friz Freleng that would be "remade", this Bugs Bunny cartoon kinda-sorta predates MGM's Tom and Jerry short "The Cat Concerto"... but each was subjected to accusations of plagiarism from the other side. The case may be unsolved, but WB owns them both now.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:39) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

Humoresque Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jean Negulesco's 1946 film Humoresque is a musically-charged melodrama that features plenty of both, but one of these elements is more effective than the other. Luckily it's also aided by outstanding on-screen performances and the end result, while somewhat uneven narratively, remains decently entertaining. Warner Archive polishes the original nitrate negative to a shine with their new 4K-sourced restoration and also offers up great lossless audio and a solid collection of bonus features. This one's Recommended to fans and possibly first-timers too.