The Legend of 1900
| The Legend of 1900 | |
|---|---|
 Italian poster | |
| Directed by | Giuseppe Tornatore |
| Written by | Giuseppe Tornatore |
| Starring | Tim Roth Pruitt Taylor Vince |
| Cinematography | Lajos Koltai |
| Edited by | Massimo Quaglia |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone Amedeo Tommasi |
| Distributed by | Medusa Film Fine Line Features |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 160 minutes |
| Countries | Template:Film Italy Template:Film US |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $9 million |
| Box office | $259,127 (United States) |
The Legend of 1900 (Template:Lang-it) is a 1998 film directed by the Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, starring Tim Roth. This is Tornatore's first English-language film.[1] The film is inspired by a theater monologue, Novecento, by Alessandro Baricco. The film was nominated for a variety of awards worldwide, winning several for its soundtrack.
Plot
The story is told in medias res as a series of flashbacks. Max Tooney, a musician, enters a secondhand music shop just before closing time, broke and badly in need of money. He has only a Conn trumpet, which he sells for less than he had hoped. Clearly torn at parting from his prized possession, he asks to play it one last time. The shopkeeper agrees, and as the musician plays, the shopkeeper immediately recognizes the song from a broken record matrix he found inside a recently acquired secondhand piano. He asks who the piece is by, and Max tells him the story of 1900.
1900 was found abandoned on the four stacker SS Virginian, a mere baby in a hand basket, and likely the son of poor immigrants from steerage. Danny, a coal-man from the boiler room, is determined to raise the boy as his own. He names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900 (a combination of his own name, the year, and an advertisement found in the basket) and hides him from the ship's officers. During the early years of his life, 1900 comes across an advertisement for a man with the initials of T.D; however, on seeing the advertisement and possibly 1900's biological father, Danny decides not to tell 1900 the truth. Sadly, a few years later, Danny is killed in a workplace accident, and 1900 is forced to survive aboard the Virginian as an orphan. For many years, he travels back and forth across the Atlantic, keeping a low profile and apparently learning the languages spoken by the immigrants in Third Class.
The boy shows a particular gift for music and eventually grows up and joins the ship's orchestra. He befriends Max in 1926, but never leaves the vessel, even when presented with the opportunity to fashion a new life with a pretty immigrant girl. Apparently, the outside world is too "big" for his imagination at this point. But he stays current with outside musical trends as passengers explain to him a new music trend or style, and he immediately picks it up and starts playing it for them.
His reputation as a pianist is so renowned that Jelly Roll Morton, of New Orleans jazz fame, on hearing of 1900's skill comes aboard to challenge him to a piano duel. After hearing Jelly Roll Morton's first tune 1900 plays a piece so simple and well known ("Silent Night") that the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz feels mocked. As Morton becomes more determined to display his talent, he plays an impressive improvised tune ("The Crave") that brings tears to 1900's eyes. 1900 calmly sits down at the piano and plays from memory the entire tune that Morton had just improvised. 1900's playing fails to impress the crowd until he plays an original piece of such virtuosity that the metal piano strings become hot enough for 1900 to light a cigarette. He hands it to Morton, who has lost the duel.
A record producer, having heard of 1900's prowess, brings a primitive recording apparatus aboard and cuts a demo record of a 1900 original composition. The recorded music is created by 1900 as he gazes at a woman (The Girl) who has just boarded and who he finds attractive. When 1900 hears the recording, he takes the master, offended at the prospect of anyone hearing the music without his having performed it. He then tries to give the master to The Girl who inspired it, but ends up smashing it when he fails.
The story flashes back to the mid-1940s periodically, as we see Max (who leaves the ship's orchestra in 1933) trying to lure 1900 out of the now-deserted hulk of the ship. Having served as a hospital ship and transport in World War II, she is scheduled to be scuttled and sunk far offshore. Max manages to get aboard the ship with the recording 1900 made long ago and plays it, hoping to attract 1900's attention. When it does, Max attempts to convince 1900 to leave the ship. But he is simply too daunted by the size of the world. And feeling that his fate is tied to the ship, 1900 cannot bring himself to leave the only home he has known. In the end, the Virginian blows up and sinks, presumably with 1900 still aboard.
The shopkeeper asks Max how the record got into the secondhand piano. Max says that he put it in there. Then, as Max is leaving the store, the shopkeeper gives him the trumpet and says, "A good story is worth more than an old trumpet," and Max walks out into the rain.
Cast
- Tim Roth as 1900 (Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900)
- Pruitt Taylor Vince as Max Tooney
- Mélanie Thierry as The Girl
- Bill Nunn as Danny
- Clarence Williams III as Jelly Roll Morton
- Peter Vaughan as the Shopkeeper
- Niall O'Brien as Harbor Master
- Gabriele Lavia as Farmer
Awards
| Year | Governing body | Award | Nominee and category[2] | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Camerimage | Golden Frog | Lajos Koltai for Best Cinematography | Lost to Elizabeth[3] |
| 1999 | David di Donatello | David | Lajos Koltai for Best Cinematography | Won |
| Maurizio Millenotti for Best Costume Design | ||||
| Giuseppe Tornatore for Best Director | ||||
| Ennio Morricone for Best Music | ||||
| Francesco Frigeri for Best Production Design | ||||
| Best Film | Lost to Fuori Dal Mondo[4] | |||
| Best Screenplay | ||||
| Scholars Jury David | Giuseppe Tornatore | Won | ||
| 1999 | European Film Awards | European Film Award | Lajos Koltai for Best Cinematographer (also for Sunshine) | Won |
| 2000 | Golden Globes | Golden Globe Award | Ennio Morricone for Best Original Score - Motion Picture | Won |
| 2000 | Guild of German Art House Cinemas | Guild Film Award - Silver | Giuseppe Tornatore for Foreign Film | Won |
| 1999 | Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists | Nastro d'Argento | Maurizio Millenotti for Best Costume Design | Won |
| Giuseppe Tornatore for Best Director | ||||
| Best Producer | ||||
| Francesco Frigeri for Best Production Design | ||||
| Giuseppe Tornatore for Best Screenplay | ||||
| Nastro d'Argento Speciale | Ennio Morricone for the musical research for composing the movie's original score | |||
| 2000 | Satellite Awards | Golden Satellite Award | Francesco Frigeri and Bruno Cesari for Best Art Direction, Production Design | Lost to Sleepy Hollow[5] |
| Ennio Morricone for Best Original Score |
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Awards for The Legend of 1900". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ "Camerimage: 1999". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ "David di Donatello Awards: 1999". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ "Satellite Awards: 2000". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
External links
