Marsha Hunt turns in a strong performance as a young girl who marries a very temperamental musician and that marriage which produced a son ends in tragedy. The film is set as the world's famous Carnegie Hall and we hear all the opera singers, conductors and famous period that the great hall gave us.Hunt, who works at the Hall, only wants her son to become a concert pianist, but as he grows up, swing music is much more appealing to him and this leads to conflict between the two. How the two eventually reconcile was engaging to watch. A beautifully done film with memorable music.

I don't know if any of this constitutes a spoiler or not but better safe than sorry. I saw this film for the first time yesterday (4/9/13). This film is chock full of unbelievably marvelous music. Just one instance: Watch Arthur Rubenstein's left hand piano playing. You won't believe that he could possibly sustain those chords without error. Unbelievable! This film held my attention until the final sequence. The trumpet solo by Harry Kames was well done but the music was unmemorable. It is important to understand the reason for this film. It is not the story line which was mundane. It is the music performed by some of the greatest artists ever. I'm in the process of looking for a copy.

WARNING: Do NOT show this film to anyone in whom you're trying to stimulate an interest in classical music. That's what audio recordings are for.CARNEGIE HALL is an interesting relic that allows us a few glimpses of some great musicians in action, performing their signature works. If you already enjoy the music and want to see what Heifetz, Rubinstein, Piatigorsky, Peerce, Pinza, Stevens et al. looked like in their heyday (as well as some lesser-known but significant talents such as John Corigliano, Leonard Rose and Nadia Reisenberg), you can probably bear to sit through this film.But Lord!, the non-musical scenes (and even the mediocre "57th Street Rhapsody" that closes the film) are just dreadful. Marsha Hunt was an able journeywoman actress and does as credible a job as can be expected, but she has little to work with in the way of story and dialog. The other actors (as opposed to musicians playing themselves or other musicians) range from adequate to awful. All the clichés about artistic temperaments and a child straying from the career path chosen by the parent are on display, and they were stale long before CARNEGIE HALL was made. The efforts to "humanize" Heifetz, Reiner and Rubinstein also are trite (not that they shouldn't be portrayed as actual human beings, as opposed to Hollywood stereotypes of classical demigods. Heifetz was more fun a few years earlier in THEY SHALL HAVE MUSIC.) Other than the documentary aspect of CARNEGIE HALL's musical segments, I can see no reason to see this film more than once. And unless you really care about classical music and the people who make it, even a single viewing is excessive.Idle question: Can anyone explain why -- in the scene in which the kindly Nora arranges for the young performer "Mary" to use the hall for her debut -- that Mary is shot from the rear, and we never see her face? Rather strange.

"Carnegie Hall" was made in 1947 and actually filmed in the newly refurbished Carnegie Hall. It's the story of a cleaner at the Hall named Nora (Marsha Hunt) who marries a pianist. He dies some time after they're married, and she's left to raise their son. She exposes him, by taking him to Carnegie Hall, to all of the great music and musicians, and he studies piano. The plan is for him to grow up to be a concert pianist. But he has other plans, and some of them include the pretty Ruth (Martha O'Driscoll), who sings with Vaughn Monroe. William Prince plays the adult son, and Frank McHugh plays an employee of the Hall who is a friend of Nora's.This is one long movie with tons of beautiful music done by some of the great artists of the time: Leopold Stokowski conducting Tchaikovsky's "Symphony in E Minor," Artur Rubenstein (whom I saw play in concert while I was in high school) doing Chopin's "Polonaise" and "The Ritual Fire Dance" at the piano keyboard, Jascha Heifetz and his nimble fingers on the violin for Tchaikovsky's "Concerto for Violin" - to name only a few. Singers include Ezio Pinza singing parts of Don Giovanni, Rise Stevens singing "Pres des Ramparts de Sevilla" from Carmen, and Lily Pons, in an exquisite gown, doing the Bell Song from Lakme, her signature piece. Jan Peerce sings "O Solo Mio." It's all wonderful, and a real feast for classic music lovers, but it isn't very cinematic, and the script is non-existent. It is great to have the musical performances preserved, however.Marsha Hunt is still with us as of this writing, and she was a lovely actress, physically a cross between Jennifer Jones and Barbara Rush. She gets the usual Hollywood aging of gray hair, white powder and half a line on her face.I suggest putting this on your DVR and fast-forwarding to the performances.