Magic Fire (1955)

The life of composer Richard Wagner (Alan Badel) from a struggling composer to success to exile in Switzerland to resurgence as friend to King Ludwig II (Gerhard Riedmann) to his death. Can a film do justice to a composer by cramming 50 years of life into less than 2 hours? Not hardly. The emphasis of the film seems to be the women in his life, his wives and mistresses along with generous doses of pieces of his operas. Erich Wolfgang Korngold supervised and adapted Wagner's music and if you're a fan of Wagner (I'm not), the music might be enough to hold your interest. It's very choppy, one minute the poverty stricken Wagner is in prison for not paying his creditors then in the next scene is conducting his opera in a plush opera house. Republic studios was one of the low budget studios in Hollywood and this was their last attempt at a prestige production and nothing was held back. Location shooting in Germany and Italy, gorgeous sets and costumes and Korngold brought out of an 8 year film music retirement. The film avoids any mention of Wagner's infamous anti-Semitism and the film plays loose with the facts. In the movie, Wagner dies while composing PARSIFAL while in actuality the opera had premiered while he was still alive. Among the women, Yvonne De Carlo fares best as his first wife. She's not an adoring doormat swooning at his every move. Directed by William Dieterle (HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME). With Rita Gam, Valentina Cortese, Carlos Thompson and Peter Cushing.