Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

The Composer Collection

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

There’s a great typo on IMDB in the synopsis for this film.

His fork is transformed!?! Oh no! How will he eat!?!

Hilarious. Obviously it was supposed to say work but now I’m interested in Franz Liszt’s silverware! When is someone going to make that movie?

This is one of the infamous wildly inaccurate historical biopics of composers, artists and inventors that forcibly incorporate children into the script. I mean children characters are written into the story even if it makes zero sense for them to be there. Yes, I speak of none other than The Composers’ Specials!

Sadly, this installment was not as laughable as, say, Monet: Shadow & Light or Newton: A Tale of Two Isaacs. I actually found it rather charming even if it is a fictional account. The hook for children (a young Gypsy violin virtuoso) made sense according to the story and didn’t feel tacked on.

Franz and the Gypsy boy teach each other powerful lessons about life, love, and laughter… also music. The story has a decent mix of fun, intrigue and a bit of well metered drama. The acting is better than other installments of The Composers/Artists/Inventors Specials I’ve seen thus far. And the ending for this one is worth the watch.

I’m sorry. I know it’s probably more fun when I hate something and I’m sure someone would expect me to hate a 49 minute low budget semi-educational film. But sometimes money, runtime, and/or even the intention of educating can do little to dampen decent writing, acting, and editing. These films are enjoyable and at times emotionally gripping, even despite their shortcomings.