I first saw Humoresque (1946) projected large at the Castro Theatre at the 14th edition of Noir City (2016) and never got around to transcribing Eddie Muller’s introductory remarks; but, as it has been included on the program roster for Noir City 23, now’s as good a time as any to look back in order to look forward.
As synopsized by Noir City: “John Garfield and Joan Crawford make the screen crackle as a gifted violinist and his patroness who fall in love. The passion that drives the violinist sours, however, when Crawford’s character begins to exert her will in domineering and detrimental ways. A profoundly affecting film with an awe-inspiring score.”
I’ll start straight off by lowering my fedora to my chest to belatedly honor Bill Arney—“The Voice of Noir City”—whose jesting emceeship welcomed Film Noir Foundation’s founder and President Eddie Muller to the Castro Theater stage, often with a baritone bit of sardonic wit. Arney passed away on September 27, 2021 and was honored in memoriam by Muller, and it will be sad and admittedly disorienting to return to Noir City without his voice booming out over the audience. In retrospect, I am so glad I have his voice recorded so I can listen to it in perpetuity.
At the Noir City 14 screening of Humoresque, Arney welcomed the audience with his signature wry, wisecracking persona: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Noir City’s first classical music recital. Y’know, some local writers have been touting this year’s festival as an example of film programming genius, to which I say it doesn’t take a genius to show a Joan Crawford movie at the Castro Theatre. But seriously, here to explain why the film you are about to see is not a camp classic, the Czar of Noir himself—Eddie Muller!”
Hoping we were enjoying the afternoon’s “classical music recital”, Eddie relayed that Humoresque is one of his favorite Crawford movies and though, yes, Joan Crawford is the Queen of Camp, he doesn’t consider Humoresque to be campy. Instead, he finds it pretty serious.
[Before exploring the back story of the film, I reference back to Eddie Muller’s on-stage conversation with Foster Hirsch at Noir City 5 (2007) wherein they entertainingly discussed Joan Crawford.]
Humoresque was based on a very unwieldy screenplay Clifford Odets had written. He was also the author for Golden Boy (1939), which was similar to Humoresque in many ways. He had written a screenplay called Rhapsody in Blue about George Gershwin, but it was a little bit too unwieldy, so they incorporated a lot of Odets’ story that pertained to the character played by Crawford in Humoresque and combined it with an eponymous short story Fannie Hurst had written. That was how the screenplay emerged. Eddie drew attention to the way that Hollywood treated modern art in movies, with great irreverence, and poking holes in the pretensions of modern art and all that; but, they revered classical music. They treated classical music in the movies as if it was the highest form of art. That seriousness permeated movies made about classical musicians, as seen in Humoresque. They might have poked fun at the ego of the artist, but never at the art itself, which Hollywood presented as the highest form of artistic achievement. As an example of that, Warner Brothers paid Isaac Stern $25,000 to compose the score for Humoresque, and to be a musical consultant on the film. John Garfield studied with Stern so he could learn to play the violin for the film’s long shots. Eddie didn’t want to reveal how they accomplished the close-ups because he didn’t want to “spoil the magic.” [What Eddie didn’t want to reveal was that it was Isaac Stern’s hands filmed in the close-ups of Garfield’s character playing the violin.]
Eddie recalled that when he first screened a noir film in Portland, Oregon, and took to the stage afterwards to talk about it, there was a guy in the audience who—before he could say anything—stood up and shouted, “That was not film noir! That was romantic melodrama!” He stormed out of the theater. Humoresque is a romantic melodrama, Eddie conceded, making no bones about it; but, the way this romantic melodrama is presented, he explained, fits right into the high water era of the noir movement. Jerry Wald specifically asked for Humoresque to recapture the look of Mildred Pierce, which was what so many cinematographers and directors were doing at the time.
The last bit of business about Humoresque that Eddie offered apropos of Noir City 14’s overall art theme was that director Jean Negulesco was an art director, a painter and a popular photographer who, regardless, was unable to direct actors like some actors wanted to be directed, including Joan Crawford. She cried to Jerry Wald that she was not getting the direction that she needed out of Negulesco because he just let actors rehearse, watched, and said, “I like what you’re doing there” instead of actually coaching and directing them and not giving needy actors [Eddie cleared his throat to humorous effect] the kind of attention they deserved. When Negulesco learned of Crawford’s reaction to his seeming lack of direction, he went home and illustrated her character, he drew it and then presented his drawings to Crawford. He said, “This is my vision of Helen Wright.” Crawford completely understood her character from that point on. Jean Negulesco is a terrific director, Eddie asserted, who has made many noir films that have been under the radar because he didn’t have the A-scripts. But he got one here. Though some think Mildred Pierce is the high mark of Hollywood melodrama, Eddie suggests Humoresque gives it a good run for its money.
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Following up with some research of my own, Joan Crawford actively pursued the role of Helen Wright. When producer Jerry Wald warned her it was not the major role in the film, she responded, "I don't care, it's a delicious part". She viewed the role as a great supporting part and was confident in her performance, which is often cited by critics as one of her best onscreen works. In general, she was very proud of her screen creations and felt she gave one of her most nuanced performances in Humoresque. The role forced her to be subtle, a quality noted by critics in contrast to some of her more dramatic work. Crawford contributed to the character's presentation, notably suggesting the idea for her entrance scene where she takes a cigarette and is immediately surrounded by men offering a light, an incident she had observed with Tallulah Bankhead. An interview snippet from the set noted her efficiency, juggling a fitting and telephone calls simultaneously, leading director Jean Bernhart to jokingly compare her to Napoleon.
Humoresque screens Sunday, January 18, 2026 at Noir City 23 on a Warner Brothers double-bill with Young Man With A Horn (1950) both as a matinée (1:15PM) and an evening presentation (6:00PM).
