The Legend of 1900 (1998)

Good concept, poorly executed.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

...critics be damned...how can you work and get paid for watching movies and not like this movie? as a testament, even with the critics hating it the film is still solidly rated at 8.1 stars as i'm writing this review.no Oscar nominations for this film...in my opinion...best actor, supporting actor, best film, best director and best score..but alas...not one.the story itself has been reviewed to death already by other reviewers already so i wouldn't step there. what i can say is that the story moved me to tears on multiple occasions..heartfelt tears...i've watched just about all the good ones and plenty of bad ones too...none has moved me to tears so many times in one viewing. just about everyone that shed a tear watching this movie shed tears at different segments of the movie although just about everyone cried at the end.i watched the original version...close to 3 hrs. long and not the 2 hr. version. great story, cinematopgraphy, score and of course the direction.in my humble opinion...the director tornatore is a treasure on the global scale...i've watched a few of his films where i can find them and they have all stayed in my memory.againnnn....professional critics be damned for hating a masterpiece....not 1 Oscar nomination either...what a joke and farce the people in Hollywood are.

This is because of samar... I never rate a movie with 10 stars even my favorite movies and i always think about the impressive movie which will deserve the 10 rate... some times i think i will never rate with 10 stars and it will be just a symbol of perfection in my mind... But this time i didn't watch it alone...samar was with me in every scene even in the cast names...OK i saw samar face on the baby when dany found him on the piano and i imagine if she were here how she will smile and say some sort of sweet expressions like her...she will say that "i want to bite him in his checks" Samar was here when 1990 and max were in front of the piano dancing with the ocean...believe me when i say that samar was also dancing there...i feel her lightness in dancing there...The girl which 1990 was looking at when he was playing music...samar face was there...In every piece of music i feel the shiver in my cells when i thought that samar must like this piece of music when she watched the movie before....so all the music was touching me because of samar... This is my first time to write a review...and because of the IMDb rules of writing reviews that it must be more than 10 lines so i wrote all of the above... Also IMDb rules in writing reviews in English hand caped me to express... If there weren't these rules i think i would write one thing..." i feel all these sweetness because samar was here with me in my mind when i was watching the movie "...

The Legend Of 1900 is an imaginative story about a man who is born, lives his entire life, and dies on board a cruise liner. The man's full name is Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900. He has a natural talent for playing piano and shows his infinite music by using the limited keyboard. The charming story is supported so well by the incredible music, the excellent cinematography, and the wonderful manner of storytelling, that I can't see The Legend Of 1900 as anything but a success in which almost had me moved to tears. While I'll admit that I'd be watching films all day, no film in my recollection had such an impact so quickly, that was, when 1900 is challenged by jazz great Jelly Roll Morton to a piano duel, he meets the challenge and annihilates Morton with a performance that left me shaking and yelling. What's more, I got lost in thoughts such as "land represents for a place without boundaries, where people can get lost, a place without beginning or end", "does it really meaningful for us to chase the world not belong to our own?" To be frank, that's a matter of debate. As to me, I will choose the same way as 1900. Also there are some words impressed me deeply. For instance, "in all sprawling city there was everything except an end "As my honest speaking, there is no boring moment from the beginning till the very end. It's the greatest feast of emotions!

Seems a lot of folk that watch movies, have the mistaken view that if a film looks in anyway whatsoever 'different' it 'must' be good!. I'd imagine that '1900' must have made some members of the Italian fine Arts Council, and all those listed in the credits for pouring tons of money into this fiasco, want to hide themselves in the rest-room after the premiere. They must to this day, still be hiding the investment figures from any government auditors ~ following a massive $9 Million dollars, that returned less than $260,000. The version my wife and I watched was the international, running a seemingly interminable 123 Min's. To think that some poor souls overseas had to sit through 170 Min's is untenable. As it was, my wife kept asking how much longer can they stretch this ridiculously thin material? Perhaps the original Monologue by Alessandro Baricco (if it was short enough) may have held up, but as an overblown movie, not quite so.Director: Giuseppe Tornatore (and his bank-rollers) must have thought that after the success of 'Cinema Paradiso' everything he touches will turn to gold. But as this movies huge losses showed...all that glitters is not gold. And 'glitter' this movie does, big time. The sets are HUGE, but overdone to the point of being unintentionally unconvincing. Director of Photography: Hungarian born Lajos Koltai works hard, but the story and situations are simply so outlandishly foolish, that he can only attempt to add some visual saving graces. I would even go so far to say the word 'Fable' was added to the publicity as a last minute bid to salvage a complete wreak, following audience reactions.As a collector of Ennio Morricone soundtracks, I even found this score uninspired, as if he too knew this one was was doomed to failure.If you're easily pleased, and love 'Arty' pretensions, then you might enjoy this not entirely successful overindulgence. As with another film of director Tornatore; the very stylish, sex fueled, foul mouthed entry 'Malena'...I hope to never suffer either again. Maybe '1900' is OK for those that like to add their own depth to shallow fiction. It's also possible it might have been better if it had been given a way less excessive treatment ~ or even a better choice of stars (these look as if they're wondering if they've wandered onto the wrong set) it might then have come a little closer to working, but wouldn't hold out too much hope....