The Young Chopin

(Poland, 1951, Black and White, English subtitles).

This film was directed by Alek-sander Ford, probably better known for Five Boys From Barska Street, a study in juvenile delinquency. The music, played on the piano by Halina Stefanska, includes liberal helpings of Mozart and Bach as well as Chopin's contemporaries.

The reviewer in the London 'Times" said of this picture "(It has) real feeling ana reverence for music ... its passion for the arts is more than celluloid deep."

Although the film sets the great composer against the background of history, not for a moment do we lose sight of Chopin as a man. We see him in school, among his friends, in his family circle, in contact both with the leading musical personalities of the dad and with the simple people of town and country, and, finally, in the throws of his first love affair.

(The Young Chopin will be screened on June 28).