Carnegie Hall

Some of the top classical names of the 20th century caught in their prime prove the main attraction here. There's also an uninvolving connecting narrative that focuses on Hunt as she works her way up from cleaner to chief booking agent at the legendary New York concert hall, fretting between times over the progress of her gifted pianist son Prince. All of which pales beside Pons' breathtaking coloratura soprano, the disciplined thunder of Rubinstein's pianism, or Heifetz's quicksilver fingerwork, and the excerpts delivered by other artistes for Ulmer's attentive camera. Swing crooner Monroe and trumpeter James, illustrating master Prince's leaning towards 'modern' music, look pretty trifling by comparison. High-toned fare from the itinerant Ulmer, not immediately recognisable as the work of the Grade-Z artisan of Detour.