Symphony of Living (DVD)

Virtuoso Adolph Greig is badly injured in a car accident and told by his doctor that he will never play the violin again. His ungrateful children, who have been provided every luxury growing up, see their meal-ticket gone and abandon the old man. Unable to support himself, Adolph finds himself homeless, wandering the streets. A decade passes and two orchestra members find a street person lying unconscious in a frozen alley, and are shocked to discover it that is their old friend, Adolph. They nurse him back to health and set him up as a violin teacher. One day a student prodigy enters his studio and presents him with an undreamt of chance for redemption.

Al Shean, of the famed vaudeville duo "Gallagher & Shean," turns in a fine performance as Adolph Greig, the violinist abandoned by his children. Uncle to the Marx Brothers, Shean is said to have written some of their earliest jokes and helped guide their start in show business. He is best known for his performances in Music In The Air (1934), San Francisco (1936) and The Great Waltz (1938). Gorgeous, tough as nails, Evelyn Brent was 30 years old when she made Symphony Of Living, co-starring as the ingrate daughter. She would go on to a busy career in supporting roles, most notably in Holt of the Secret Service (1941), before retiring in 1950.

• drama