Some Thoughts on the Chopin Waltz played by Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979)

Dragonpol

I started a thread on this very subject in 2004 in another place where I am no longer a member (see here: http://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/13665-chopin-waltz/?hl=+chopin++waltz) and I see from a search that this scene has only been referred to once in the briefest of terms on our community by one of our musical experts here, namely the incomparable @BeatlesSansEarmuffs. You can hear the full piece played beautifully here on You Tube:



...and here:



The main question that I have is: Was Michael Lonsdale as Hugo Drax in the film actually playing the grand piano or was it dubbed and was he "in character" actually meant to be playing the piano or was it one of those fancy pianos that plays on its own and he was merely playing along to impress his guests? That theory would seem to be out though as he does stop playing the piano as soon as he lifts his hands, showing he must have really been playing it for real. I know that Moonraker is widely regarded as one of the most outlandish and comedic films in the Bond series, but surely to have shown the piano still playing even when Drax rose from his seat at the piano would have been a comic step too far. It's funny to imagine though, in one's mind eye, if you will. But I do find the suggestion in the thread on CBn that I started in 2004 that Drax pretending to play the play-itself piano was the first subtle sign that he was a madman and a modern-day Space Age Hitler, to boot.

On the Hugo Drax Bond villain page on Wikipedia it says the following:

"Drax portrays himself as an accomplished pianist, as evidenced by his recital of Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D flat major (op. 28) on his grand piano (which he plays in the key of D); in fact, he poses at a player piano in an attempt to impress his guests." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Drax)

So does Drax play in the wrong key?

Is that a further early sign that Hugo Drax is insane?

Do any of our musical experts here know the answers to any of these questions? I love and appreciate music deeply, but a musical expert I am not, that I leave to @SirHenryLeeChaChing and @BeatlesSansEarMuffs and Company.

As always, I welcome your views and potential answers on what I find a fascinating minor area of Bondology.

--Dragonpol.

TheWizardOfIce

I fear once again you are giving the scriptwriters far to much credit in creating a character with depth. The idea that Drax pretends to be an accomplished pianist to impress guests is an intriguing one but one that is rather too nuanced for MR.

The piano seems to me a standard grand rather than a pianola which are generally upright. I've always assumed that Michel Londsdale is just poorly miming playing it as his finger movements dont come close to matching the notes. I certainly think shoddy miming is a more likely scenario than Lewis Gilbert and Lonsdale adding this little character trait that is so obscure this is the first time I've ever heard it.

This is MR remember.

0013

As @TheWizardOfIce his fingers don't match the notes, so Londsdale wasn't playing. Now, was Drax miming in order to impress? The movie doesn't have any element that makes one infer that. One can read something on a text that isn't there when the text "makes" the reader infer it (it's the role of the reader, according to Eco). Otherwise it's overreading. And another thing, Drax seems to be sincere on this doings. He doesn't fake the trick with the dogs, nor about the space program. I know in the novel he does it with the cards, but that's another Drax!

Dragonpol

TheWizardOfIce wrote:

I fear once again you are giving the scriptwriters far to much credit in creating a character with depth. The idea that Drax pretends to be an accomplished pianist to impress guests is an intriguing one but one that is rather too nuanced for MR.

The piano seems to me a standard grand rather than a pianola which are generally upright. I've always assumed that Michel Londsdale is just poorly miming playing it as his finger movements dont come close to matching the notes. I certainly think shoddy miming is a more likely scenario than Lewis Gilbert and Lonsdale adding this little character trait that is so obscure this is the first time I've ever heard it.

This is MR remember.

Yes, it is MR and always will be, but does that mean that there's no depth at all to it and it's just a sweet piece of pink candy floss that melts almost instantly on the tongue? I think there's much more to it than meets the eye, and I want to explore those elements on my blog in time. I think perhaps the best explanation is that Lonsdale as an actor was merely miming the playing of the piano and it was either one that played itself using a coded paper feed (though it doesn't look like one of those) or that he was playing it none too convincingly. If you read my old CBn Forums thread you will see some of the points raised there and some of them are very interesting in that I'd not heard of them before, or even thought of them!

And by the way, despite its inherent silliness, I myself much prefer MR to TSWLM. I do think that it's the better film in many different areas, not least in terms of character and plot motivation.

TheWizardOfIce

Dragonpol wrote:

And by the way, despite its inherent silliness, I myself much prefer MR to TSWLM. I do think that it's the better film in many different areas, not least in terms of character and plot motivation.

I agree with your point that it is the better film. I find TSWLM drags in places while MR rattles along with every penny up on the screen.

As for this theory of yours I would ask myself 'if this hypothesis has the tiniest kernel of validity why does Christopher Wood never make note of it in his novelisation then?'

Although I haven't read it in years I'm fairly certain Wood never even mentions it in passing. If it were true you would think he would because he writes half a chapter covering Jaws' backstory that never makes it to screen in his TWLSM novelisation.

You might think if this aspect of Drax's character was part of the script (which Wood himself wrote alone) he would have inserted a paragraph in the novelisation along these lines:

'Cavendish ushered Bond into the long, opulent drawing room. At the far end of the Wilton carpeted chamber Drax sat a large piano playing Chopin's Raindrop Prelude in D Flat Major.
As Bond approached he noticed something odd about his hands. Bond was not much of a musician but it was clear Drax was not actually playing the notes that were sounding. As Bond scrutinised the piano further he observed a roll of thick paper above the keyboard that snaked away from Drax into the bowels of the instrument like some sort of umbilical cord. It was dotted with clusters of small square holes that reminded Bond of a message from a cipher machine. He realised Drax was not playing the piano at all but that it was automatic, the instrument reading the composition from the spool of coded paper! Damn the man! Why on earth would Drax mime playing the piano? Bond was at a loss but all his senses told him that a man who would put on such a ludicrous pretence was one who should certainly be kept at arms length.
Drax got up to greet him and, leaning past a small table stocked with a silver teapot and a salver of cucumber sandwiches that Bond eyed with suspicion, Bond distrustfully took one of the lying hands as it was outstretched towards him.
'Mr Bond' said Drax, with the merest hint of a sneer.'

Or are you suggesting it's something Lonsdale came up with on the day?

Dragonpol

Excellently written little piece there, Ice. I'd put your name up for the next Bond novel, for sure. No, really. I could never write anything as good as that myself (though, to be fair I've never really tried). I stick to non-fiction for that very reason. I like the "lying hands" line. That's a great Flemingesque flourish!

Yes, I think you are right. I'm actually writing a piece on this scene, based on differences between the film and novelisation versions, so I can confirm that you are right that Wood does not put forward anything along these lines, although interestingly he does have Bond wonder how such a brute of a man as Drax was (he uses the description of Sir Hugo Drax from the original 1955 novel) and with the big rough hands he has outstretched before him could play so delicate a piece on the grand piano. It's thin, to be sure, but that's all that I can come up with, sorry.

I think the pan of the camera from Drax's back and round to his face and hands very briefly was done deliberately to cover up the fact that actor Michael Lonsdale could not play the piano and was clearly only an actor and not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. That clearly being the case (I've rewatched the scene tonight), I think that you are right on this and that my theory (which really came from a poster on CBn Forums in the thread I linked to above) is bunkum.

For an earlier related blog piece (from 2010) entitled "Oblique Reference to Felix Leiter in Moonraker (1979)" please have a look here:

http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/oblique-reference-to-felix-leiter-in_5824.html

TheWizardOfIce

Dragonpol wrote:

Excellently written little piece there, Ice. I'd put your name up for the next Bond novel, for sure. No, really. I could never write anything as good as that myself (though, to be fair I've never really tried). I stick to non-fiction for that very reason. I like the "lying hands" line. That's a great Flemingesque flourish!

Yes, I think you are right. I'm actually writing a piece on this scene, based on differences between the film and novelisation versions, so I can confirm that you are right that Wood does not put forward anything along these lines, although interestingly he does have Bond wonder how such a brute of a man as Drax was (he uses the description of Sir Hugo Drax from the original 1955 novel) and with the big rough hands he has outstretched before him could play so delicate a piece on the grand piano. It's thin, to be sure, but that's all that I can come up with, sorry.

I think the pan of the camera from Drax's back and round to his face and hands very briefly was done deliberately to cover up the fact that actor Michael Lonsdale could not play the piano and was clearly only an actor and not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. That clearly being the case (I've rewatched the scene tonight), I think that you are right on this and that my theory (which really came from a poster on CBn Forums in the thread I linked to above) is bunkum.

For an earlier related blog piece (from 2010) entitled "Oblique Reference to Felix Leiter in Moonraker (1979)" please have a look here:

http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/oblique-reference-to-felix-leiter-in_5824.html

Refreshing to have someone whos man enough to admit he might be wrong.

Are you reading Mr Morgan?

Dragonpol

TheWizardOfIce wrote:

Dragonpol wrote:

Excellently written little piece there, Ice. I'd put your name up for the next Bond novel, for sure. No, really. I could never write anything as good as that myself (though, to be fair I've never really tried). I stick to non-fiction for that very reason. I like the "lying hands" line. That's a great Flemingesque flourish!

Yes, I think you are right. I'm actually writing a piece on this scene, based on differences between the film and novelisation versions, so I can confirm that you are right that Wood does not put forward anything along these lines, although interestingly he does have Bond wonder how such a brute of a man as Drax was (he uses the description of Sir Hugo Drax from the original 1955 novel) and with the big rough hands he has outstretched before him could play so delicate a piece on the grand piano. It's thin, to be sure, but that's all that I can come up with, sorry.

I think the pan of the camera from Drax's back and round to his face and hands very briefly was done deliberately to cover up the fact that actor Michael Lonsdale could not play the piano and was clearly only an actor and not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. That clearly being the case (I've rewatched the scene tonight), I think that you are right on this and that my theory (which really came from a poster on CBn Forums in the thread I linked to above) is bunkum.

For an earlier related blog piece (from 2010) entitled "Oblique Reference to Felix Leiter in Moonraker (1979)" please have a look here:

http://thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/oblique-reference-to-felix-leiter-in_5824.html

Refreshing to have someone whos man enough to admit he might be wrong.

Are you reading Mr Morgan?

Thanks again, Ice. Perhaps Mr Morgan has been scared off, though he's more than welcome to stay for the fun of the thing.

To be honest, if you look at my CBn thread from January 2004 you will see the member Atticus17F say,

"Hang on a sec! For twenty years, I always thought the shot of Lonsdale's fingers on the piano keys was to show that he wasn't actually playing the piece at all... a sort of initial clue that this guy might just be a little bit mad.

Am I the only the one who thought this?"which was where I got the intriguing idea for this new thread on the subject.

Now, I am more inclined to agree with the CBn member Bondian who said:

"Indeed it is Chopin...Chopin wrote this piece for his beloved wife ( George Sands ), and it's a lovely piece of music. We heard this piece played live when we visited 'Valdemossa' in Majorca last year.

As for Drax's hands, that's just badly faked. If you notice the camera 'pan's' round then he plays. He is obviously not really playing and the whole piano playing moment is just purely there for effect only. It gives Drax that extra 'depth of character'."
End of the mystery surrounding this scene, methinks. I concur with the judgments of my learned brothers Bondian and @TheWizardOfIce.

Case closed.

TheWizardOfIce

That serves you right for going on the dismal C*******rBond.com old son!

Dragonpol

TheWizardOfIce wrote:

That serves you right for going on the dismal C*******rBond.com old son!

Oh, I was a member there as Silhouette Man between 10 May 2002 and 17 November 2012, until I was banned by the new (from 2010) leadership over there. Long story.