Bernado De Pace: The Wizard of the Mandolin

Starring: Bernardo De Pace
Directed by: N/A
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Short, Musical
Length: 7 minutes
1927

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Bernardo De Pace plays the mandolin.

Review:

Tim: This was an interesting short film. Like so many of these early shorts, I'd never heard of the central performer. I had no idea who Bernardo De Pace was. I now do, so the short was worth seeing. I do think it's pretty funny that the title of the film is actually spelled wrong. It's spelled Bernado De Pace, which is what I've named this. Maybe I should have fixed the error, but that is actually what the movie's called. Proofreaders were apparently less of a focus in the 1920s.

The film opens and I have to admit, I immediately felt De Pace looked fairly creepy. He's dressed as some kind of clown, but the makeup is odd and the effect is a bit unsettling. My first thought was, "What the hell is this?" The makeup and costuming fort his short film are atrocious. I admit the first few moments, I suspected I would dislike the film.

However, Bernardo De Pace is actually incredible at playing the mandolin. His "Wizard" title is well deserved. As the film went on, I was able to look past the creepy look and focus on his technical wizardry of this musical instrument. He is an incredible musician and it was wonderful to watch him work. He plays something like three songs during the short film, staring at the camera and hamming it up. I never really liked the other things he was doing, but his mandolin playing was fantastic. That's obviously the selling point of the film and it makes for a fairly entertaining seven minutes.

In the end, Bernado De Pace: The Wizard of the Mandolin (I'm sorry, that's really funny) is a decent short film. De Pace's musical ability on the mandolin is stunning and it's fun to watch him work. The rest of the movie doesn't work quite as well. If you can focus on his playing, this film is worth seeing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: 45 Minutes From Hollywood, Behind the Lines, Jammin' the Blues