At the beginning of the film ,there are lines which insist : this is not a biography of conductor Roberto Benzi (Roberto Luigi in the film).This artist was not a street kid but a music teacher's son.And although he was a child prodigy ,he was carefully taught ,he was not the complete autodidact who meets an old conductor;it's a story,which includes real scenes of Benzi's life -the scene when he spots the musicians' mistakes certainly happened - and which strangely recalls Chaplin's "limelight",the endings are similar.Roberto takes over from his old master.
Georges Lacombe's film is interesting ,enhanced by Claude Renoir's camera work.All that Roberto has to do is act naturally because he plays his own role ,even if the story is different:no ham acting,but spontaneity and mainly a phenomenal talent:it is something to see this little boy conducting musicians some of whom could be his grandfather!The raison d'etre of the film is the last fifteen minutes when Roberto,after refusing to become a performing animal, conducts a Liszt piece.
The film was awarded a prize in the Festival de Cannes and Lacombe directed a second movie with Roberto Benzi where the young conductor was joined by Jean Marais : " L' Appel du Destin" (1953)
