Watch The Legend of 1900

"The Legend of 1900" is a period drama that tells the legend of a piano genius abandoned and raised on a luxury cruise ship, afraid to ever leave it. The story is told by a musician named Max to a shop owner, who recognizes a tune that Max plays on his trumpet. The tune was written by Max's friend 1900, the pianist raised on a ship who never once walked on dry land. 1900 was named after the year of his birth and raised by a ship worker named Danny who later died, leaving the orphaned 1900 to survive on his own.

As an adult, 1900 works with the ship's orchestra as their piano player. He learns about changes in musical style from passengers and other musicians. One of these musicians is Max, who tries throughout their friendship to get 1900 to leave the ship, but to no avail. 1900 is content with his life at sea and garners fame as something of a savant because he is able to immediately mimic music he hears. This talent earns him the attention of the jealous jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton who challenges 1900's piano skills.

Winning the piano contest gets 1900 even more attention and a record producer comes aboard the ship to record 1900's playing. The song he records reflects his feelings of a girl he is staring at out of a window and, when he tries to give the recording to her she refuses and he breaks it. Max collects the pieces, determined not to let the physical and metaphorical record of 1900's existence be destroyed.

Max's narrative jumps forward twenty years to the ship's imminent destruction. After being used in the second World War, the ship is now set to be sunk. Max uses the record to lure 1900 from the depths of the empty ship. 1900 refuses to leave and goes down with the ship on which he spent his life.

The Legend of 1900 is a 1998 drama with a runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 8.0 and a MetaScore of 58.