


Mine was a thing called ''I've Always Loved You,'' which came out in 1946. Fortunately, it should be said at the outset, ''The Competition'' is better musically than most, and in the piano competition part of the film really tries hard to come to grips with the phenomenon.

Collectors dote on them, alternating between tears and hysterical laughter. Ever since Harry Baur appeared as Beethoven in a movie of the 1920's there have been films about classical musicians, most of them so bad as to enter some kind of unprintable category of their own and ''The Competition,'' which opened last month, is merely the latest in an ineffable line.
