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Tuesday, February 4, 2020

SONG OF LOVE (1947)

The bar is set pretty low on musical bio-pics/classical division. With Schubert & Beethoven getting the brunt of it, Hollywood & abroad. And on those terms, this plush number from M-G-M, about Robert Schumann, future wife Clara Wieck and live-in student Johannes Brahms, less fictionalized than highly romanticized, has a lot going for it.* Especially in the music, with twice what you’d usually get, most performed at a blistering pace by pianist Arthur Rubinstein, and William Steinberg conducting in the generous concerto excerpts (Liszt #1 as well as an abruptly edited Schumann). Not at its best in the opening, Katharine Hepburn at 40 too old for Clara, but rapidly improving. And, in spite of a few too many cute scenes in the Schumann domicile (Clara had eight children between concert engagements!), Paul Henreid as the increasingly mentally distressed Schumann (nicely signaled via audible breakdown) and an unusually solid Robert Walker as a youthful Brahms, are unexpectedly convincing. Even emotionally moving in back-to-back love declaration scenes late in the film. (Though some third act lifts straight out of A STAR IS BORN/’37 give pause.) Good support, too, Henry Daniell a standout Liszt. Director Clarence Brown, working closely with cinematographer Harry Stradling, creates a dark, dramatic atmosphere, beautifully paced. The film has less a bad rep, than no rep; perhaps a plus in letting its better qualities shine.

DOUBLE-BILL: *For comparison, the deeply embarrassing Chopin bio-pic A SONG TO REMEMBER/’45. OR: From France, ‘acclaimed’ high-toned rubbish like TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE/‘91. INSTEAD: To see that it can be done, Ken Russell’s made-for-tv SONG OF SUMMER/’68 on Frederick Delius.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Paul Henreid was having a classical music moment: just before this, DECEPTION’s cuckold cellist in 1946, premiering Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s mini-concerto; and right after, Bartok in HOLLOW TRIUMPH/’48. (Well, someone named Dr. Bartok, not the composer.)

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