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A Song to Remember (1944) DVD5 - Biography Frédéric Chopin [DDR]
A Song to Remember is a 1945 Columbia Pictures biographical film which tells a fictionalised life story of Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin. Directed by Charles Vidor, the film starred Cornel Wilde (as Chopin), Merle Oberon (as George Sand), Paul Muni (as Józef Elsner), Stephen Bekassy (as Franz Liszt), and Nina Foch.
CAST:-
Cornel Wilde .......... as Frédéric Chopin
Maurice Tauzin ....... as Chopin (child)
Paul Muni ................ as Józef Elsner
Ivan Triesault ........... as Nicolas Chopin
Nina Foch ............... as Constantia (presumably Konstancja Gładkowska, a Polish soprano and friend of Chopin)
Stephen Bekassy ... as Franz Liszt
Merle Oberon .......... as George Sand
George Coulouris ... as Louis Pleyel
Howard Freeman .... as Friedrich Kalkbrenner
George Macready ... as Alfred de Musset
Directed by Charles Vidor
Produced by B. F. Zeidman
Written by Ernst Marischka (Story), Sidney Buchman,
Music by Miklós Rózsa
MOVIE REVIEW:- A Song to Remember (1944)
Vidor romanticizes Chopin's patriotism in the film, which was produced during World War II. Chopin, played by Cornel Wilde, is first presented to the audience as a child prodigy playing a piece by Mozart, but suddenly starts to bang on the piano keys when he notices out the window that Polish people are being taken prisoners by the Russian authorities.
The film also shows Chopin taking part in secret meetings to work on saving Poland with his young friends. Vidor depicts patriotism as a major motive for Chopin playing the piano.
He attends a secret meeting instead of showing up on time for his concert in front of a count and distinguished guests.
In addition, when he finally performs at the concert, he stops playing when he sees the Russian Governor of Poland enter the room. Chopin stands up and announces, "I do not perform for Czarist butchers." He storms out of the room as his famous Revolutionary Étude starts in the background.
Before leaving Poland for Paris, Chopin clutches Polish earth in his hands. When he arrives in Paris, he says: "I’m thinking of my people back home. You see, there was a purpose in coming to Paris."
The first work of Chopin's that is heard in Paris is his "Heroic" Polonaise, a song for Poland. The appearance of George Sand, played by Merle Oberon, alters Chopin's life. Vidor portrays George Sand as a disruptive figure in Chopin's life, who seduces him and distracts him from Poland. At the end of the film, he gives a passionate concert tour around Europe, despite his failing health. In one of his concerts, Chopin starts bleeding.
The pianist José Iturbi played the piano music, and also orchestrated part of the B minor Sonata for the scene when Chopin and George Sand arrive in Mallorca.
The hands of pianist Ervin Nyiregyházi are shown playing the piano.
One of the most successful filmed biographies of the 1940s, A Song to Remember alleges to be the true story of Polish composer Frederick Chopin. Actually, it has about as much relation to truth as a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon, but with such gorgeous creatures as Cornel Wilde and Merle Oberon in the leads, who cared? Though Wilde, as Chopin, is the nominal lead, top billing goes to Paul Muni, hamming his way through the role of Chopin's mentor Professor Joseph Elsner. Reportedly, Muni developed his characterization long before shooting started, refusing to allow the performances of the other actors to alter his interpretation in the slightest. This may explain why Muni seems to be acting in a vacuum, frequently completely out of rhythm with the film and its characters. Otherwise, Cornel Wilde does a nice job as the tempestuous Chopin, whose patriotic fervency frequently takes priority over his music. Merle Oberon plays novelist George Sand, who despite her preference for male clothing proves to be "all woman" during her torrid, decade-long affair with Chopin. The film's money scene--the one that everyone talked about, keeping the picture "alive" long after its original release--occurs towards the end, when the tubercular Chopin begins hemorrhaging as he performs his {&Polonaise} for the first time (Jose Iturbi is heard on the soundtrack, "doubling" for Wilde's ivory-tickling). Sumptuously photographed in Technicolor by Tony Gaudio and Allen M. Davey, A Song to Remember was the usually penurious Columbia Pictures' top production of 1945. Fifteen years later, the studio hoped to make lightning strike twice with its Franz Liszt biopic Song Without End, but the magic just wasn't there.
           
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:-
Video Codec: MPEG-2
Video Bitrate: 4999 kbps
Video Resolution: 720x480
Video Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1
Frames Per Second: 23.976
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 192kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages:English
RunTime 113 mins
Subtitles: None
Ripped by: Trinidad [DDR]
Duration: 113 mins |
