Themes: Crowned Heads, Romantic Betrayal, Forbidden Love
Main Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Capucine, Geneviève Page, Patricia Morison, Ivan Desny
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
Plot
Hoping to recapture the success of its 1945 Frederic Chopin biopic A Song to Remember, Columbia Pictures concocted the 1960 Technicolor costume drama Song Without End. Dirk Bogarde is cast as musical genius Franz Liszt. Bogarde's piano scenes are dubbed with another's singing voice, but this hardly matters in that the film is preoccupied with Liszt's infamous romantic entanglements. The crux of the matter is Liszt's desire to wed the already married Russian princess Carolyne (Capucine), which will necessitate an unpleasant breakup with his current lover, Countess Marie (Genevieve Page). Director Charles Vidor died after only a few weeks on the picture; he was replaced by George Cukor, who graciously insisted that Vidor be billed in letters larger than his. The chief selling point of Song Without End is its wall-to-wall music; the film won an Oscar for "best musical arrangement." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
By 1960, the kind of old fashioned classical composer bio that is Song Without End was a strange anomaly. Like countless Hollywood biopics before it, Song plays fast and loose with the truth in its retelling of the life and loves of the brilliant Franz Liszt. As is usually the case with these rewrites, the "new" story isn't so very new and isn't really an improvement on what actually happened, but Song does manage to be one of the better examples of this genre (and a far sight better than the still-to-come Ken Russell take on Liszt, the bizarre Lisztomania.) Song benefits from a lovely and intelligent performance from Dirk Bogarde as Liszt, who even manages to fake the piano playing convincingly. He's not given a lot of character depth to explore, but Bogarde makes the surface characteristics quite interesting enough by themselves to carry things along nicely. Capucine looks elegant and composed; she doesn't contribute a great deal of acting to the role, but her physical presence helps a great deal. The film is more than a bit choppy, most likely due to the fact that it was directed by two different people after the original director died; this lack of a cohesive feel is damaging, but not fatal. And the film benefits from the thrilling performances of Liszt's music, of which there is plenty. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Walter Holscher - Art Director, Jean Louis - Costume Designer, George Cukor - Director, Charles Vidor - Director, William Lyon - Editor, Morris W. Stoloff - Composer (Music Score), Harry Sukman - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Harry Sukman - Musical Direction/Supervision, James Wong Howe - Cinematographer, William Goetz - Producer, Oscar Millard - Screenwriter, Franz Liszt - Featured Music
Columbia Pictures had plans to film The Franz Liszt Story back in 1952. Oscar Saul was hired to write and produce with William Dieterle directing. When this version failed to materialize the studio announced in 1955 that Gottfried Reinhardt had been commissioned to write a new screenplay. Finally in 1958, veteran producer William Goetz took over the project with Oscar Millard as his screenwriter. Charles Vidor, who had previously directed A Song to Remember (1945), a biopic of Frédéric Chopin, was assigned to direct.
As nearly forty musical selections would be heard in the film, Morris Stoloff, head of Columbia's music department, began immediate work on the soundtrack. After selecting the pieces to be played, he engaged Jorge Bolet, the Roger Wagner Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to perform the score. The recording of the music was completed prior to the start of production so that Bogarde could learn the finger movements necessary to make him appear to be playing the piano realistically in the film. Musical advisor Victor Aller spent three weeks rehearsing Bogarde in proper piano technique.
Academy Awards
The film won the Best Music score Academy Award for Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical).
