Song Without End (1960)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writer:

Oscar Millard (writer)

Release Date:

14 October 1960 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

His Scandalous Affairs Shocked the World!

Plot Keywords:

Frederick Chopin | Composer | Classical Music | Frank Liszt | Pianist

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Franz Liszt
Capucine	...	Princess Carolyne Wittgenstein
Geneviève Page	...	Countess Marie D'Agoult
Patricia Morison	...	Georges Sand
Ivan Desny	...	Prince Nicholas
Martita Hunt	...	Grand Duchess
Lou Jacobi	...	Potin
Albert Rueprecht	...	Prince Felix Lichnowsky
Marcel Dalio	...	Chelard
Lyndon Brook	...	Richard Wagner
Walter Rilla	...	Archbishop
Hans Unterkircher	...	Czar
Erland Erlandsen	...	Sigismond Thalberg (as E. Erlandsen)
Alexander Davion	...	Frederic Chopin (as Alex Davion)
Katherine Squire	...	Anna Liszt

Also Known As:

Crescendo

Runtime:

141 min | USA:130 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Finland:S

Company:

William Goetz Productions

Trivia:

George Cukor thought Patricia Morison's voice as George Sand was too feminine, so he had it dubbed (by Anna Lee).

Quotes:

Countess Marie: I met Franz at a musical party. I remember he played a ballade in A-flat major by Chopin. I thought I'd never seen anything as beautiful as Franz looked when he sat at the piano. I... I wanted to cry. He watched me as he played; Franz never fails to notice a pretty woman in his audience...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of '...And God Spoke' (1993)

Certainly one to miss !

In a confused welter of artistic licence, this is the classical music biopic which makes 'Song to Remember'look like a masterpiece. Bogarde succeeds in diminishing the reputation of the musical colossus who spanned European music for most of the 19th Century. The absurdities of the plot, the sequoia-like quality of the acting and the prevalence of historical,musical and linguistic anachronisms combine to elevate this offering to the status of an A1 turkey.How a pianist of the stature of Bolet came to be mixed up in this fiasco can only be guessed at. The characterisation of Liszt fails to convey even a minute impression of his magnetic personality and the overwhelming effect that he had on not only his audiences, but also his pianistic rivals.Clara Schumann herself said that 'we toil over that which Liszt reads at sight!' Whilst the emphasis seems to focus on his romantic prowess,rather than his status as the greatest pianist of the century or,arguably, of all time, one feels,nevertheless, that this was an opportunity lost.