Song of Love *** (1947, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid, Robert Walker) – Classic Movie Review 8833

MGM’s stagey but handsome 1947 romantic music drama film Song of Love stars Paul Henreid as the struggling composer Robert Schumann, Katharine Hepburn as his loving wife Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Walker struggles as composer Johannes Brahms, and Henry Daniell as Franz Liszt. A typically Hollywood fictional biopic, and an understandably forgotten film in Katharine Hepburn’s career, it flopped. George Chakiris appears in his film debut as Choir Boy.

‘A Love Story So Beautiful It Was Set to Music!’

Producer-director Clarence Brown’s MGM 1947 romantic music drama Song of Love is a stagey and artificial, though handsome Hollywood composer biopic, based on Bernard Schubert and Mario Silva’s play, with the main interest in the casting and the music. It is a typically Hollywood fictional biography, and a forgotten film in Katharine Hepburn’s career.

It stars Paul Henreid as the struggling composer Robert Schumann, Katharine Hepburn as his loving wife Clara Wieck Schumann, and Henry Daniell as Franz Liszt, and all three actors have what it takes to hold the attention, though a too-modern, miscast Robert Walker struggles as composer Johannes Brahms, the Schumanns’ lifelong friend. In the star character actor department, Henry Daniell and Leo G Carroll are very welcome presences as Franz Liszt and Professor Wieck.

William Steinberg conducts the superb music with the MGM Symphony Orchestra, Bronislau Kaper is the musical director, and Artur Rubinstein plays piano. Schumann’s Traumerai is played on screen by Robert Walker and later by Katharine Hepburn, with piano dubbed by Artur Rubinstein. Excerpts from Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor are played on screen by Katharine Hepburn, with dubbing by Artur Rubinstein, though Hepburn trained intensively with a pianist to be filmed playing the piano. The hands of Ervin Nyiregyházi are seen on screen when Henreid is playing piano.

Director Brown keeps his cool in control of an understandably uneasy project, with Hepburn cast outside her comfort zone.

George Chakiris (billed as George Kerris) makes his film debut at the age of 15 in the chorus as Choir Boy. He went on to win an Oscar for West Side Story (1961).

Also in the cast are Gigi Perreau, Elsa Janssen, Tala Birell, Tinker Furlong, Ann Carter, Jimmy Hunt, Anthony Sydes, Eilene Janssen, Roman Bohnen, Ludwig Stossel, Tala Birell, Kurt Katch, Henry Stephenson, Konstantin Shayne, George Chakiris (in his film debut), Betty Blythe, Mary Forbes, Byron Foulger, Torben Meyer, Frank Reicher, George Davis, Bert Roach, Pierre Watkin, Clinton Sundberg, Janine Perreau, and Grandon Rhodes.

It was released on 9 October 1947.

It flopped. The film earned $1,469,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,268,000 elsewhere, recording a total of $2,737,000, against a budget of $2,696,000, resulting in a loss of $1,091,000.

Song of Love is directed by Clarence Brown, runs 119 minutes, is made an released by MGM, is written by Ivan Tors, Irma [Irmgard] von Cube, Allen Vincent and Robert Ardrey, based on Bernard Schubert and Mario Silva’s play, is shot in black and white by Harry Stradling Sr, is produced by Clarence Brown, is scored by Bronislau Kaper, and is designed by Cedric Gibbons and Hans Peters.

The cast are Katharine Hepburn as Clara Wieck Schumann, Paul Henreid as Robert Schumann, Robert Walker as Johannes Brahms, Henry Daniell as Franz Liszt, Leo G Carroll as Professor Wieck, Elsa Janssen as Bertha, Gigi Perreau as Julie, ‘Tinker’ Furlong as Felix, Ann Carter as Marie, Janine Perreau as Eugenie, Jimmy Hunt as Ludwig, Anthony Sydes as Ferdinand, Eilene Janssen as Elise, Roman Bohnen as Dr. Hoffman, Ludwig Stössel as Haslinger, Tala Birell, Kurt Katch, Henry Stephenson, Konstantin Shayne, George Chakiris, Betty Blythe, Mary Forbes, Byron Foulger, Torben Meyer, Frank Reicher, George Davis, Bert Roach, Pierre Watkin, Clinton Sundberg, and Grandon Rhodes.

Brahms arrives to study with Robert Schumann in 1853 and plays his Rhapsody in G Minor that he didn’t compose till 1879.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,833

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