Sorry, this movie sucks

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

An action-packed slog

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Copyright 12 July 1947 by Loew's Inc. An MGM picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 9 October 1947. U.S. release: October 1947. U.K. release: 27 October 1947. Australian release: 28 August 1947. 10,788 feet. 120 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Robert Schumann's success as a composer seems assured when he marries the celebrated pianist Clara Wieck, despite her father's strenuous objections. COMMENT: Great music, marvelously performed (even by the normally lackluster MGM Symphony Orchestra), studding a story which although sometimes banal and always over-romanticized (and rather indifferently acted by Henreid and particularly Walker) maintains the interest. As usual, our complaint is that the scriptwriters would have made a more colorful and enthralling film out of the real facts instead of the half-truths here presented. For instance Professor Wieck opposed Schumann's marriage to Clara not only on the grounds of his lack of prospects but because of his mental instability and drunkenness. He had already attempted suicide in 1833. As for the acting, I think the producer should have switched the lead roles and cast Walker as Schumann, Henreid as Brahms. However, we have no complaints with the other players. Hepburn is perfect and her piano-playing looks so skillful, we can readily believe that she (instead of Rubinstein) is actually supplying the music. The movie's other stand-out performance is provided by Henry Daniell, who not only looks like Liszt, but conveys the vigor, the enthusiasm, the calculating passion that the great composer undoubtedly possessed. Although confined to a few early scenes, Leo G. Carroll makes a forceful impression as Clara's father. We like the way he sits behind her at the opening concert, whispering directions. Brown has directed the musical sequences with an agreeably fluid camera style that reinforces the baroque vastness of the concert hall sets, packed with costumed extras. Photography and other credits are likewise smoothly stylish in these musical recitals. By contrast, the domestic scenes are handled in a surprisingly pedestrian fashion. A few attempts to leaven them with slapstick comic relief seem both clumsy and inappropriate.A pity we don't see a lot more of Daniell, a lot less of Henreid and Walker. Never mind, the music and Hepburn's radiant acting and skillful miming, make up for a lot.OTHER VIEWS: Exquisite music in this talky but ingratiatingly acted (particularly by Hepburn and Daniell), superbly photographed and set, period comedy-drama. Hepburn gives a luminous performance. Even Walker is sincere and convincing, the costumes are A-1, the sets splendid with Brown and photographer Stradling making great use of them, the sound recording, while it has some unfortunately tinny moments, particularly during Liszt's recital, is of a higher standard than we might expect of MGM and a fine array of character players including Byron Foulger's court attendant, and Francis Pierlot's congratulating musician are on are on hand. Brown makes splendid use of Hans Peters' magnificent sets and the milling crowds of extras, even indulging in a few bravura effects like the dazzling dolly back through the miniature of the concert hall set (marvelous special effects by Warren Newcombe) right at the conclusion. Superbly atmospheric photography by Harry Stradling makes the sequences with dreary old Paul Henreid almost attractive to look at. Henreid is actually well cast as the lackluster Schumann who after his vigorous opening scenes in which he stands up to Leo G. Carroll's awesome martinet, spends the rest of the film being dominated by Miss Hepburn and feeling sorry for himself, through into effectiveness again in his concluding scene at the asylum (Clinton Sundberg as the doctor). This movie provides a feast for music lovers, and it's certainly good to get away from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's usual escapist fare.

I recently gave a dismal review to "A Song to Remember," the 1945 biopic about Frederic Chopin. That film was a poor Hollywood attempt to tell the story of a great composer. "Song of Love" was made at almost the same time, about a composer who was a contemporary of Chopin, but it does a better job, both biographically and in terms of the lead actors.Hepburn/Henreid/Walker are a much stronger combination than Muni/Oberon/Wilde (especially the latter two), bringing real passion to the roles and making them seem like actual human beings. It's a bit of a stretch seeing Hepburn at age 40 playing Clara Wieck as a teenager, but we'll cut her some slack because of her glowing personality and quite remarkable finger-syncing. (Bad on-screen piano playing is a personal pet peeve of mine.) The plot is loosely based on the truth. The love triangle aspect is played up here, as could be expected in Hollywood. Another possible error is that scholars have speculated that Clara was not all that sad about having Robert away in an asylum, because it gave her freedom to resume her career. (The movie makes it seem as though she went into seclusion and had to be coaxed out by Brahms.) She did devote her later performances to Robert's work, but she was a fine composer herself (never mentioned in the film). Far too much time is taken with the sub-plot involving Brahms as the Schumann's virtual live-in houseboy (another stretch of the truth), but I suppose that was done so we could have the cook character as the only real comic relief.There's a lot of nice piano music here and a decent enough representation of the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann. What I'd really like to see, though, is a more in-depth dramatization of Robert's gradual descent into insanity. But that's a little too grim for MGM in the 1940s!

And Johannes Brahms. The music performances are completely devoid of the usual dumbing-down that was par for Hollywood in this era. Artur Rubinstein provides exquisite versions of the piano pieces, and the orchestral performances are authentic and done beautifully. The story is a sensitive abridgement/invention of the biographies of these three musical greats. The actors are uniformly superb with Henreid and Walker at the top of their game and Hepburn perfectly cast and giving it all she's got. I expected cornball trash. Instead this is one of the best music bios Hollywood ever produced. Clearly the producer/director Clarence Brown appreciated this music and brought together artists who could do it justice. Bravo!

Yes,we can ignore the opinions of the pedantic musical historians who belittle this film, because this is one for anyone with a love of music ! In essence, historically accurate - Brahms was a friend of the Schumanns, Robert did suffer from a brain disorder which drove him to attempt suicide and caused his early death, Brahms undoubtedly loved Clara, but she remained faithful to Robert for the rest of her life, whilst she pursued the career of a piano virtuoso (which she was).All of this adds up to a romantic story with all the necessary ingredients plus the music of Schumann and Brahms,(played with customary brilliance by Artur Rubinstein) surely a guarantee of success. The three principal characters are played with a reasonable degree of authenticity, indeed, Robert Walker bears such an uncanny resemblance to Brahms as a young man that one suspects he may be a descendent ! And what a tour-de -force is Miss Hepburns characterisation of Clara Schumann, a woman, by all accounts, possessed of steely resolve and immense courage. The only relatively weak link is Paul Henried, who bears not the slightest resemblance to Schumann, and fails to convey Schumann's determination and musical genius - perhaps a little pedestrian and lacking conviction. The performance of Henry Daniell as Franz Liszt is superb, projecting the personality of 'the Master' to perfection, and particularly worthy of note is his 'performance' of Schumann's 'Widmung', where his simulated pianistic technique is incredibly accurate, indeed, one suspects that he may well be a competent pianist in his own right. The whole essence of this drama is conveyed with a flair and a grasp of the subtle nuances of the various relationships which generates an astonishing degree of authenticity, almost as if we are seeing the events as they actually happened. Add to this the music, the pianism of the incomparable Rubinstein, and a classic has been born to stand the test of time ! As a matter of interest, Schumann composed the song 'Widmung' (Devotion) at the time of his marriage to Clara - the music 'played' by Henry Daniell is,in fact, not the original song, but an arrangement by Franz Liszt.