Song Without End

Director: George Cukor, Charles Vidor George Cukor

Overview

This is the film biography of the gifted classical composer Franz Liszt. He loves a bevy of women as his arrogance infuriates his fellow musicians and composers.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/10/2007
UPC:	4897007031382
Original Release:	1960
Source:	Castaway Pictures
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Sales rank:	35,042

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Dirk Bogarde	Franz Liszt
Capucine	Princess Carolyne Wittgenstein
Geneviève Page	Countess Marie D'Agoult,Actor
Patricia Morison	Georges Sand
Ivan Desny	Prince Nicholas
Martita Hunt	Grand Duchess
Lou Jacobi	Potin
Lyndon Brook	Richard Wagner
Walter Rilla	Archbishop
Alexander Davion	Chopin
Albert Rueprecht	Prince Felix Lichnowsky
Marcel Dalio	Chelard
Hans Unterkirchner	Czar
Emund Erlandsen	Thalberg
Katherine Squire	Anna Liszt
Walter Rilia	Archbishop
Hans Unterkirchen	Czar
Edmund Erlandsen	Thalberg
Morris Stoloff	Composer
Harry Sukman	Composer

Technical Credits

Oscar Millard

George Cukor	Director
Charles Vidor	Director
Oscar Millard	Screenwriter
William Goetz	Producer

Editorial Reviews

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.