A sophisticated -but fictionalized and romanticized as a biopic- fantastic love story, set in the 19th century, telling the love story of the musicians Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, under the constant influence of the pianist Franz Liszt. Critics agree this is a fascinating -but incredibly inaccurate- portrayal of Robert Schumann and his wife Clara Wieck Schuman: «Opening and closing at the Dresden Royal Opera along with its ostentatious set designs (full credit to art direction by Cedric Gibbons), it is Schumann's MUSIC that sets the tone for the entire movie and evokes its mood clearly».
The movie is based on the unproduced theatrical play SONG OF LOVE, THE LIFE OF ROBERT AND CLARA SCHUMANN by Bernard Schubert (an American playwright, screenwriter and TV producer during the early sound era of film and early days of television) and Mario Silva (an American actor, soundman, composer and playwright). The play was adapted for the wide screen to a screenplay co-authored by:
1) Ivan Tors (Iván Törzs - a Hungarian journalist, radio and screen-writer, playwright, manager, producer and director of Jewish descent who immigrated to the US in 1939 and worked in the OSS), 2) Irma von Cube (Irmgard Kalischer - a German actress, writer and director who immigrated to the US in 1938,
3) Allen Leffingwell Vincent (an American actor and screenwriter) and
4) Robert Ardrey (an American anthropologist, behaviorist, paleontologist and author of several, major scientific books who worked as a screenwriter and playwright but, also, played a piano in an Al Capone era speakeasy during the Prohibition Era).
The movie was produced and directed by the American director Clarence Leon Brown (a former engineer and actor, he served as a fighter pilot and flight instructor in the U.S. Army Air Service and Air Force during World War I), and was filmed in MGM Studios at Culver City, California (USA).
Music of Schumann, Brahms and Liszt performed by the Hungarian pianist and composer Ervin Nyiregyházi and the Polish pianist –of Jewish descent- Arthur Rubinstein accompanied by the MGM House Symphony Orchestra conducted by the German violinist, pianist, composer and conductor William Steinberg (Hans Wilhelm Steinberg, of Jewish descent, he was persecuted by the Nazis and immigrated to the US in 1938). Musical director of the film was the Polish pianist and composer Bronislaw Kaper (Bronislau, Branislaw or Benjamin Ka(p)per or Edward Kane, of Jewish descent, he immigrated to the US in 1935).
According to a review, «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».
ΤΗΕ GREAT STAR of the film is Paul Henreid (the double or doppelganger of the philosopher Albert Camus who was an admirer of Mozart and has devoted several essays on Classical Music in his YOUTHFUL WRITINGS).
Film debut of George Chakiris.
