Review of A Song to Remember (1945) by Spencer R — 15 Jun 2008

For it's time, this biopic does a good job of telling a story about Frederic Chopin. Yes the facts may be inaccurate or out of order but that was the studios fault for believing that this film needed to be a box office hit instead of telling the true story of Chopin.

There has not been a good movie about a great composer that has told the true story of its source. Chances are that the movie would be actually quite boring if it did. One reason why a movie is made is to tell a story and if it just so happens that a little myth must be made up to do so, so be it.

One of the greatest movies ever made, and by far the greatest movie about a classical composer, Amadeus, was full of it. "To sell a story there must be drama," was a common idea among studio heads and this movie is one example of it.

Saying this, Paul Muni, Cornel Wilde, and the rest of the cast do a good job of working with what they were given to work with. There were parts of the storyline which I really did enjoy like Chopin's encounter with Liszt and Liszt's and Sand's gift to Chopin through the concealment of Chopin's identity to allow him to showcase his talents in front of the great critic.

Some of it was a little sappy and it is definitely not the best work of any involved but if you really love Chopin's music, which I do, the soundtrack showcases a lot of arrangements of his etudes and, even though you may not hear every piece that you love, like any of his piano concertos, you will hear a lot of hints towards a lot of his work if you pay close enough attention.

I really only recommend seeing this if you know Chopin's music. What I am grateful for the most about this film was that it was even made. Do you see a film about Brahms, Liszt, Debussy, or even Bach? No.

There are only a few of these films and even though they may not be entirely all that accurate or frankly not all that great, the fact that they were made means that the great mind that inspired it, let it be Mozart, Beethoven, or Chopin, was appreciated enough for them to be one of the few to be immortalized in film.

Now that is saying something.