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starring: Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid, Robert Walker, Henry Daniell, Leo G. Carrolldirected by: Clarence Brown
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302208986
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 630220898X
Label: MGM (Warner)
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: September 01, 1998
Running Time: 120 minutes
Sales Rank: 10938
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: October 09, 1947
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
With a little too much leisure, but no lack of pageantry, this love story for the ages (part of Columbia's informal Song series that began with the 1945 Chopin bio-pic, A Song to Remember) concerns the marriage of composer Robert Schumann (Paul Henreid) and Clara Wieck Schumann (Katharine Hepburn). The latter, a concert pianist with a thriving career, gives it all up to support her husband's artistic efforts, but after years of heartbreaking disappointments he ends up dying in an asylum, leaving behind seven children and a mountain of debts. The other important player in this tale, Johannes Brahms (Robert Walker), subsequently proposes to Clara, having been infatuated with her all along. But she returns to the stage to resume her old work and keep alive the memory of her late love. There's nothing like the guilty pleasure of watching a film with a parade of actors portraying famous contemporaries, and Song of Love even throws in Franz Liszt (played very nicely by Henry Daniell) for good measure. Hepburn, understandably, is the soul of this handsome movie directed by Hollywood stalwart Clarence Brown, and the actress learned to play several piano pieces well enough to do justice to her close-ups in performance. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Good-- even for the picky
Hollywood has such a bad reputation among historians, it's easy to dismiss the soap-opera-ish aspect of this film out of hand. It does state at the beginning that it takes certain liberties with chronology.
But it gets the essentials right. Robert and Clara Schumann had a life so full of dramatic incidents, it does seem like the most unlikely Hollywood screenplay. They *did* begin their married life in retreat from her overbearing father. They did have eight children. Later, the ... Read More
Rating:  - Intersting life story
Like so many biopics, it's hard to know what's real and what's invented in this movie (a tad disturbing in my eyes) but La Hepburn does a marvelous job as always and the story is very moving. If you like classical music, this is a great movie to see, both for the music and to get a bit of background on the Schumanns. Melodrama, sure, but, hey, that's not so bad on a cold winter's night!!
Rating: - NOTEworthy Biopic
OK triple musical biography, well cast and tastefully made. Katharine Hepburn and Paul Henreid give standout performances. Robert Walker, an actor whom I thoroughly admire, was an appropriate choice as Brahms, but fails to give a necissarily complex character portrait. Frankly, he's more at home in TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY. SONG OF LOVE misses out on some important facts - most notably Brahms' falling asleep while Liszt was playing piano for him. That would have made a great scene! The film doesn't ... Read More
Rating:  - Great Portrait of a Musical Era
I must differ with a previous reviewer ---
"Even a subdued Hepburn seems to be more than a match for the men in this movie, although as portrayed in the film Schumann and Brahms are a pretty clueless pair."
I don't quite get that statement. "More than a match"? Schumann and Brahms are clueless about what? They all seem to have a wonderful time together.
"The audience ends up identifying with Liszt, who you get the feeling always knows how talented the lesser beings ... Read More
Rating: - A great film!
I highly recommend this film, and would give it more stars if I could! It is a very entertaining film to watch and one well worth seeing. Robert Walker, Paul Henreid, and Katherine Hepburn are all wonderful in it.
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