VHS : Song to Remember, A
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In association with Amazon.com
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starring: Paul Muni, Merle Oberon, Cornel Wilde, Nina Foch, George Coulourisdirected by: Charles Vidor
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302425000
Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 630242500X
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: January 23, 1996
Running Time: 112 minutes
Sales Rank: 303
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: January 18, 1945
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
The short life and passionate music of romantic composer Frédéric Chopin provide the foundations for this 1945 drama, which proved influential in its gaudy, undeniably watchable formula of historical exaggeration and shrewdly simplified motives for its principals. In an Oscar-nominated performance, Cornel Wilde presents the Polish native as a passionate nationalist driven by his love of his native country and his hatred of its czarist regime, a thematic focus that can be forgiven in light of the political backdrop at the time of the production. Already a prodigy in his native land, where he's mentored by a shamelessly scenery-chewing Paul Muni as Professor Elsner, Chopin flees to Paris where his flashing eyes, dark nimbus of curls, and florid technique earn him stardom, while his involvement with the writer George Sand (a beautiful Merle Oberon, even when draped in then-provocatively masculine garb) introduces a romantic crescendo. Still, the tortured pianist-composer pines for his homeland, frets about its political fate, and begins to wither under the rigors of his new career as ur-superstar; in a typically over-the-top but riveting image, we see drops of blood spatter across the keyboard as he thunders through a recital, gallantly ignoring his failing health to spread his music and, by extension, awareness of Poland's fate. Numerous subsequent musical dramas (including two more Song-titled biographies from the same studio) would ply a similar mix of grand gestures and larger-than-life emotions, yet the most interesting comparison to be made is with 1991's Impromptu, a more acerbic spin through the Sand/Chopin affair (and the Parisian demimonde including Alfred DeMusset, Franz Liszt, and Eugene Delacroix) directed by frequent Stephen Sondheim collaborator James Lapine. --Sam Sutherland
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Freddie meets Sand
A cameo on Frederick Chopin in his short lifespan. Wilde and Oberon give excellent performances and Paul Muni shines in this one. if you like a good story, lovely music and beautiful scenery, this is a classic well worth adding to your collection. Flicks of this quality, once made, will never be made again
Rating:  - Several Moments to remember.
This is the earliest movie rendering of the Chopin/Sand affair I have seen to date. However, in this, Sand is more of an impediment to what Chopin must do--raise funds for his Polish rebel friends. This is something that has been neglected to a degree, in the other two movies I have seen on this subject (Impromptu, Desire for Love). Both acknowledge his Polish-ness and one does even show his rushed departure from his beloved homeland.
However neither really illustrate his ties with ... Read More
Rating: - A SONG THAT I'LL CERTAINLY ALWAYS REMEMBER
A few days ago, thanks to Amazon and a kind gentleman named Ernest who had one to sell, I FINALLY became the proud owner of A Song to Remember on VHS - a little more than 56 years after I saw the actual movie. They say if something's good enough to want, it's good enough to wait for, and this is certainly true where this sublime movie and most treasured memory of my childhood is concerned. In 1946, at the age of 9, my well meaning parents (back home in Wales, U.K.) took me to see this movie, without ... Read More
Rating: - Magnificent music and drama
Saw this film when I was a young gal. My friends and I gathered around the popcorn this past week and watched it-enthralled by the amazing finger placement by Cornell Wilde. So believable!
The composers during the Romantic period were God's gift to us, and their music will live on in our hearts.
If you haven't seen this one, don't miss it.
Rating: - The Majesty of the Music
My sister and I were talking about music and got around to dicussing Chopin's Grand Polonaise. It is, beyond all others that I've heard and loved in my life, my favorite piece of music. My sister feels the same and remarked that she was surprised she did not have a copy of it. I mentioned that I have different renditions but not one that I'm 100% satisfied with. This movie came to mind and I said I would kill to hear it again as played in "A Song to Remember," which she instantly remembered and rhapsodised ... Read More
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