blanche-2 Katharine Hepburn is Clara Wieck, Paul Henried is Robert Schumann, and Robert Walker is Brahms in "Song of Love," a 1947 film directed by Clarence Brown and also starring Henry Daniell and Leo G. Carroll. "Song of Love" covers the marriage of Wieck and Schumann, while "Fruhlingssinfonie" (Spring Symphony), which stars Nastassia Kinski as Clara, ends before the couple's marriage. The latter makes much more of a feminist statement. In that film, the well-known Clara Wieck realizes that upon marrying Schumann, there will not be room for "two pianos" as she puts it, and that her career, in fact, is over. While it is true that Schumann wanted a traditional wife and that in those days, it said bad things about a husband that let his wife go out and earn money, Clara Schumann did indeed continue her career up until 5 years before she died.Though there are some dramatic liberties taken with the script, much of it is true. As Schumann mentions in his conversation with Clara's father, he did live with the Wieck family for a time. Clara did take her father to court. Brahms was probably not in love with Clara, but the two were very close friends, and he did take care of the children as shown in the film. "Song of Love" is a little vague on Schumann's illness. Nowadays it is suspected to be syphilis that was treated with mercury; another suspicion is that he was bipolar. But as the film documents, he became quite ill, indeed hearing the the note "A" in his head. There are also reports that Clara and Brahms destroyed his later works because they demonstrated the disintegration of his mind. In fact, one or two pieces were destroyed, but many were put into the repertoire. And Clara did indeed promote his music in concerts throughout her life.The glorious music of Schumann and Brahms is played throughout the film, and the performances are first-rate. Katharine Hepburn gives a beautiful characterization of Clara - strong, devoted, intelligent and gentle. Robert Walker is a warm, charming Brahms, and Paul Henried is excellent as the depressed Schumann.Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Chopin - once composers roamed the world as dinosaurs did. Now composers are dinosaurs. Our technologically-based society is not conducive to producing great music or art, though musicians and artists now have a variety of technological advances at their disposal to incorporate into their work. Somehow it's not the same. Let "Song of Love" take you back in time. I highly recommend "Fruhlingssinfonie," another beautiful film on the subject with a slightly different point of view. If you can, get it with subtitles rather than the dubbed version.

LCShackley I recently gave a dismal review to "A Song to Remember," the 1945 biopic about Frederic Chopin. That film was a poor Hollywood attempt to tell the story of a great composer. "Song of Love" was made at almost the same time, about a composer who was a contemporary of Chopin, but it does a better job, both biographically and in terms of the lead actors.Hepburn/Henreid/Walker are a much stronger combination than Muni/Oberon/Wilde (especially the latter two), bringing real passion to the roles and making them seem like actual human beings. It's a bit of a stretch seeing Hepburn at age 40 playing Clara Wieck as a teenager, but we'll cut her some slack because of her glowing personality and quite remarkable finger-syncing. (Bad on-screen piano playing is a personal pet peeve of mine.) The plot is loosely based on the truth. The love triangle aspect is played up here, as could be expected in Hollywood. Another possible error is that scholars have speculated that Clara was not all that sad about having Robert away in an asylum, because it gave her freedom to resume her career. (The movie makes it seem as though she went into seclusion and had to be coaxed out by Brahms.) She did devote her later performances to Robert's work, but she was a fine composer herself (never mentioned in the film). Far too much time is taken with the sub-plot involving Brahms as the Schumann's virtual live-in houseboy (another stretch of the truth), but I suppose that was done so we could have the cook character as the only real comic relief.There's a lot of nice piano music here and a decent enough representation of the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann. What I'd really like to see, though, is a more in-depth dramatization of Robert's gradual descent into insanity. But that's a little too grim for MGM in the 1940s!

Boba_Fett1138 I don't quite understand how people can see this movie as a serious biopic. It has all the typical ingredients and feeling of a romantic/musical MGM movie from the '40's. Not much in it that makes this movie distinct itself.Yes, it's really one of those movies of when you've seen one of them. you've seen them all! Don't get me wrong, "Song of Love" is not bad, at least not worse than other same type of genre movies but it's also not any better. The movie is far too formulaic for that.You can say that the only real redeeming quality of the movie is its music. It features the music from composers Schumann, Liszt and Brahms (characters also appearing in the movie). It's really beautiful music to hear and it gets featured prominently in the movie.Nothing wrong with the acting in this one. Katharine Hepburn was real great. I also liked Paul Henreid, who has also appeared in another couple of good well known movies. Not every character gets ever really deepened out unfortunately. It makes the movie with its drama mostly shallow and therefor the movie also doesn't leave a very big impression.If you like these type of '40's MGM movies this is of course a perfectly good watch or you. It features all of the ingredients and way of storytelling and it also most definitely has the same typical atmosphere all over it.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

harry-76 Considering this screenplay was for a major film studio and geared for the general public, rather than professional musicians or scholars, the five writers who contributed to the script did a decent job.Centered in the enactment is that of Clara Wieck, played fervently by Katherine Hepburn, who enjoyed a full life of commitment to her composer husband Robert Schumann, large family and artistic ideals.Clara's strength held the household together, which included border composer Johannes Brahms, played earnestly by Robert Walker. Paul Henried has the difficult assignment of portraying Robert, a musical genius suffering from depression. Whereas today medication easily placates these symptoms, in the 19th century, people just had to suffer from the ailment, which affected all those around. Henried manages the role with sensitivity. Clara was known to eschew technical "brilliance" that was the earmark of Franz Liszt, and in one telling scene she conveys her embodiment of "loving simplicity" over Lisztian "show." It's a provoking moment that conjures relevance today, where "young piano whiz kids" often may play up a storm technically, while seldom penetrating the spiritual heart of the score. Clara apparently was one of the strongest women of the 19th century, in a male-dominated society, successfully surmounting a father's legal challenge of her marriage, the deaths of a number of her children, and a husband who constantly needed attention--all the while composing, arranging, and giving concerts. In a touching scene Walker's Jonannes admits to his love for Hepburn's Clara. It's not a far-fetched scene, according to musicologists, though there's hardly concrete proof for substantiation. The film is rich in the works of Brahms, Schumann and Liszt, and Hepburn and Henry Danielle (as Liszt) do commendable physical renderings of mock piano playing to sublime recordings of Artur Rubenstein. Clarence Brown directs with his usual sure hand.