Song of Love (1947)

61% of users liked it
(403 ratings)

Song of Love is the MGM-ified version of the lives and loves of 19th century musicians Clara Wieck Schumann (Katharine Hepburn), Robert Schumann (Paul Henreid) and Johannes Brahms (Robert Walker, who the previous year had played another composer, Jerome Kern, in Til the Clouds Roll By). Clara gives… More Song of Love is the MGM-ified version of the lives and loves of 19th century musicians Clara Wieck Schumann (Katharine Hepburn), Robert Schumann (Paul Henreid) and Johannes Brahms (Robert Walker, who the previous year had played another composer, Jerome Kern, in Til the Clouds Roll By). Clara gives up her thriving career as a concert pianist to devote herself to her struggling composer husband Robert. Unable to cope with disappointment and failure, Robert dies in an asylum, leaving poor Clara to cope with seven children and mounting debts. At this point, the eminently successful Brahms, who has loved Clara all along, proposes to her, but Clara insists upon going it alone, perpetuating her husband's memory on the concert stage. Also represented in this musical "through the years" pageant is Franz Liszt, played with remarkable understatement by Henry Daniell. Clearly designed to capitalize on the popularity of Columbia's Chopin biopic A Song to Remember, Song of Love is slow and poky at times, though it's fascinating to see Katharine Hepburn at the piano (reportedly, she learned to play enough classical music to get by in the close-up scenes, though her music is dubbed in medium and long shots). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 1 min.
Directed By: Clarence Brown
Genres: Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics

In Theaters: Oct 9, 1947 Wide
On DVD: Oct 23, 1991

Critic Reviews

Bosley Crowther, New York Times
The basic romance of the Schumanns has been reduced to cloying clichés and the brilliance of Brahms and his acid nature have been sloughed off for just a 'good-old-Charley' type.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
It's typical of MGM's middle-brow mindset that the tumultuous story of the Schumanns and Brahms puts them on the level of Andy Hardy Goes Classical.

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

A predictable, but sweet romantic drama, about a composer and his wife, and a biography of composer Brahms too.

Cast

            Katharine Hepburn as Clara Wieck Schumann

            Paul Henreid as Robert Schumann

            Robert Walker as Johannes Brahms

            Henry Daniell as Franz Liszt

            Leo G Carroll as Prof. Wieck

            Elsa Janssen as Bertha

            "Tinker" Furlong as Felix

            Ann Carter as Marie

            Janine Perreau as Eugenie

            Jimmy Hunt as Ludwig

            Anthony Sydes as Ferdinand

            Eilene Janssen as Elise

            Ludwig Stossel as Haslinger

            Tala Birell as Princess Valerie Hohenfels

            Kurt Katch as Judge

            Henry Stephenson as King Albert

            Konstantin Shayne as Reinecke

            Lela Bliss as Mrs. Heller

            Betty Blythe as Lady with Opera Glasses

            Roman Bohnen as Dr. Hoffman

            André Charlot as Pompous Gent

            Mary Forbes
            
            Byron Foulger as Court Officer

            Winifred Harris as Women at Party

            Gigi Perreau as Julie

            Clinton Sundberg as Dr. Richarz

            Josephine Whittell as Lady in Box
See full cast

Song of Love (1947)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

Cast