Song to Remember, A

I saw this picture when it was a new film, 13 times. I remember exactly, because I had just turned 13 when it came out. (I'm now 69.)

When I saw this movie, I fell in love, total love, with Cornel Wilde and Frederic Chopin simultaneously. I had just started taking piano lessons the year before, and I became obsessed with Chopin's music, played in masterful fashion in the film by Jose Iturbi. Cornel Wilde also did a masterful job, pretending to be playing the piano. He was totally believable. And beautiful Merle Oberon was so good as George Sand, Chopin's lover and a great novelist of that time. Paul Muni was memorable as Chopin's teacher. But for me, the film was all about Cornel Wilde, Chopin, and Jose Iturbi. That wondrous music!

I have not been able to see this film since 1945, but I still remember it. Of course it is shamefully a Hollywood product, they take great liberties with the truth, but oh, when I was a 13-year-old, it was magical to me! Everyone on the screen vibrated, shone! The story grabbed me by the throat, I sobbed when seeing it the second time and all subequent times when Chopin made the decision to go to Majorca with George Sand, because I knew it was his doom. I sobbed when Chopin slogged through the torrential rain to attend his piano lessons, knowing that (according to the movie) he was going to "catch" tuberculosis later, and die far too young. I believe he was only 39 when he died. I sobbed when those telltale drops of blood hit the piano keys while he played his thunderous Polonaise, nobly protesting the czarist regime. Oh, the emotions! Oh, the drama!

Well, that's the way movies were made back then. The truth was ignored in the interest of a good profile or a dramatic plot device. The handsome/beautiful stars drove the story. The way the movie looked and sounded was more important than any historical accuracy. And this movie delivered: beautiful images and lush sound, in spades. I still remember it, after 57 years!

So, if you love Chopin, or Cornel Wilde, or Merle Oberon, you won't be disappointed in this film. The music is glorious, the actors are gorgeous, the scenery gets chewed to a fare-the-well. I'm gonna buy the VHS! Wish I had a DVD player, I'll bet it's fantastic in that format.


The Best Classical Musical   February 15, 2003
Roman Dicaire (Minneapolis, MN United States)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful

Although some liberties may have been taken with the actual life story of Frederic Chopin, the story is appealing. The optimum amount of music is interspersed with the story so that there is enough music, but not too much. Chopin is perhaps the finest composer of piano music ever and the majesty of his music lifts this movie to the heights of musical entertainment. I loved it when I was ten years old and I love it today at the age of 72. It is a wonderful inspirational movie and I personally wish it could be remade with today's technology.


A SONG THAT I'LL CERTAINLY ALWAYS REMEMBER   September 19, 2004
Janis Alban Jones (OTTAWA, Ontario Canada)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

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 telling me that their main reason was 'the hope that it would encourage me to put more effort in to my piano lessons'. To their dismay, they soon discovered that, in that respect, they had failed miserably because - after seeing this movie and being introduced to the life and beautiful music of Frederic Chopin, through the incredible combination of Cornel Wilde's good looks (and excellent acting) and the superb performance of the music itself by Jose Iturbi, I promptly came to the conclusion that if I couldn't play that well, then I didn't want to play at all. Not long afterwards, my long suffering piano teacher was relieved (in every sense of the word) of her duties. But from the moment I sat enraptured through that movie, I fell in love with Chopin and his music and made the vow that 'when I grow up, I'm going to go to Poland and listen to a Chopin recital in the country where it all began'. More than forty years later (and having moved to Canada in the meantime) I achieved that ambition and what a joy it was to hear this wonderful music played by a leading exponent of Chopin's music from the Warsaw Conservatory. My other ambition was to somehow 'acquire' this memorable movie for myself. But I found that to be easier said than done, as all my enquiries came up with an 'out of print' response. Then just over a week ago, I saw that Amazon did indeed have one for sale - 'used'. I knew it was a risk to fork out money for a product that I couldn't even be sure was in great condition. But I wanted this movie so much, that I 'boughtit' immediately, before anyone else could pounce on it. My movie arrived a few days later, just in time for it to be 'a special birthday gift to myself'. Today was my birthday and one of the biggest treats of my day was to curl up in comfort and watch A Song to Remember in my own home at long last. Oh what memories watching it brought back, and what joy is gave me to finally have this wonderful movie in my possession to play and watch for ever more. I am also happy to say that this 'used' tape turned out to be in superb condition, with its picture and sound as good as new. This is one happy movie owner and my thanks to Amazon and Ernest for finally making it possible for me to fulfil a lifelong dream. It means more to me than you would ever imagine! A Song to Remember made it a Birthday to Remember too!!


The Majesty of the Music   October 12, 2003
Kathleen (Flushing, New York USA)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful

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 over. We agreed that there was no rendition of the Polonaise more sublime than the one in this movie. We were little girls then, are in our early 60's now, but never forgot this movie, Cornel Wilde or Chopin's Polonaise. Critics can say what they like about the unimportant inaccuracies of this old film, but it's burned into the emotional memory of those of us who saw and loved it in our childhoods. I'm putting in an order for my copy right now. You won't regret it if you put in yours.


Hollywoodized biography of Chopin, but I loved it.   October 5, 2000
D. R Schryer (Hampton, VA United States)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

I love this movie. I realize that many of the facts of Chopin's life have been altered in order to make an appealing story which fits into a normal-length movie. Despite this, this movie has much to commend it, starting with the fact that it is filled with some of the best music Chopin -- or anyone, for that matter -- ever wrote (played, I believe, by Jose Iturbi). Also, I find it well cast, and well acted as well -- in the style of the time in which it was made. In my view this movie is characteristic of both the strong points and flaws of Hollywood's Golden Age. Nevertheless, taken on its own terms, it's a beautiful, very moving film.