Le bal des adieux

My second Charles Vidor biopic in what could be called the Classical Cinematic Universe: Franz Liszt plays a supporting role in the earlier made Chopin biopic "A Song to Remember" and here Chopin and his mistress George Sand get a prominent scene in the story of Franz Liszt. There's a reboot of this universe waiting to happen if only more people cared about 19th century composers.

What the movie is, which will polarize viewers, is a thorough opportunity to experience music by great composers as they might in the mid-1800s. No less than 40 musical interludes occur, and unlike today's music biopics, these are not small moments, they nearly all play uninterrupted! This makes for a bloated runtime well over 2 hours, but a rare immersive opportunity to sit and listen to an actor portraying a master performer/composer as a recreation of their era. Read the reviews on IMDb and you'll see viewers either hate this or love this depending on their passion for the music itself. And the movie feels to be 70% concerts, which makes an inevitably weary experience that sacrifices a more deft plot.

Peculiarly, the movie features startlingly low percentage music by Liszt himself. It is a well done plot point that Liszt was a champion of his peers, and helped Chopin, Wagner, and others reach fame they wouldn't have without a master performer like Liszt showcasing their work. But this is intentional to the story. The finest example is a scene where Liszt is playing Chopin on the piano in the background, while Chopin's lover and Liszt's lover discuss their merits as composers vs. performers in the front of the scene. Cinematic subtext to perfection. The Liszt inner debate of whether he was a superior composer or performer is a major plot point. I love these components of the plot, for they shed light on who Liszt was in a way that a Wikipedia article never could. And yet, they're overshadowed by the main draw.

The main story is about Liszt's multiple lovers and the challenging decisions that come with this. It's 1960, so discussion of love, sex, and marriage is very reserved. Only 15 years later, Lisztomania has Roger Daltery playing Liszt as a sex-fueled rocker; this one makes his romances a true conflict of faith. It's great material, but definitely dated in its more calm approach.

Director Charles Vidor died early into production, and was replaced by legendary director George Cukor, who it appears was determined to stay within Vidor's vision of a music biography. The result is something slightly authorless: it's a grand period epic, with little outstanding choices, give or a take a few cool shots. If this were released today, it would get roasted for being thin on story and heavy on music sequences without enough subtext behind them.

The film is shot in Cinemascope but the DVD version I have is shoddy at best. This is a perfect example of an old movie that may get forgotten by time and will not get the 4K restoration reserved for classics such as Gone With the Wind, or Criterion essentials of the highest caliber. Makes you wonder what movies will disappear in time. Had I not been studying the work of Chopin & Liszt, I would have never watched this, especially given it wasn't well reviewed to begin with. And yet, despite its flaws, there is plenty to glean from it, mostly for classical piano buffs, but perhaps for others as well.

(Side note: I do wish I could access a list of all the names of the pieces, they don't always make an effort to tell you what is what. It isn't mentioned in the film, though I learned in my own research, that Liszt's championing of Beethoven, the equivalent of a celebrity endorsing an under-appreciated artist today, is what has elevated Beethoven to superstardom. That could be a movie in of itself)

This is a very beautiful film made with great meticulousness and with a serious intention to for once stick to the truth in a biopic, and the actors are all superb, especially Martita Hunt as the Grand Duchess, the most convincing one. Dirk Bogarde is excellent as Liszt but not at all as he was, more like an English gentleman than the emotionally wayward and unstable victim of his own vanity with much confusion that he was. Capucine is spellbindingly beautiful as Carolyne carrying herself with great style, and Geneviève Page makes a very convincing Marie d'Agoult. But what about the others? George Sand makes a very brief appearance, Lola Montez is not allowed at all, and there were others. Instead of telling the truth the film devotes itself to the Liszt myths and embellishes them thoroughly, so that Franz Liszt would have liked it. Of course, this at least is preferred to the terrible character assassination "Lisztomania" by Ken Russell 1975 dragging it all down to vulgarity. At least, Liszt was never vulgar. On the contrary, he was very careful about excluding himself only to the highest circles of nobility, which the film conveys adequately. Still, it's not a great film, seconded by both the great Chopin films, like Liszt never came close to the genius of Chopin. The relationship with the Princess Carolyne is greatly romanticized, and Franz Liszt confessed himself that Marie d'Agoult was his only true love. Like Liszt himself, the film is gradually bogged down into his sanctimonious catholic penchant for superstition, he neglects his own life, music and love to follow the church and thus made a fool of himself instead of fulfilling his glorious career. Well, well. The film remains a most beautiful musical illustration to his life and enjoyable as such, while it leaves you deploring his bathos. The last third of his life (he became 75) was wasted getting mummified in the church with very few more compositions.

People in the 21st century might not know who Ferenc "Franz" Liszt was. He was a Hungarian composer. Probably his most noted work was Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, which often appears in cartoons (and got played by Daffy Duck and Donald Duck in the dueling pianos scene in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit").

Charles Vidor's "Song Without End" (finished by George Cukor after Vidor died during production) looks at a period of Liszt's life. It sounds as though his scandalous personal life became as famous as his music. Sure happens with a lot of musicians.

Anyway, Dirk Bogarde plays Liszt, and Capucine plays the princess with whom he fell in love. Their love affair was what you might expect (but make no mistake, Capucine was a real babe). However, my interpretation of this movie got colored by the use of the music in cartoons. Richard Wagner is a character in the movie, and we hear the Pilgrims' Chorus from Wagner's Tannhäuser; I recognized the tune from the scene in Chuck Jones's "What's Opera, Doc?" where Bugs dresses as a Rhinemaiden to fool Elmer. I bet that my generation learned most of the high-brow culture (opera and literature) from the Looney Tunes without knowing that it was a spoof.

Anyway, it's an OK movie, not great. I guess that you could put it on your, ahem, Liszt of movies to see.

Song Without End is indeed a film that does not display the characters in a believable situation. However, the music score is among the greatest in motion pictures.

I will always remember that performance of ' Les Prelues'as being the most powerful that I have ever heard even from the best symphony orchestras.The performances of the late Jorge Bolet are magnificent.Especially during the clever arrangement of the Concerto/Hungarian Fantasia. It is clear that Dirk Bogarde is not playing the piano,yet one cannot help but take pleasure in the greatness of the music whomever is playing.

The producer of the film also takes great pains in letting the audience know that Franz Liszt often performed the music of other composers like Wagner and Berlioz.He also was a great fan of Chopin. This is addressed in the film with care and intelligence.

I remember this film as a child and can still remember the great music.Thank God! for the score from Song Without End.

Given the fact that this biopic is about one of the great classical composers, it's rather perplexing that so much of the music is by others. Even with those by Liszt, there are many of his transcriptions rather than original compositions.

I was expecting a comprehensive presentation of Liszt in a film devoted to his life and creative work. Less of interest were works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and others. The results looks like the film makers may have lacked complete confidence that a movie featuring compositions exclusively by Liszt would be that attractive to viewers.

In the event that's the case, it's no wonder the critical and public rating of this film is less than excellent. What's notable about it is the exquisite piano performance of Jorge Bolet on the soundtrack, the rich cinematography of James Wong Howe, and the flavorful performances by a talented cast headed by Dirk Bogarde.