Song Without End

Out of print in the U.S.! 1960 film starring Dirk Bogarde, Genevieve Page and Capucine. Buoyed by an Academy Award-winning score, Song Without End tells the romantic story of Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt, the troubled virtuoso whose scandalous affair with a married countess forced him to abandon performing and become a composer. Dirk Bogarde portrays Franz Liszt, who leaves his mistress, Countess Marie (Genevieve Page), to go on a concert tour to reaffirm his reputation as the mid-19th century's greatest pianist. In the process he meets Carolyne (Parisian fashion model Capucine, in her debut), a devoutly religious Russian princess, and becomes greatly influenced by her beliefs.

Fifteen years after directing the florid and commercially successful Chopin bio-pic, the 1945 A Song to Remember, director Charles Vidor headed up this lush, Technicolor production about Franz Liszt--only to die a few weeks into shooting and be replaced by George Cukor. (Cukor insisted the credit remain with Vidor, and indeed there is little of Cukor's touch visible in this film.) Song Without End stars Dirk Bogarde as Liszt, and while the actor's stints at the piano are effectively dubbed by Jorge Boyet, the story really concerns the composer's entangled love life. Much, much less flamboyant than Ken Russell's Lisztomania, Song Without End is, in its own way, just as indulgent, extravagantly presuming that love is the major inspiration for the creation of music. No film about a composer would be complete without a few of his famous contemporaries, and Song Without End makes a point of bringing George Sand and Chopin himself to the proceedings. The sets are impressive, and the cinematography is by James Wong Howe. --Tom Keogh