A Song to Remember
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A Song to Remember is a 1945 Columbia Pictures biographical film which tells the life story of pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin. It was directed by Charles Vidor and produced by Sidney Buchman and Louis F. Edelman from a screenplay by Sidney Buchman and Ernst Marischka.
The film starred Paul Muni, Merle Oberon, Cornel Wilde, Stephen Bekassy and Nina Foch.
A Song to Remember was produced during the Second World War. Vidor romanticizes Chopin’s patriotism in the film. Chopin is first presented to the audience as a child prodigy playing a piece by Mozart, but suddenly starts to bang on the piano keys when he notices out the window that Polish people are taken as prisoners by the Russian authorities. The film also shows Chopin taking part in secret meetings to work on saving Poland with his young friends. Vidor depicts patriotism as a major motive for which Chopin plays the piano. Chopin attends a secret meeting instead of showing up on time for his concert in front of a count and distinguished guests. In addition, when he finally performs at the concert, he stops playing when he sees the Russian governor of Poland enter the room. Chopin stands up and yells back at the people to say, “I do not play before Czarist butchers.” He storms out of the room as Chopin’s famous Revolutionary Étude starts in the background. Before leaving Poland for Paris, Chopin clutches Polish earth in his hands. When he arrives in Paris, Chopin says: “I’m thinking of my people back home. You see, there was a purpose in coming to Paris.” The first work of Chopin’s that is heard in Paris in this film is his Heroic Polonaise, a song for Poland. The appearance of George Sand alters Chopin’s life. Vidor portrays George Sand as a disruptive figure in Chopin’s life, who seduces Chopin and distracts him from Poland. At the end of the film, Chopin gives a passionate concert tour around Europe, despite his failing health. In one of his concerts, Chopin starts bleeding. It may not be a coincidence that a drop of his blood falls on to the white keyboard because red and white are the colors of the Polish flag.
Ironically, when this film was produced in 1944, Poland was suffering from a similar fate as it had a hundred years before when Chopin was alive--Poland was under foreign control once again (under Germans) during World War II.
[edit] Academy Awards nominations
A Song to Remember was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Cornel Wilde), Best Cinematography, Color, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Sound, Recording and Best Writing, Original Story.
