Director Charles Vidor's assignment, A Song to Remember (1944), is probably the movie for which he is best remembered.
Rather loosely based on the life and tunes of composer Chopin, it is a sprawling, uneven work. Often, especially (and regrettably) in Paul Muni's scenes, listless and plain dull, due to inadequate scripting (Sidney Buchman) and flat direction, the film picks up with the introduction of George Sand (Merle Oberon).
Several beautifully realized scenes on the Isle of Iviza, astringently convey the shattering of romantic illusion into a full sense of the eerie loneliness and utter desolation of the place.
In the film's concluding slates, the pace quickly accelerates in tempo, providing the director with a vivid set-piece leading up to Chopin's collapse: massive close-ups of Cornel Wilde's agonized features are intercut more and more rapidly with tilted shots of a pounding key-board, the whole reaching a crescendo of horror that was never excelled in the director's later films.
Rather loosely based on the life and tunes of composer Chopin, it is a sprawling, uneven work. Often, especially (and regrettably) in Paul Muni's scenes, listless and plain dull, due to inadequate scripting (Sidney Buchman) and flat direction, the film picks up with the introduction of George Sand (Merle Oberon).
Several beautifully realized scenes on the Isle of Iviza, astringently convey the shattering of romantic illusion into a full sense of the eerie loneliness and utter desolation of the place.
In the film's concluding slates, the pace quickly accelerates in tempo, providing the director with a vivid set-piece leading up to Chopin's collapse: massive close-ups of Cornel Wilde's agonized features are intercut more and more rapidly with tilted shots of a pounding key-board, the whole reaching a crescendo of horror that was never excelled in the director's later films.