Song of Norway (film)

Infobox Film
name = Song of Norway


image_size =
caption = Film poster
director = Andrew L. Stone
producer =
writer = Andrew L. Stone
narrator =
starring = Toralv Maurstad
Florence Henderson
music = Robert Wright
George Forrest,
based on the music of Edvard Grieg
cinematography = Davis Boulton
editing = Virginia Stone
distributor = ABC Pictures
released = 1970
runtime = 138 min.
country = U.S.A.
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0066393

"Song of Norway" is a 1970 film adaptation of the successful stage musical of the same name, directed by Andrew L. Stone.

Like the play from which it derived, the film tells of the early struggles of composer Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. It stars Toralv Maurstad as Grieg and features an international cast including Florence Henderson, Robert Morley, Harry Secombe, Oscar Homolka, Edward G. Robinson and Frank Porretta (as Rikard Nordraak). Filmed in Super Panavision 70 by Davis Boulton and presented in Cinerama in some countries, it was a clear attempt to capitalise on the success of "The Sound of Music" but suffered from a weak script, poor editing (by the director's wife), unappealing animation and an ill-advised stunt sequence (directed by Yakima Canutt) which appeared to portray Grieg as an action hero.

Critical Response

"Song of Norway" was one of a series of commercial disasters which followed the success of "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound of Music", which caused studios to imagine a full-scale musical film revival was in the cards. Similar box-office disasters included "Darling Lili", "Mame", "Paint Your Wagon" and "Lost Horizon". [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117881182.html?categoryid=4&cs=1 Hollywood heavies facing the music - Entertainment News, Timothy M. Gray, Media - Variety ] ]

Critics were virtually unanimously negative on its release, noting especially the aping of "The Sound of Music" and its generally poor production quality despite obvious expense. Pauline Kael said: "The movie is of an unbelievable badness; it brings back clichés you didn’t know you knew - they’re practically from the unconscious of moviegoers". [Kael, Pauline (1971) "Deeper into Movies", Calder Boyars] Critics' views were echoed by cast members. Harry Secombe was to note later that it was the kind of film "you could take the kids to see... and leave them there." [TV-am interview, 1987]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0066393|title=Song of Norway