Song of Norway (1970)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Andrew L. Stone

Writers:

Homer Curran (play)
Milton Lazarus (musical play)

Release Date:

4 November 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

A song for the heart to sing...for the world to love!

Plot Keywords:

Composer | Based On Play | Independent Film

Cast

Toralv Maurstad	...	Edvard Grieg
Florence Henderson	...	Nina Grieg
Christina Schollin	...	Therese Berg
Frank Porretta	...	Richard Nordraak
Harry Secombe	...	Bioernstjerne Bjoernson
Robert Morley	...	Berg
Edward G. Robinson	...	Krogstad
Elizabeth Larner	...	Mrs. Bjoernson
Oskar Homolka	...	Engstrand
Frederick Jaeger	...	Henrik Ibsen
Henry Gilbert	...	Franz Liszt
Richard Wordsworth	...	Hans Christian Andersen
Bernard Archard	...	George Nordraak
John Barrie	...	Mr. Hagerup
Wenche Foss	...	Mrs. Hagerup

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:U | Iceland:L | Finland:S | Norway:7 | USA:G

Company:

ABC Pictures

Trivia:

A screen adaptation by Universal, to be produced in Technicolor by Sam Spiegel (then known as S.P. Eagle), and to star Deanna Durbin, was set to begin filming in January 1948. Because of a projected high budget, the movie was canceled in August 1947.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Strauss and Vienna: On Location: The Great Waltz (1972)

Sound of Norway?

Re:"Song of Norway", hardly the worst movie ever made. My choice would be the inert "Mike's Murder" starring the usually wonderful Debra Winger. I am very tolerant where musicals are concerned. I think "Torch Song" {wherein Joan Crawford's character emotionally abuses her drunken mother, her blind boyfriend, his dog, and African-Americans in general with her blackface number} is a good movie notwithstanding. But "Song of Norway"? The scenery, the music, even Florence Henderson, are all beautiful. Opera singer Frank Porretta is very appealing in the best-friend role; he deserved a film career! I heard (??) he was later seriously burned in a fire. I made my sons (aged 6 and 5) watch "Song of Norway"! They are very bright and said: "Is this movie supposed to be 'The Sound of Music'?". Bingo! They 'got it'. Not since William Castle's "Homicidal" has one film tried so hard to 'be' another. Everything here has been shot and scripted to look like the 'R & H' classic. This is not "imitatio" it's "plagarisimo". But what really sinks the film is the plot. Unlike the Von-Trapps Edvard Grieg seems to have had an awfully boring life (probably an injustice)!