Song of Norway ** (1970, Florence Henderson, Toralv Maurstad, Christina Schollin) – Classic Movie Review 7748

The 1944 Broadway hit stage show by Milton Lazarus and Homer Curran, Song of Norway, is brought to the screen by producer-director Andrew L Stone in 1970 with 70 mm 6-Track Stereo, Panavision 70, De Luxe colour and several spoonfuls of sugar.

The life and times of Norway’s greatest composer Edvard Grieg (Toralv Maurstad) are told in the clichéd screenplay by Stone and Milton Lazarus, and the movie is not helped by the caricature performances of the normally much more likeable Harry Secombe, Edward G Robinson, Robert Morley and Oscar Homolka.

Song of Norway is turgid and uncool. However, there is sublime Norwegian scenery to recommend it, though, as well as energetic dancing and of course those nice Grieg tunes with words by Bob Wright and George Chet Forrest, who turned Aleksandr Borodin’s music into music and lyrics for the musical Kismet. Experienced on the Cinerama screen with the 70 mm 6-Track Stereo, it could certainly look and sound something.

George Forrest [Chet Forrest] and Robert Wright were writing partners for 72 years, collaborating on favorites like “Stranger In Paradise”, “Night Of My Nights”, “Sands Of Time”, “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” and ‘And This Is My Beloved’.

Also in the cast are Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Elizabeth Larner, Richard Wordsworth, Bernard Archard, Frank Porretta, Aline Towne, Frederick Jaeger, Richard Vernon, Ronald Adam, Nan Munro, John Barrie, Wenche Foss, Erik Chitty, Ernest Clark, Ros Drinkwater, James Hayter, Henry Gilbert, and Charles Lloyd Pack.

The plan of Sam Spiegel (aka S P Eagle) to film it in 1948 with star Deanna Durbin came to nothing. He announced it one day before the stage musical ended its Broadway run on 6 September 1946, but budget and tax considerations put it on indefinite hold.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7748

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