Only a few are chosen

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Movie
German title Only a few are chosen
Original title Song Without End
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1960
length 130 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Charles Vidor
George Cukor
(film completed)
script Oscar Millard
production William Goetz / Columbia
music Morris Stoloff
Harry Sukman
camera James Wong Howe
Charles Lang
(not mentioned)
cut William A. Lyon
occupation

Few Are Chosen is an American romance film from 1960 . The historical film freely reproduces the love story between Franz Liszt and Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein .

action

Comtesse Marie d'Agoult once sacrificed her life and good reputation in Paris to flee to Germany with the star pianist Franz Liszt and their children . She gladly accepted this scandal and further sacrifices, because she suspects that in her great love there is not only the best pianist of his time, but also a great composer. He himself is still struggling with the decision and is happy to receive a visit from George Sand and Frédéric Chopin , who tell him that Sigismund Thalberg is now the celebrated Parisian pianist. Liszt can't let that sit on him. Contrary to the advice of his Marie, he travels to Paris and competes with Thalberg. It will be an acclaimed return. In the celebrations he is invited as a guest of honor by Prince Felix von Lichnowsky . He met the Russian Prince Nikolaus zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg-Ludwigsburg and his charming wife Carolyne Wittgenstein , who in turn invited him to Geneva to a benefit concert for the Hungarian flood victims of 1838.

During the trip, Liszt struggles with himself. On the one hand, he wants to meet the wishes of his Marie and finally become a composer, and on the other hand, his love for the piano is too great to simply give up. After he played another acclaimed concert in front of Carolynes eyes, at which he earned 15,576 crowns, a large-scale European tour of Dresden , Berlin and Brussels began , but before that he accepted an invitation from Carolynes to Moscow, where he performed in front of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I. plays. Then he travels through Europe and earns enough money for Marie and the children. But Marie is not interested in the money. She doesn't want Liszt to go the easy way. He should finally become a composer. After all, she had made so many sacrifices for him that he could at least make one for her. But Liszt is tired of hearing this again and again. Angry, he leaves Marie behind and, while walking, discovers a concert rehearsal by Richard Wagner . He is enthusiastic. Wagner plays like no one else and like he has never heard it before.

Liszt accepts an invitation from Carolynes to her hometown Kiev , where he gives a concert, but she is absent. He does not find her until he is in the cathedral and discovers that she shares his deep religious faith, very different from his Marie. They get closer, and Liszt confesses to her that at all the concerts he never played for the audience, but only for her. They kiss, but tearfully turns away. She cannot give in to love. After all, she is married. Instead, she follows him to Odessa , where he gives another concert. When he announced on stage in front of the shocked audience that he was quitting as a pianist and that this was his last concert, Carolyne also found the courage to tell her husband that she wanted to get a divorce. Since Nikolaus doesn't want to, she blackmailed him. Then she wants to travel to the Russian tsar to get the divorce. In the meantime Liszt is to move to Weimar , where he will find not only an orchestra but also an opera that will be useful for his compositions. Liszt prefers to go to Paris, but for her sake he lives and works from now on, sometimes together with Hippolyte Chelard , in Weimar and is waiting for her return from Russia. But she won't come back anytime soon. During the Vienna October Uprising of 1848 , she stayed in Vienna of all places. Liszt pulls out all the stops to free her from the danger zone and learns that she is finally divorced.

They still want his mother's blessing, however. Therefore both travel to France, where the mother gives her blessing and Carolyne meets Marie. Marie, like Carolyne, had once given up everything just to be allowed to live with Franz. What could Carolyne have to offer, even if she gave up all her possessions in the course of the divorce for Franz in order not to be sacrificed for the next muse? When Marie hears that it is the upcoming marriage, a world collapses for her. From now on they live together in Weimar, where Liszt tries to record Wagner's music. Liszt helps him when he is on the run after the May uprising in Dresden , whereas he receives Wagner's latest piece with Lohengrin . Meanwhile, Carolyne has to get a rejection with the archbishop's refusal to consent to the marriage. Rather, she should never show herself together with Franz alone in public in order to avoid another scandal. After all, that's too much for them. She moves to Rome , where she not only lives from now on, but also tries to get her divorce legal before the Catholic Church with the Pope, so that she can finally get married.

After a while Liszt receives the letter from his beloved Carolyne from Rome. She did it. The wedding is finally coming. He travels after her and gives a concert the day before the wedding. While he was still trying to get close to his Carolyne amid the cheers of the crowd, both received an official visit from the Vatican. Carolyne's request for divorce was denied. They are accused of serious offenses. Someone has revealed that she once blackmailed Nicholas for divorce. Carolyne is deeply affected because she cannot marry her beloved Franz now. In this moment of greatest pain, she realizes God's will. They are just not made for one another. While Franz tries to convince her to change her mind, she has long accepted it and henceforth dedicates her life to the church and the faith. After his return to Weimar, Liszt also joined a monastery and now dedicates his music to God.

criticism

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said the film was two hours long "wonderful and exciting harmonies, virtuoso piano playing and symphonic vocals" which are performed "brilliantly and beautifully". As “elegant” the music may be, the great biographical episodes are “violent [...], detailed and, in the end, also tormenting”. Because the attitudes, the feelings, the great costumes and the excellent actors, that's just too much of a good thing. You just don't get everything.

The lexicon of the international film said: "An elaborate, beautifully photographed and sumptuously furnished artist melodrama, which processes the historical material in the tried and tested Hollywood manner into well-groomed pomp"

background

The idea of ​​making a film about Franz Liszt circulated in Hollywood for almost 16 years. As early as 1952 Columbia Pictures hired the screenwriter Oscar Saul and the director William Dieterle for the film project. After this failed, Gottfried Reinhardt was hired to write a new script. But only when the producer Goetz took on the project and hired Millard as a screenwriter, the project could be filmed. Morris Stoloff was hired for the musical direction. He was able to engage the pianist Jorge Bolet for the piano scenes. The singing comes from the Roger Wagner Chorale and the orchestration from the Los Angeles Philharmonic .

Director Charles Vidor suddenly died of a heart attack on June 4, 1959 while filming in Vienna. The film was just about 15 percent complete. His friend George Cukor took over the rest of the direction, only on condition that he could remain anonymous. He had the script, which many found embarrassing and stupid, revised by Walter Bernstein and replaced the cameraman Howe with Charles Lang .

The film celebrated its world premiere on August 11, 1960 in New York City . In Canada and the United States, he grossed just over $ 1.5 million. It opened in cinemas in the Federal Republic of Germany on October 21, 1960. After a German-language VHS release, the film was released on DVD on October 16, 2015 by Winkler Film.

Awards (selection)

Academy Awards 1961
Golden Globe Awards 1961

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bosley Crowther: Song Without End (1960) on nytimes.com, August 12, 1960 (English), accessed January 15, 2013
  2. ↑ Only a few are chosen. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ a b Sheridan Morley: Dirk Bogarde: Rank Outsider , Bloomsbury UK 1999, page 85ff.
  4. ^ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety , January 4, 1961, p. 47