Song of love - part 1

Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid and Robert Walker in Clarence Brown's "Song of love"

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Katharine
• Hepburn
• Paul
• Henreid
• Robert
• Walker
• Clarence
• Brown
• song
• of
• love

[franimalistic]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but how do they make it look like the actors are playing the piano in all of these movies about pianists?? Do the actors just watch someone play it, and then mimic the action on-screen with no regard for playing the right notes? I mean, Katherine Hepburn didn't play piano that well, did she?

[annpham]

no, Katharine did not play it that well, but she did "play" it that well. That's good acting!

[jimtrueblue99]

When they said that they were taking liberties with chronology, they weren't kidding. The concerto Clara is playing at this concert in May, 1839, is Liszt's E-flat, which was written in 1849!

[jessechene]

I would not like this movie to be remade. It has been my favorite for many years and I don't want to see anyone else, than these actors, do it.

[PaiintDriP]

@1simaddict1 Really !! I'm even more impressed *o*

[PaiintDriP]

Wow , must be even harder to play emotions and everything when you're faking playing piano ... *O* What a great movie it was .. Still, we don't exactly know what happens at the end between Brahams and her, do we ?

[1simaddict1]

@franimalistic I just found out that she learned to play well enough to look good in her close ups of her playing. That woman really did go all the way when she did her roles. Im constantly in awe of her!

[1simaddict1]

@purplepeoplepurple It show how great of an actress she was. She paid attention and made sure the little details looked real.

[OrchestrationOnline]

Interesting - Hepburn was about 40 here. She is playing an 18-year-old Clara Wieck, and she convinces.

[purplepeoplepurple]

I feel quite sure Katherine Hepburn must have been a pretty decent pianist. Watch closely, even in the details her playing looks real. Of course, the sound track of the film was provided by a proper concert pianist. Actors who don't know how to play, who merely fake it, just don't have the right look at all, they exaggerate, their bodies don't show the correct tension, and look wrong in a hundred little ways. Robert Walker playing Brahms in this film is an example.

[mpakos18473]

I have the same question with franimalistic above.

Katharine seems to realy play - but how if she does know nothing ?

In some other movies the actor realy plays.

For e.g. Ingrid Bergman in "Intemezzo" (she was realy a pianist).

In contrast, in that film, for L. Howard was used montage.

I'm wondering how Katharine manages that here...

[Phi1618033]

You could never make a movie today that started off with 10 minutes worth of music. Baz Luhrmann's version would probably be edited down to 1 minute 20 second with 100 cuts.

[jennyQchai]

still love the movie! Still amazed how the actors can do such "good" piano playing!