Beethoven's Great Love (French: Un grand amour de Beethoven is a 1936 French historical musical drama film directed by Abel Gance and starring Harry Baur, Annie Ducaux and Jany Holt.[1][2] It portrays the career of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. In Britain and the United States it was sometimes alternatively titled The Life and Loves of Beethoven.
Beethoven's Great Love | |
---|---|
Directed by | Abel Gance |
Written by | Abel Gance Steve Passeur |
Produced by | Michel Kagansky Christian Stengel |
Starring | Harry Baur Annie Ducaux Jany Holt |
Cinematography | Marc Fossard Robert Lefebvre |
Edited by | Marguerite Beaugé André Galitzine |
Music by | Philippe Gaubert |
Production company | Général Productions |
Distributed by | Éclair-Journal |
Release date |
|
Running time | 135 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
It was shot at the Cité Elgé Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jacques Colombier.
Plot
editIn Vienna in the early 19th century, while Beethoven works as a musical tutor, two of Beethoven's pupils are in love with him. One ends up marrying a count instead while the other spends years of unrequited love as his fiancée. Beethoven moves to Heiligenstadt to dedicate himself to his music, and overcoming his growing deafness, composes a series of masterworks.
Cast
edit- Harry Baur as Ludwig van Beethoven
- Annie Ducaux as Thérèse de Brunswick
- Jany Holt as Juliette Guicciardi
- Jean-Louis Barrault as Karl van Beethoven
- Jean Debucourt as Le comte Robert Gallenberg
- André Nox as Humpholz
- Gaston Dubosc as Anton Schindler
- Sylvie Gance as La mère de l'enfant mort
- Georges Paulais as Le médecin
- Georges Saillard as Breuning
- Jean Pâqui as Pierrot
- Jane Marken as Esther Frechet - la cuisinière
- Marcel Dalio as L'éditeur Steiner
- André Bertic as Johann van Beethoven
- Roger Blin as de Ries
- Dalméras as Franz Schubert
- Lucas Gridoux as Nikolaus Zmeskall
- Yolande Laffon as La comtesse Guicciardi
- Lucien Rozenberg as Le comte Guicciardi
- Paul Pauley as Schuppanzigh
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ King p.243
- ^ Karney, Robyn; Finler, Joel Waldo; Bergan, Ronald (2006). Cinema Year by Year: The Complete Illustrated History of Film. Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 978-0-7566-2259-6.
Bibliography
edit- King, Norman. Abel Gance: A Politics of Spectacle. Bloomsbury Academic, 1984.