Beethoven's Great Love
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 | |
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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 |
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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.
Synopsis
In Vienna in the early 1800s while working 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
- 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
References
- 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
- King, Norman. Abel Gance: A Politics of Spectacle. Bloomsbury Academic, 1984.