The Song of Songs | |
---|---|
Directed by | Rouben Mamoulian |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | from the novel by Hermann Sudermann and the play by Edward Sheldon |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Victor Milner |
Music by |
|
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Song of Songs is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Marlene Dietrich. This Paramount picture is based on the Hermann Sudermann novel Das Hohe Lied (1908) and the play The Song of Songs (1914) by Edward Sheldon. [1]
Song of Songs is a ‘“romantic fable” with “tragic elements” in which an innocent peasant girl is transformed, step-by-step through the vicissitudes of love, into a disillusioned cynic. [2] [3] Most telling in this case is the use in German of the entire phrase to describe the "great song of love" or "ode to love" in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. This creates a double layer of meaning to the title of the novel in German, one that could not be duplicated in an English rendition.
The 1914 play, The Song of Songs by Edward Sheldon, also contributed to this version. It is a remake of the 1918 silent film The Song of Songs starring Elsie Ferguson and the 1924 silent film Lily of the Dust with Pola Negri. [4]
An innocent peasant girl, Lily (Marlene Dietrich) is bereft of family after the death of her elderly father. Her aunt, Mrs. Rasmussen (Alison Skipworth) who owns a bookshop, reluctantly takes in Lily, but treats her more as a servant than as a niece. The naturally affectionate girl attracts the attention of a local sculptor, Richard (Brian Aherne), who flirts with her and invites her to his atelier suggesting she pose for him. Lily demurs, but suffering under the scrutiny of her ill-willed aunt, she reconsiders and consents. In posing in the nude for Richard she discovers her womanhood, and incidentally, falls in love with the penurious artist. The artist finds himself ill-equipped to respond fully to Lily’s overwhelming passion for him.
A suitor appears in the form of the wealthy Baron von Merzbach (Lionell Atwill). A patron of Mrs. Rassmusen’s book shop, he schemes to take Lily to his estate and make her his mistress, under the fiction that the mostly illiterate girl will serve as his secretary. The aunt accepts a cash bargain from the Baron, and casts her out. Lily flees to Robert’s studio with the Baron in pursuit. To her dismay Richard hands her over to the Baron, believing she may be better off with a man who can provide for her. The Baron becomes infatuated with Lily and marries her, but expels her from his estate when, in despair, she attempts to seduce the Baron’s riding master.
By chance, Richard encounters Lily, now working in a Berlin cabaret. She blames him for her degraded existence, but cynically praises him for disabusing her of her illusions, and allowing her to escape her naiveté and embrace the harsh realities of life. Remorsefully, Richard invites Lily to return to his studio. There she is confronted with the now completed marble statue she first posed for in her girlhood, an image of unspoiled innocence. In a calculated rage, she smashes the figure to pieces. After this catharsis, Lily and Richard reconcile and establish a genuine union. [5] [6]
In the early 1930s, Paramount Pictures’ premier female property was actor Marlene Dietrich. A genuine “screen goddess” of the Hollywood Golden Age, she rivaled Metro-Goldwyn-Meyers Greta Garbo. [7] [8] Paramount director Josef von Sternberg had collaborated with Dietrich in five consecutive films and was instrumental in crafting her screen image. [9] After their less than impressive Blonde Venus (1932), Paramount executives paired Dietrich with Mamoulian in Song of Songs. [10] [11]
Mamoulian, serving as both director and producer, assembled a talented crew, among them screenwriter Samuel Hoffenstein, art director Hans Dreier and cinematographer Victor Milner. [12] [13]
New York Times reviewer “A.D.S.” bestows fulsome praise on the production. Though cautioning that The Song of Songs is “no dramatic bombshell,” the visual elements are compared to Romantic poetry: “Mr. Mamoulian has the eye of a poet and his cameraman, Victor Milner, has the poet's skill.” Indeed, the reviewer invokes Lord Byron’s poem She Walks in Beauty (1814) to emphasize the point. Marlene Dietrich’s outstanding portrayal of Lily in her devolution from innocent country girl to fallen “demimondaine” tends to obscure the “entirely excellent” supporting cast. The reviewer concludes that the play “could not have enjoyed a more satisfactory” cinematic treatment. [14]
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 83% based on 6 interviews. (The New York Times' review is not among them.) [15]
The film was a box office disappointment for Paramount. [16]
With the almost universal transition to sound movies in 1930, Paramount planned a remake of their 1924 silent feature Lily of the Dust (1924) starring Pola Negri. By July 1933, a scenario and script by Leo Birinski were prepared foThe Song of Songs. [17] Alerted that a remake was underway, the censors at the Hays Office, cautioned Paramount’s production manager Jesse Lasky that the low “moral character” of the female protagonist in the silent film adaptation would not be tolerated in a sound version. [18] Contrary to production code guidelines, Mamoulian and Paramount executives failed to submit a final shooting script for approval to the MPPDA, but forwarded a completed print of the film directly to the New York State Censorship Board, whose methods Paramount considered less draconian. Mamoulian personally appealed to the MPPDA administrators, and the film avoided wholesale cuts, - limited just to 1500 feet - before its 1933 release. [19] In 1935, though “objectionable material” had been removed, The Song of Songs was denied reissue and “filed away for decades” as a film with a “social problem.” [20]
Love Me Tonight is a 1932 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced and directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with music by Rodgers and Hart. It stars Maurice Chevalier as a tailor who poses as a nobleman and Jeanette MacDonald as a princess with whom he falls in love. It also stars Charles Ruggles as a penniless nobleman, along with Charles Butterworth and Myrna Loy as members of his family.
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich was a German-born American actress and singer whose career spanned nearly 7 decades.
Becky Sharp is a 1935 American Technicolor historical drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Miriam Hopkins, who plays the eponymous protagonist. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Other supporting cast were William Faversham, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce, and Alan Mowbray.
Sam Jaffe was, at different points in his career in the motion picture industry, an agent, a producer, and a studio executive.
The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American black-and-white swashbuckling film released by 20th Century-Fox, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone.
Rouben Zachary Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theater director.
Queen Christina is a pre-Code Hollywood biographical film, produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933 by Walter Wanger and directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It stars Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in their fourth and last film together.
High, Wide and Handsome is a 1937 American musical western film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Alan Hale Sr., Charles Bickford and Dorothy Lamour. The film was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and written by Oscar Hammerstein II and George O'Neil, with lyrics by Hammerstein and music by Jerome Kern. It was released by Paramount Pictures.
Travis Banton was an American costume designer. He is perhaps best known for his long collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich and director Josef von Sternberg. He is generally considered one of the most important Hollywood costume designers of the golden age.
Blood and Sand is a 1941 American Technicolor film drama starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth and Nazimova. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it was produced by 20th Century Fox and was based on the 1908 Spanish novel Blood and Sand by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. The supporting cast features Anthony Quinn, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar, J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine and George Reeves. Rita Hayworth's singing voice was dubbed by Gracilla Pirraga.
Applause is a 1929 American backstage musical "talkie" directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Helen Morgan, Jack Cameron, and Joan Peers. It was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, New York during the early years of sound films.
City Streets is a 1931 American Pre-Code romantic melodrama directed by Rouben Mamoulian from a story by Dashiell Hammett and stars Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney and Paul Lukas.
Golden Boy is a 1939 American drama romance sports film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou and William Holden. It is based on the 1937 play of the same title by Clifford Odets.
Silk Stockings is a 1957 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It is based on the 1955 stage musical of the same name, which had been adapted from the film Ninotchka (1939). The film was choreographed by Eugene Loring and Hermes Pan.
Summer Holiday is a 1948 American musical-comedy film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven. The picture is based on the play Ah, Wilderness! (1933) by Eugene O'Neill, which had been filmed under that name by MGM in 1935 with Rooney in a much smaller role, as the younger brother. Although completed in October 1946, the film sat on the shelf until 1948.
Rings on Her Fingers is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Rouben Mamoulian for 20th Century Studios and starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney.
We Live Again is a 1934 American film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Anna Sten and Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel Resurrection (Voskraeseniye). The screenplay was written by Maxwell Anderson with contributions from a number of writers, including Preston Sturges and Thornton Wilder.
The Gay Desperado is a 1936 American musical-comedy film starring Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, and Nino Martini and directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Mary Pickford and Jesse Lasky and originally released by United Artists. The film is a spoof of the Hollywood gangster genre.
Marlene Dietrich was a German and American actress and singer.
The Song of Songs is a 1914 play written by Edward Sheldon, based on the 1908 German novel Das hohe Lied by Hermann Sudermann, which had been translated to English under the title The Song of Songs. Producer A. H. Woods staged the play on Broadway at his Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre, where it was a box office success. The play was the basis of several movie and radio adaptations.