Principal Cast

 

Frank Sundstrom, Audrey Long, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Mikhail Rasumny

 

 

Supposedly a biography of the life of Tchaikovsky.

 

Excerpts from newspapers of the day:

 

 

It is becoming increasingly evident, as the list of screen biographies about the lives of distinguished composers keeps expanding, that our movie producers are more concerned about recording the compositions which made them celebrated than they are with measuring the character of the personality concerned. In “Song of My Heart,” it becomes the turn of Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky to emerge as a conventional romantic movie hero, tormented and disillusioned because aristocratic class barriers prevent his marriage to a beautiful blonde princess. Oh brother! How the producers had the nerve to foist that distorted fiction in view of the ample factual material available is something we’ll never understand. This business of playing fast and loose with the lives of great musicians is unpardonable; doubly so in this case, since the dreadful concoction of the scriptwriter is deadly dull…

 

…However, for most popular tastes the excerpts from the Nutcracker Suite, the 1812 Overture, Romeo and Juliet Fantasy, and the familiar piano concerto among others, will be a pleasant experience, as the music is well performed. Incidentally, the fingers racing over the keyboard belong to José Iturbi, who volunteered his services and accepted anonymity because of other contractual commitments. But it is only fair to recognize his contribution, for the score is the most commendable thing about “Song of my Heart.”

 

This one isn’t in Maltin’s book; he didn’t even deign to mention it as a “bomb.” And with good reason.