So much average

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

As a lifelong fan of classical music and who has liked/loved a fair share of musical/composer biopics ('Amadeus' being one of my all time favourite films), there was a lot of interest seeing this biopic about Edvard Grieg, Norway's greatest composer.It does pain me to say it, but 'Song of Norway' was a huge disappointment. Others have explained very well the numerous big flaws it has, and there is not much to add. As a biographical drama, it is a disaster, one of the worst to exist outside of a few good things. As a film on its own, 'Song of Norway' is also not much better. This is coming from somebody who really wanted to like it and was prepared to go against the grain/general consensus, which has happened before though critics and I are also often in agreement.There are good points about 'Song of Norway'. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and matched by some lovingly rendered cinematography. Grieg's music, while deserving better treatment being deserving of larger, longer extracts and a less 'The Sound of Music'-esque, except far more cloyingly cutesy (actually love 'The Sound of Music' as a film but that approach sounded wrong here), treatment, is a sheer wonderful delight.Florence Henderson gives the best, and only, good performance. She actually looks engaged and the only person to make a lot of her role.'Song of Norway' has so much wrong with it, however, including the single stiffest, dullest and severely erratically characterised (both over and under) performance of any composer on film, there may have been composers with more colourful personalities and more interesting personal lives, like Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Verdi, Wagner and Schumann (four of whom had biopics that did them justice), but Grieg was not this uninteresting.Don't expect Robert Morley, Oskar Homolka or Edward G. Robinson to save things, they are given nothing to do and only Robinson makes effort to bring dignity despite being completely wasted. And how can you have interesting real life figures like Liszt, Andersen and Ibsen and do so little with them? It is the storytelling and direction where 'Song of Norway' most falls down. The film is far too long, easily could have done with being 45 minutes shorter, and goes along at a snail's pace with so much flimsy drama and static staging of musical scenes which makes the film often deadly dull. The direction is amateurishly static.Editing should have been tighter and the dialogue is horrendously stilted.All in all, a deadly dull mess aside from good production values, great music and one good performance. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I seriously don't know how to describe this movie. I'll start with my obvious statement, that I'm not necessarily a big fan of musicals (quite the contrary) and while I will write that I also didn't enjoy "Sound of Music" as much, I am aware that some/many will dislike my comment here.But it's not as much about other musicals, as it is about this particular musical, the Song of Norway. Even people who love musicals despise this film, which brings me to my theory. This film might be a comedy after all. It might be a genius thought of the director, dragging the musical down the road and showing it with so much sugar coated (music) numbers, that it really takes the wind of the drama and anything else. You could say then, that this was a master plan ... but on the other hand, it still doesn't make it an entertaining view. Far from it. Nice cinematography/landscapes though ...

SONG OF NORWAY is an unbearably dull musical pastiche of clichés heard in every musical ever made that purported to be the saga of a composer's struggles to find recognition for his music. Edvard Grieg's struggles are so dull as to be non-stop in this awful compilation of Norwegian scenery by the truckload with no story to carry it.It is notable that the man who plays Grieg, TORALV MAURSTAD, never did make another American film, so disastrous were the reviews and box-office for this dull saga. Note also that FLORENCE HENDERSON was not able to make another film in Hollywood but went directly to television and stayed there for a very successful run on "The Brady Bunch". See the film and you will judge yourself why it was an abject failure. And don't be fooled by the presence of OSKAR HOMOLKA, EDWARD G. ROBINSON and ROBERT MORLEY in the cast. They have little or nothing to do.Music lovers may be enchanted by Grieg's works, but not the way they are presented here. Nor is there any resemblance between the zestful SOUND OF MUSIC and its picturesque way of dealing with the Von Trapp Singers and this dull as dishwater musical that would work better as a travelogue of Norway with the plot excised.See it at your own risk.

I had great expectations when this film opened with beautiful scenery and masterful cinematography. Norway is truly spectacular. I thought it would be very refreshing to watch a film that didn't rely on special effects, but sorrowfully my expectations soon gave way to mind boggling reality.The pacing was slow, the dialogue was forced, "real" reactions were practically nonexistent, even from the stand-ins, kids, dancers and supporting actors who were used more like set pieces than human beings. The directorial style was old fashioned Rome opera. Traditionally in Rome, the singers rarely move. They just plant their feet and sing, and the chorus is draped around them. The sound is great, but the dramatic elements are totally sublimated to the music. I think they tried to do the same here, but what's good for Rome sure ain't good for the movies! Frank Porretta as Richard Nordraak touches me with his gorgeous voice, and he reads well on screen, but his character, like the rest, lacked any depth.Once footage was "in the can" scenes were chopped up like confetti. Smooth transitions, probably 86'd for the sake of the score, were the first to go. Our "suspension of disbelief" was shattered continually. The sound was also very uneven, and the choreography was quite stilted and cloned from just about any Rogers and Hammerstein film. "Production numbers" just meant more people on stage, crammed into boxcars if necessary, and "don't let them move around too much". oi. They even teamed Florence Henderson up with a gang of "cute kids" who had absolutely no personalities, and had her stomp through the town singing ala "Sound of Music". Nothing worked.How Edward G. Robinson managed to retain his dignity in this horrible flick is a total mystery. The leading men might have done well as characters in "Mr. Ripley" if only their makeup had been feathered into the hairlines. Florence was lovely and animated and saved the day as best as she could. The costumes were obviously high budget as was the film itself, but budget alone could not save this unfortunate disaster.