Song of Scheherazade
| Song of Scheherazade | |
|---|---|
1947 Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | Walter Reisch |
| Produced by | Edward Kaufman Edward Dodds |
| Written by | Walter Reisch |
| Starring |
Yvonne De Carlo Jean-Pierre Aumont Eve Arden Brian Donlevy Charles Kullman (as Charles Kullmann) Elena Verdugo Phillip Reed John Qualen George Dolenz |
| Music by |
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Miklós Rózsa |
| Cinematography |
Hal Mohr William V. Skall |
| Edited by | Frank Gross |
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Production
company |
Universal Pictures
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.1 million (US rentals) 2,802,722 admissions (France) |
Song of Scheherazade is a 1947 American musical film directed by Walter Reisch. It tells the story of an imaginary episode in the life of the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Jean-Pierre Aumont), in 1865, when he was a young naval officer on shore leave in Morocco. It also features Yvonne De Carlo as a Spanish dancer named Cara de Talavera, Eve Arden as her mother, and Brian Donlevy as the ship's captain. Charles Kullman (credited as Charles Kullmann), a tenor with the Metropolitan Opera, plays the ship's doctor, Klin, who sings two of Rimsky-Korsakov's melodies.
Rimsky-Korsakov, a midshipman in the Imperial Russian Navy, secretly yearns to be a composer, but naval regulations prevent him from doing so. He uses a stopover in Tangiers to work on his next composition, Scheherazade (which is actually a symphonic suite but in the film is a ballet), with the tacit support of his captain. There he meets Cara de Talavera and her mother, and romantic events and complications ensue. He has to leave to return home to Russia, where his ballet is staged, but Cara unexpectedly turns up as one of the dancers, and they are reunited.
The film contains much colourful music and dancing. The choreography was by Tilly Losch. Rimsky-Korsakov's music was orchestrated by Miklós Rózsa and (uncredited) Eugene Zador. Themes by Rimsky-Korsakov that are used include: "Song of India" from Sadko (sung by Charles Kullman); Flight of the Bumblebee from The Tale of Tsar Saltan; "Hymn to the Sun" from The Golden Cockerel; Capriccio Espagnol, and Scheherazade.
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