"Franz Schubert" or "Franz Schubert - Ein Leben in zwei Sätzen" or "Franz Schubert - Ein unvollendetes Leben" is an Austrian movie from 1953, so this one is getting closer to its 70th anniversary and actually the year this was released was the 125th anniversary of the death of composer Franz Schubert, perhaps not a coincidence, especially not because the film had its premiere just one day before said anniversary in November 1953. Anyway, these 110 minutes here were directed and co-written by Walter Kolm-Veltée and they are among his most known works. Admittedly he stayed in single-digit numbers even in terms of the quantity of films he made, so it is not too telling. However, during the years of Nazi Germany he did not keep working (or was't allowed to), but he made a successful comeback afterwards with films like this one here that were apparently appreciated by the general public, at least more appreciated than they are by me. Or at least this one we have here. There are positive aspects without a doubt. One would be the protagonist's looks. Seeing pictures of what Schubert really looked like, it must absolutely be said that they did a great job with the make-up here. Also for other characters. However, this is an area where I would have been surprised if they had failed. Still i must say that costumes and art direction would be other areas in which they usually deliver great quality with period pieces like this one here, but I find the outcome rather underwhelming in both areas. It's definitely not bad, but also not particularly convincing. If we move to the audio, then I say that it is alright as well. There is certainly more music in the first hour than in the second fifty minutes in here, but I liked what I heard overall. Still it is not a music, which is also proved by the absence of light moments and melodies completely. It is a very serious film, but that also kinda fits Schubert as a character because he struggled all the time in his lifetime and even the more hopeful moments like his romantic relationships feel rather forced. At least the way they are portrayed here. I don't mean the filmmaking aspect, but really what they were going for. The scenes with the Therese character were telling enough. Also how he struggles with expressing himself when it comes to talking and not music. She even says something like that that music is the medium where he delivers.
The lead actor here is Heinrich Schweiger and he was alright. Still very young when he appeared in this film, even younger than he looks, but this was a successful beginning to a long career as this was almost his very first film overall. They sure wanted a fresh face here. But maybe I am a bit too positive on him because of the excellent make-up work. I am not sure if his performance was really that good. Bad he was not though, that much is safe. However, looking at how he is really in this film from beginning to end in almost every scene, perhaps his impact could have been bigger. There were not too many memorable scenes I'd say, definitely not enough for a film closer to two hours than 90 minutes. So the "1h 32min" listed on top of the page here on imdb are not correct unless there is another version that I am not aware of. The one I just watched aired on German television today. I kinda like these Austrian accents, no denying. Most of the cast here were indeed Austrian, but that just confirms the country of production and even if even the biggest film buffs will not know the majority of names in the cast here, it can still be said that most of them had very long and successful careers. What else? Oh yes, this is a color movie, not to be taken for granted for 1950s, bus most films with references to music, also the non-musicals, were in color back then. The war/politics films were usually black and white back then, at least here in the German-speaking countries. I would say that the screenplay here could have been a tad better at times, maybe fewer characters and better focus on them, better elaborations and more depth. The only one who kinda received a decent amount of depth is Schubert himself here, even with his (potential) girlfriend there is something missing. And nonetheless I was not won over by the way Schubert is depicted here. It is pretty telling that the one scene that involves Beethoven (or the remains of Beethoven) was still more memorable than everything that involves Schubert in over 100 minutes. So it becomes obvious who the big star here is. Not saying Schubert did not have any relevance, on the contrary, but they could have done a lot more with him. Don't mistake this for something even close to "Amadeus", even if that movie is of course much newer,, but still. So yes back to the Beethoven-Schubert parallel here, I also felt that they could have elaborated in a better manner how much this man means to our protagonist here. Then also it would have felt more effective that he did not get to meet him before his death. Whhich as still effective, but that scene could have been so much more. Even if co-writer Carl Merz became way more prolific than Kolm-Veltée in the years after this movie, he was still a rookie in terms of screenplay writing in the earlly 1950s, so maybe a more experienced writer could have turned this into a better outcome. I'd only recommend it to the very biggest period piece fans. It's a thumbs-down for me because, ith the exception of Schubert's make-up, nothing stands out whatsoever. And that alone definitely is not enough, even if we do see him constantly from beginning to end. Luckily, it is also never really a failure, just not interesting enough.
The lead actor here is Heinrich Schweiger and he was alright. Still very young when he appeared in this film, even younger than he looks, but this was a successful beginning to a long career as this was almost his very first film overall. They sure wanted a fresh face here. But maybe I am a bit too positive on him because of the excellent make-up work. I am not sure if his performance was really that good. Bad he was not though, that much is safe. However, looking at how he is really in this film from beginning to end in almost every scene, perhaps his impact could have been bigger. There were not too many memorable scenes I'd say, definitely not enough for a film closer to two hours than 90 minutes. So the "1h 32min" listed on top of the page here on imdb are not correct unless there is another version that I am not aware of. The one I just watched aired on German television today. I kinda like these Austrian accents, no denying. Most of the cast here were indeed Austrian, but that just confirms the country of production and even if even the biggest film buffs will not know the majority of names in the cast here, it can still be said that most of them had very long and successful careers. What else? Oh yes, this is a color movie, not to be taken for granted for 1950s, bus most films with references to music, also the non-musicals, were in color back then. The war/politics films were usually black and white back then, at least here in the German-speaking countries. I would say that the screenplay here could have been a tad better at times, maybe fewer characters and better focus on them, better elaborations and more depth. The only one who kinda received a decent amount of depth is Schubert himself here, even with his (potential) girlfriend there is something missing. And nonetheless I was not won over by the way Schubert is depicted here. It is pretty telling that the one scene that involves Beethoven (or the remains of Beethoven) was still more memorable than everything that involves Schubert in over 100 minutes. So it becomes obvious who the big star here is. Not saying Schubert did not have any relevance, on the contrary, but they could have done a lot more with him. Don't mistake this for something even close to "Amadeus", even if that movie is of course much newer,, but still. So yes back to the Beethoven-Schubert parallel here, I also felt that they could have elaborated in a better manner how much this man means to our protagonist here. Then also it would have felt more effective that he did not get to meet him before his death. Whhich as still effective, but that scene could have been so much more. Even if co-writer Carl Merz became way more prolific than Kolm-Veltée in the years after this movie, he was still a rookie in terms of screenplay writing in the earlly 1950s, so maybe a more experienced writer could have turned this into a better outcome. I'd only recommend it to the very biggest period piece fans. It's a thumbs-down for me because, ith the exception of Schubert's make-up, nothing stands out whatsoever. And that alone definitely is not enough, even if we do see him constantly from beginning to end. Luckily, it is also never really a failure, just not interesting enough.
