Claudio Arrau features as Franz Liszt in Sueño de amor (Liebesträume), an 80-minute film about Franz Liszt’s life, directed by José Bohr and produced by Producciones Duquesa Olga [José Bohr] in Mexico.
The production was filmed from 1st March at Jorge Stahl’s Mexico Film Studios, and world-premiered on 4th April at the ‘Cine Palacio’ of Mexico City. It was subsequently premiered in September in Chile.
The film was projected at the Teatro Campoamor of New York on 10th January 1936, and positively reviewed as highly entertaining, well acted and supported, with excellent musical performances, and a realistic atmosphere, by critic Harry T. Smith of the New York Times on 11th January 1936.
In the film, Arrau plays the protagonist role of Liszt and performs Liszt’s compositions Liebesträume and La chasse.
[See ‘ArrauHouse’ Chronology under September 2017]
This almost sounds too good to be true.
Would make for a good April fools joke, and is only three days off:
“The production was filmed from 1st March at Jorge Stahl’s Mexico Film Studios, and world-premiered on 4th April at the ‘Cine Palacio’ of Mexico City.”
Zero. The fucker ( Luis Horta from the University of Chili) never wrote me back so I guess the copy is still being held there without making it (commercially) available for a large public.
Arrau played (of course) Liebestraum no. 3 and La Chasse in the movie.
There’s also a pianostreet post about it: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=64364.0