Song of Norway

Gloriously awful. A difficult movie to rate--it is, by almost any standard, terrible. Granted, its faux-innocent camp can be almost overwhelming, and quite entertaining, but I love it without reason. The score bastardized some great music, and the Norwegian scenery is stunningly beautiful. Pauline Kael: "The movie is of an unbelievable badness; it brings back clichés you didn't know you knew [...] You can't get angry at something this stupefying; it seems to have been made by trolls."

In the same year that WOODSTOCK was released, this remarkably botched bio-musical hit the scene. Based on the life composer Edvard Grieg, the film uses roughly 25 songs based on his compositions, along with a grossly hackneyed script, to tell his early life's story. The songs, for the most part, blur into a common blandness; the choreography is startlingly goofy, and there are many awkward montages of Norwegian scenery. Sincerity and an attempt at authenticity aside...it's a thorough disaster.