This is a remarkably ambitious short film from a talented B-movie director. During a turbulent political time, the French Nobility hire composer Claude Rouget (Leon Ames) to write a new anthem to inspire the people of France and support the army. Rouget writes what would become France's national anthem. But it backfires, and only inspires the angry masses to revolt. The film is about misplaced patriotism and forgetting the basic principals of liberty. And reminds us that sometimes we need only look to the simple lyrics of a song to know what is wrong and right. Ames is a powerful lead as the French composer, and the extras casting is brilliant. A fantastic short!
5 Reviews
"March On, March On"
bkoganbing14 July 2009
They don't make musical shorts like these any more. You not only were entertained but learned something in the process. You gained knowledge which if may only have helped you on a quiz show, still it's always nice to learn.
Song Of Revolt concerns the writing and popularity of the most stirring national anthem of all, France's La Marseillaise. Leon Ames plays Claude Joseph Rouget DeLisle, a French officer who had a gift of composition and wrote a stirring marching song for the French Army to be inspired to expel invaders like the Prussians who were taking advantage of the chaos in France during their revolution. Instead the song served as an inspiration against those who had oppressed the common folk. It still does today.
DeLisle (1760-1836) died a poor man, but certainly lived long enough to see how his song would be received through the ages and certainly long enough to appreciate the irony.
Song Of Revolt concerns the writing and popularity of the most stirring national anthem of all, France's La Marseillaise. Leon Ames plays Claude Joseph Rouget DeLisle, a French officer who had a gift of composition and wrote a stirring marching song for the French Army to be inspired to expel invaders like the Prussians who were taking advantage of the chaos in France during their revolution. Instead the song served as an inspiration against those who had oppressed the common folk. It still does today.
DeLisle (1760-1836) died a poor man, but certainly lived long enough to see how his song would be received through the ages and certainly long enough to appreciate the irony.
Leon Ames, Songwriter
boblipton10 August 2020
Leon Ames plays Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. He's best remembered for writing La Marseillaise , and this MGM short subject has Ames writing it in two minutes, and everyone else singing it in the next two minutes. In English, of course, as they rush Royalists guarding castles, and flames rise about the falling blade of a guillotine.
Good montage work, with some clips from A TALE OF TWO CITIES cut in to give the short some gravitas. Ames looks handsome and heroic, which will be a surprise to anyone who knows him from his work in the 1940s and 1950s, in which he plays the stolid father of teen-aged girls.
Good montage work, with some clips from A TALE OF TWO CITIES cut in to give the short some gravitas. Ames looks handsome and heroic, which will be a surprise to anyone who knows him from his work in the 1940s and 1950s, in which he plays the stolid father of teen-aged girls.
Lower Short
Michael_Elliott23 July 2009
Song of Revolt (1937)
** (out of 4)
Rather dull historical drama from MGM tells the story of how France got their national anthem. During the French Revolution, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (Leon Ames) was asked by the King to write a song, which would rally their troops into winning the war. Rowland directed many shorts from MGM but this here isn't one of his best. There's a lot wrong with the film including just a lack of direction because it's never quite clear what the film is trying to do. At one part it seems like a musical but then it switches over to a historical drama before switching again to some patriotic fighting rally. There's nothing wrong with mixing genres together but the problem here is that there's no emotion or power to anything going on. Ames, best known for MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, manges to turn in a decent performance but it's certainly not among his best. The film also suffers from a low-budget that doesn't help matters any.
** (out of 4)
Rather dull historical drama from MGM tells the story of how France got their national anthem. During the French Revolution, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (Leon Ames) was asked by the King to write a song, which would rally their troops into winning the war. Rowland directed many shorts from MGM but this here isn't one of his best. There's a lot wrong with the film including just a lack of direction because it's never quite clear what the film is trying to do. At one part it seems like a musical but then it switches over to a historical drama before switching again to some patriotic fighting rally. There's nothing wrong with mixing genres together but the problem here is that there's no emotion or power to anything going on. Ames, best known for MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, manges to turn in a decent performance but it's certainly not among his best. The film also suffers from a low-budget that doesn't help matters any.
"A song can make men forget bread and think of victory and their king."
utgard142 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
So-so historical short from MGM directed by Roy Rowland. It stars a mustacheless Leon Ames (didn't see that often) as Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. He sets out to write a marching song for French troops and winds up writing the French national anthem. Seeing Ames lip-synch "La Marseillaise" is kind of funny. Uses lots of stock footage from A Tale of Two Cities. Ridiculous ending where the bloodthirsty French peasants spare Ames from the guillotine because he gives a speech. A watchable short but not something you'd go out of your way to find. Roy Rowland has done better, as has Leon Ames. I bet Ames cringed during the guillotine speech.
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