--- title: 'The Song of the Rivers (1954)' type: 'film' director: 'Joris Ivens' released: '1954-01-01' runtime_minutes: 97 genres: - 'Documentary' countries: - 'German Democratic Republic' - 'Germany' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-song-of-the-rivers-1954' review_count: 0 imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047177/' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # The Song of the Rivers (1954) 1954 · 97 min · Documentary · German Democratic Republic, Germany ## Synopsis The Song of the Rivers is a 1954 documentary film production by the East Germany film studio DEFA. Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens was the leading director. The sprawling film celebrates international workers movements along six major rivers: the Volga, Mississippi, Ganges, Nile, Amazon and the Yangtze. Shot in many countries by different film crews, and later edited by Ivens, Song of the Rivers begins with a lyrical montage of landscapes and laborers and proceeds to glorify labor and modern industrial machinery. The musical score is by Dmitri Shostakovich, with lyrics written by Bertolt Brecht, and songs performed by German communism's star Ernst Busch and famous American actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson who also narrates. Song of the Rivers is an ode to international solidarity. ## Credits - **Director:** [Joris Ivens](https://cinepixo.com/people/joris-ivens), [Robert Ménégoz](https://cinepixo.com/people/robert-menegoz), [Joop Huisken](https://cinepixo.com/people/joop-huisken) - **Original Music Composer:** [Dmitri Shostakovich](https://cinepixo.com/people/dmitri-shostakovich) - **Director of Photography:** [Erich Nitzschmann](https://cinepixo.com/people/erich-nitzschmann) - **Editor:** [Ella Ensink](https://cinepixo.com/people/ella-ensink) ## Cast - [Paul Robeson](https://cinepixo.com/people/paul-robeson) ## Criticism on CinePixo No reviews published yet. Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-song-of-the-rivers-1954 Film facts: Wikidata (Q1169655); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.