“Picture Perfect” follows the English abroad this week, with music from “Enchanted April” (Richard Rodney Bennett), “A Passage to India” (Maurice Jarre), “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (Thomas Newman) and “Around the World in 80 Days” (Victor Young).
Bennett, quite the accomplished concert composer (and occasional singer of torch songs), provides a sensitive score for the 1991 Merchant/Ivory adaptation of Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel about four English ladies who spend an idyllic month at an Italian villa.
Jarre received his third Academy Award for his music to David Lean’s final film, the 1984 adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel of repression and racial tension in colonial India.
Newman incorporates traditional Indian elements into his score for “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” the 2012 surprise hit about English pensioners reinventing themselves in their retirement abroad.
Young won his only Oscar (alas, bestowed posthumously) for “Around the World in 80 Days,” the star-studded, light-as-a-feather, though admittedly charming megawinner at the 1956 Academy Awards. It takes longer to watch the movie than it does to read Verne’s novel – though it does provide a rare opportunity to see Ronald Colman in color.
The weekend’s coming, so pack your valise and head on over to http://www.wwfm.org, Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
And don’t forget, past and recent installments of “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” are archived for your enjoyment at the WWFM website. Click on “webcasts” and then select the show.

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