Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Errol Flynn

Sabatini, Swashbucklers & Silver Screen Gold

Though Rafael Sabatini’s popularity has faded somewhat over the decades, in his day the Italian-English writer might have been regarded as the heir apparent to Alexandre Dumas. His bestselling novels are full of romance and swordplay. However, I’m not sure if any of them have really endured in the public consciousness.

Sabatini’s incident-filled pages seem ready-made for the silver screen. Film adaptations of “Scaramouche,” “The Sea Hawk” and “Captain Blood” were made during the silent era. A long-lost John Gilbert classic, adapted from Sabatini’s “Bardelys the Magnificent,” has only recently been rediscovered. Several of these, of course, were remade, more or less, to great success during the era of talking pictures.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll hear Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s music for the Errol Flynn classics “Captain Blood” (1935) and “The Sea Hawk” (1940). The former film provided Flynn with his breakout role; the latter actually has nothing at all to do with Sabatini’s original plot, despite his onscreen credit.

We’ll also enjoy Alfred Newman’s rollicking main title music for the pirate opus “The Black Swan” (1942), which starred Tyrone Power, and one of Victor Young’s most rousing and melodically inventive scores, for “Scaramouche” (1952), which featured Stewart Granger in probably the best swashbuckler of the 1950s.

“Picture Perfect” sets sail at 6:00 this evening. Tune in a little earlier to enjoy a broadcast concert by Concordia Chamber Players, as always compellingly curated by the ensemble’s artistic director, Michelle Djokic.

The program will include one of Korngold’s finest chamber works, his Suite for Two Violins, Cello and Piano Left-Hand, written for the one-armed Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein (for whom Ravel wrote his famous piano concerto); also the String Quartet No. 1 by Korngold’s teacher, Alexander Zemlinsky. Glenn Smith will be your host for this special concert, which will come your way at a special time.

You’ll get two faces of Korngold today, with Concordia Chamber Players at 4 p.m. EST and on “Picture Perfect” at 6 p.m., on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

January 20, 2017
Korngold Errol Flynn Hollywood Birthday

May 29 marks the birthday of one of my favorite composers, Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957). Thanks to a steady diet of Errol Flynn films, Korngold will forever be a part of the soundtrack to my life.

Korngold went from being one of Europe’s great musical prodigies, his works admired by Mahler, Strauss and Puccini – and championed by Schnabel, Weingartner and Klemperer – to becoming one of Hollywood’s transformative film composers. He is a link from Old World opulence to New World fantasy, his music gracing a number of Warner Brothers’ classic historical adventures.

The best ones starred Flynn, and we’ll hear music from “The Sea Hawk” (1940) and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938), as well as the mostly forgotten “Another Dawn” (1937). Flynn stars alongside Kay Francis and Ian Hunter (who would go on to play Richard the Lionheart in “Robin Hood”) in this love triangle involving pilots in a British desert colony.

The film may be an obscurity to all save classic movie buffs, but Korngold thought enough of his music that he salvaged the main title as the opening theme to his Violin Concerto, premiered by Heifetz in 1947.

It was an invitation from theatrical impresario Max Reinhardt that brought Korngold to Hollywood in the first place, for a cinematic adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1935). The film stars James Cagney, Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland, in her big screen debut, with Mickey Rooney an irrepressible Puck.

For the project, Korngold adapted the famous incidental music of Felix Mendelssohn, interweaving material from Mendelssohn’s symphonies and orchestrating some of the “Songs without Words.” Even so, the music bears the composer’s unmistakable stamp, as you’ll hear in the opening number, lifted from the “Scottish Symphony,” which is marked by plenty of Korngoldian swagger.

It’s all-Korngold this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. Enjoy it this evening at 6 ET; make your heart crow with a repeat, tomorrow morning at 6; or listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

Happy birthday, EWK!

May 29, 2015
Tudor Movie Music From Wolf Hall & Beyond

With the current interest generated by “Wolf Hall,” through adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novels for stage and television, it seems as good excuse as any to explore music from movies about the Tudors.

We’ll hear selections from “Young Bess” (1953), which stars Jean Simmons as the future Elizabeth I. The colorful and entertaining cast includes Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr and most notably Charles Laughton, who reprises his memorable turn as Henry VIII. Laughton was honored with an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Henry in the 1933 film, “The Private Lives of Henry VIII.” Miklós Rózsa’s score conjures the era of the great MGM Technicolor spectacles.

By the time of the events portrayed in “Mary, Queen of Scots” (1971), Elizabeth already wears the crown, though uneasy with the existence of her first cousin once removed, who had previously claimed Elizabeth’s throne as her own. Vanessa Redgrave is Mary and Glenda Jackson is Elizabeth, with a supporting cast that includes Timothy Dalton, Nigel Davenport, Patrick McGoohan, Trevor Howard and Ian Holm. As seems to be the custom in dramatic interpretations of the historical events, the film features several fictional meetings between the queens, even though in reality the two never met. The poignant score is by John Barry.

“Anne of the Thousand Days” (1969) tells the story of Henry’s doomed second wife, Anne Boleyn. This time Richard Burton plays the king. Anne is played by Genevieve Bujold. Despite mixed reviews, the film was nominated for ten Academy Awards and recognized for its exceptional costumes. Among the other nominees was Georges Delerue for his period-flavored music.

Finally, in a lighthearted change of pace from all the intrigue and execution, we turn to a big screen adaptation of Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper” (1937). Set in the time of Prince Edward (later Edward VI), Twain’s novel plays on the conceit that the heir apparent at some point had become mixed up with a commoner who bore a remarkable resemblance to him.

Top-billed Errol Flynn is really a supporting player as the devil-may-care Miles Hendon, who throws himself in with the scraggly-looking prince, though he hardly believes his claims. Though it would still be a year until the release of “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” Flynn was already well on his way to becoming the screen’s quintessential swashbuckler, thanks to his turn in “Captain Blood” (1935). He easily dominates the film, and it’s a treat to see him duel with his old pal Alan Hale.

Montagu Love plays Henry VIII, though he’s upstaged by the scheming Claude Rains as Edward Seymour, the Earl of Hertford. Composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold follows Flynn all the way, his music full of swagger and fun.

I hope you’ll join me for music from movies about the Tudors, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

April 16, 2015
Pirate Movie Music Scores on “Picture Perfect”

Ahoy! This week on “Picture Perfect,” we sharpen our sabers and head for the high seas with an hour of music from pirate movies.

We’ll exhume a buried treasure full of scores by Franz Waxman (“Anne of the Indies”), Elmer Bernstein (“The Buccaneer”), William Alwyn (“The Crimson Pirate”), Alfred Newman (“The Black Swan”) and Erich Wolfgang Korngold (“The Sea Hawk”).

Remember, Turner Classic Movies: TCM is showing pirate movies every Friday night in June. You’ll be able to catch “The Crimson Pirate” tomorrow night at 8 ET and “The Sea Hawk” June 20 at 11:45, part of a full night of Errol Flynn films.

Comb out your beards and polish your hooks, me mateys. We vary piracy with a little burglary, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6, or listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

June 12, 2014
TCM Pirate Movies All June Long Arrr!

All right, I know I already posted today, but Turner Classic Movies: TCM is showing pirate movies every Friday night in June. No Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., alas, though tonight offers the rare opportunity to see the original silent version of “The Sea Hawk” (8 p.m. ET), which hews much closer to the Rafael Sabatini novel than the classic version with Errol Flynn.

Next Friday offers a smiley, bare-chested Burt Lancaster as “The Crimson Pirate” (also 8 p.m.). Lancaster’s equally toothy, mute sidekick is none other than Nick Cravat, who he’d met as a boy at summer camp. The two literally ran away and joined the circus, creating an acrobatic act called Lang and Cravat in 1930s. Cravat later appeared in nine of Lancaster’s films. He also played the gremlin in the classic “Twilight Zone” episode, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.”

June 20 is all-Flynn, at least until 3:45 a.m., which means I will finally get a chance to see “Against All Flags” (8 p.m.) Doubtful that it is one of Flynn’s better vehicles, though it does offer the opportunity to see Maureen O’Hara in pirate garb.

I’m also curious to see “The Boy and the Pirates” (June 27, 10 p.m.), directed by B-movie sci-fi/horror maestro Bert I. Gordon. Gordon’s house composer, Albert Glasser, though very much on a budget, clearly attempts to channel Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s pirate scores of the classic era.

I may have to do something on “Picture Perfect” soon!

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 6, 2014

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