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Tag: Film Scores

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
Aaron Copland’s Hollywood Battles & Brilliance

If you want to work in Hollywood, you’ve got to expect once in a while somebody’s going to mess with your things – even if you’re a Pulitzer Prize winner, lauded as the “Dean of American composers.”

Aaron Copland was not very happy when his music for “The Heiress” was chopped to ribbons, dialed down and rescored without his approval.

William Wyler (“Wuthering Heights,” “Friendly Persuasion,” “The Big Country,” “Ben-Hur”) was a brilliant director, but he had a tin ear. His films consistently sported the best scores of their era, and yet he mostly underappreciated, if not outright disliked them.

“The Heiress” was made fresh off Wyler’s runaway success with “The Best Years of Our Lives.” The film, based on Henry James’ “Washington Square,” was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four, including Oscars for Olivia De Havilland and for Copland’s score, which is so strong it manages to maintain its integrity despite all of the studio tinkering.

Wyler insisted Copland work the song “Plaisir d’Amour” into the fabric of his music, which he artfully did in three cues. But that wasn’t good enough. Without his knowledge, the main title was replaced with a garish arrangement of “Plaisir,” which was also looped in for some of the love music. André Previn, in 1949 already one of Hollywood’s bright young talents, likened the return of Copland’s original thoughts following the interpolations to “suddenly finding a diamond in a can of Heinz beans.”

When Copland’s contribution was recognized by the Academy, it was the only instance up to that time of a score being honored after being shorn of its main title, the part of a score that generally makes the biggest impression. Copland never bothered to collect his award. “The Heiress” would be the last time he would work in Hollywood.

He did compose one more film score, however, for the 1961 independent film, “Something Wild,” which contains some of his most insistently non-commercial music. Occasionally brutal and often thrilling, its character is worlds away from the pastoral tranquility of “Appalachian Spring.” It’s a brilliant piece of work, yet it did not receive a commercial release until 2003.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll sample music from “The Heiress” and “Something Wild,” as well as from the controversial pro-Soviet film “The North Star,” and even a little bit from the 1939 World’s Fair documentary “The City.”

Join me for the film music of Aaron Copland, this Friday evening at 6 ET, or catch the show later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

June 5, 2014
Biblical Epics Music from Classic Film Novels

This week on “Picture Perfect” it’s the second installment in a mini-festival of very big films, as we present another hour of Biblical epics, though this time with a twist. Rather than straightforward tellings of the events related in the Gospels, these are all films adapted from bestselling historical novels.

Lloyd C. Douglas’ “The Robe” was given the Hollywood treatment in 1953. Richard Burton plays Marcellus, the Roman tribune who oversees the crucifixion and wins Christ’s robe in a game of dice. Victor Mature (last week’s Samson) is his well-oiled slave, Demetrius, and Jean Simmons, his childhood sweetheart, now betrothed to Caligula (a scene-stealing Jay Robinson).

“The Robe” holds the distinction of being the first film released in CinemaScope. Allegedly, it is also the only Biblical epic ever to yield a sequel (“Demetrius and the Gladiators”). The score, by Alfred Newman, has always been popular.

Thomas B. Costain’s “The Silver Chalice” was brought to the big screen in 1954. The film introduced Paul Newman in the lead, as a lowborn artisan commissioned to fashion a decorative casing for the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper (i.e. the Holy Grail).

The film is interesting in that it features quasi-abstract sets by stage designer Rolfe Gerard and a stunning score by Franz Waxman, which incorporates the “Dresden Amen,” also used in Wagner’s “Parsifal.” However, Newman was mortified by his performance and famously took out an ad in Variety, essentially to apologize.

“Barabbas” is worlds away from the usual Hollywood epic. Based on the Nobel Prize-winning novel of Pär Lagerkvist, the film is a ruminative slog through the guilt-ridden psyche of the title character, played by Anthony Quinn. Barabbas is the thief pardoned to make way for the crucifixion of Christ. He spends the rest of his life searching for meaning in a meaningless world.

In a quixotic attempt at verisimilitude, director Richard Fleischer shot the crucifixion scene during an actual solar eclipse. Mario Nascimbene (who composed the music for last week’s “Solomon and Sheba”) wrote the score.

Finally, we’ll wrap things up with music from one of the all-time Oscar champs, “Ben-Hur,” from 1959. Based on the 1880 novel of General Lew Wallace, “Ben-Hur” was honored with 11 Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler) and Best Actor (Charlton Heston).

The highlight of the film, of course, is the amazing chariot race, but there is a grandeur to the whole which makes it difficult to look away. Miklós Rózsa wrote the magnificent score, arguably the best for any film of its kind.

The “Ben-Hur” Oscar record has been tied twice – in 1998, by “Titanic,” and in 2004, by “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” – but this is before computer generated imagery, folks. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Tune in for music from movies based on historical novels inspired by the New Testament, this Friday evening at 6 ET, or enjoy it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

April 17, 2014
Passover Movie Music From Biblical Epics

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with Passover right around the corner, it’s an hour of music from epics inspired by the Old Testament – including “Samson and Delilah” (Victor Young), “Solomon and Sheba” (Mario Nascimbene), “Sodom and Gomorrah” (Miklós Rózsa) and “The Ten Commandments” (Elmer Bernstein).

We begin and end with two Cecil B. DeMille productions. DeMille could always be counted on to give his audience a good show. Both “Samson” and “The Ten Commandments” feature sultry temptresses, violent, bare-chested men, and plenty of austere moralizing. The climactic special effects in both films are still sublime.

Tyrone Power was originally cast as Solomon in King Vidor’s “Solomon and Sheba.” However, he died of a massive heart attack during shooting (at the age of 44), paving the way for Yul Brynner to assume the role of the wise king. Brynner, of course, would later become DeMille’s pharaoh Rameses. With Gina Lollobrigida as the Queen of Sheba, you know there has to be an orgiastic dance.

Miklós Rózsa characterized “Sodom of Gomorrah” as “an intriguing subject which developed into a bad picture,” and most critics agreed. Any film that casts Stewart Granger as Lot should be taken with a pillar of salt. Rózsa determined not to score any more Biblical epics after “Sodom,” though his music is nothing to be ashamed of. It possesses that classic Rózsa epic sound, much beloved thanks to his work on “Quo Vadis,” “Ben-Hur” and “King of Kings.”

Chariots! Tunics! Histrionic acting! Get in on the fun, this Friday evening at 6 p.m. ET at http://www.wwfm.org .

Miss a show? 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.

PHOTOS: Victor Mature’s stuffed lion vs. Charlton Heston’s cotton candy beard

April 10, 2014
English Abroad Film Scores WWFM

“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.

April 3, 2014

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