Time to sharpen your quill and replenish your laudanum. April is National Poetry Month. This week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus will be on poets at the movies.
We’ll hear music from “Dead Poets Society” (1989), Peter Weir’s beautiful-but-vacuous take on the transformative power of poetry, its “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” story arc made all the more poignant (and less cheap) by the passing of its beloved star, Robin Williams. Maurice Jarre, a long, long way from his Oscar-winning work on “Lawrence of Arabia,” wrote the music, which blends dulcimer and bagpipes (!) with electronics.
At least “Dead Poets Society” found a place in the hearts of the public. “Lady Caroline Lamb” (1973) did not. Sarah Miles plays Byron’s jilted lover, the wife of future prime minister William Lamb. Despite an impressive cast, which includes Jon Finch, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, and Richard Chamberlain (as Lord Byron, no less), and direction by venerable playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt (“A Man for All Seasons”), the film received mixed reviews and tanked at the box office. The always fine Richard Rodney Bennett provided the atmospheric score.
“Il Postino” (1994) tells the story of a simple postman whose prosaic life is transformed through the power of metaphor. His model is the exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, played by Philippe Noiret. The film’s writer and star, Massimo Troisi, died of a heart attack twelve hours after shooting was completed, having postponed surgery until he finished work. He was 41 years-old. Argentinian-Italian composer Luis Bacalov’s bandoneon-tinged score was honored with an Academy Award for Best Music.
Finally, we put a point on things with the rapier wit of “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1950). José Ferrer struts his stuff as the warrior-poet with the prominent proboscis, who never wants for words, save in the presence of his beautiful cousin Roxane. Ferrer elocuted – and fenced – his way to an Academy Award for Best Actor. The score is one of Dimitri Tiomkin’s finest, and we’ll hear a recording taken from the film’s original elements, under the crisp direction of the composer.
It could be verse. Poetry warms the soul this week. It’s poetry in motion, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
https://kwax.uoregon.edu
Tag: Maurice Jarre
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Armchair Travel Through Film Scores on Picture Perfect
This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll settle in for a little armchair traveling as, musically, we follow the English abroad.
We’ll hear selections 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 torch song singer), supplies 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, a 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 retirement in Jaipur.
And Young won his only Oscar (alas, posthumously bestowed) for “Around the World in 80 Days,” the star-studded, light-as-a-feather, though admittedly charming mega-victor at the 1956 Academy Awards. It takes longer to watch the movie than it does to read Jules Verne’s novel – though it does provide a rare opportunity to see Ronald Colman in color.
No need to haul that steamer trunk. It will be an hour of transporting selections on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
PHOTO: There’s no balloon in Verne’s original, but as long as there’s champagne, who cares?
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Maurice Jarre’s Epic Scores for David Lean
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of film composer Maurice Jarre. For over 40 years, Jarre provided memorable scores for dozens of motion pictures, but he will always be most closely associated with his Academy Award-winning music for the epics of David Lean. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll take the long view and enjoy selections from two them.
One of the most celebrated filmmakers of all time, Lean had already spent two decades in the director’s chair, overseeing such treasurable films as “Blithe Spirit,” “Brief Encounter,” “Great Expectations,” “Oliver Twist,” “Hobson’s Choice,” and “Summertime,” when he turned his attention to the form for which he would ultimately be best remembered: the cinematic epic.
His first such attempt, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) went on to win seven Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Alec Guinness), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score. It was not Jarre, but rather Malcolm Arnold that wrote the music. Lean had worked with Arnold before on “Hobson’s Choice.”
Ironically, it is “Colonel Bogey’s March,” the tune whistled by the English prisoners of war as they enter the Japanese camp, that most people associate with the film. This is actually a pre-existing piece by Kenneth Alford (a pseudonym for British bandmaster Frederick J. Ricketts). Composed in 1914, over the years, the march became outfitted with all manner of bawdy lyrics, which is why the number is whistled, not sung, in the film.
Lean had hoped that he and Arnold would be able to collaborate once more on “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962). Unfortunately, Arnold, who somehow managed to write so much glorious music over the course of his career, for both film and concert hall, suffered a hellish personal life. At the time of “Lawrence,” he was deep in the throes of psychological and emotional turmoil. Under the circumstances, Lean had no choice but to enlist Jarre. Jarre certainly rose to the occasion, and thereafter became the director’s composer of choice.
Lean followed up his success with “Lawrence” – decorated with seven Oscars – with yet another story rendered on an epic scale, “Doctor Zhivago” (1965). By this time, it was practically a forgone conclusion that the Academy would shower Lean with statuettes. Sure enough, “Doctor Zhivago” was honored with five more Academy Awards. Seemingly, the director had become too big to fail.
It’s hardly surprising that when he stumbled with his next project, “Ryan’s Daughter” (1970) – a film that boasted a similar running time, without perhaps a story of a scope to support it – the critics were there with their knives out. The backlash was such that it would be a good ten years before Lean would find the strength to direct again. The subject of the new film was to have been “Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian,” a retelling of the famous “Mutiny on the Bounty” story. Sadly, the project was plagued with misfortune, so that finally he was unable to hold on to the funding. The film would ultimately be made – by other hands – as “The Bounty.”
Happily, Lean bounced back with “A Passage to India” (1984). His adaptation of the novel of E.M. Forster was widely acclaimed, with 11 Academy Award nominations. It garnered two wins – one for Dame Peggy Ashcroft, for Best Supporting Actress, and the other for its composer, again Jarre. It would be Jarre’s third and final Oscar. All three resulted from his work with Lean.
Shortly before his death, the director embarked on yet another epic, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “Nostromo.” Frustratingly, this was left incomplete at the time of his passing in 1991.
We’re lucky to have what we’ve got. Close your eyes and get the big picture on “Lean and Epic” – music by Maurice Jarre from the films of David Lean, with an interpolation by Malcolm Arnold – on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
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City Mice in the Country Movies
There are, of course, a great many movies about “city mice” and “country mice” – those from the city displaced to a rural setting, and those from the country dazzled by the city. These often take the form of fish-out-of-water comedies. But a trip the country can also be restorative, or even have redemptive qualities. Though in the end, more often than not, the central characters return to their place of origin.
“Witness” (1985) employs elements of both “city mouse” and “country mouse.” The plot is set in motion with the witness of a murder by an Amish boy at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. The investigation reveals a vein of corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department, forcing a wounded detective, John Book (played by Harrison Ford), to lay low among the Amish. There are certainly comic elements, but also fascinating dramatic possibilities, in throwing together these figures from two very different cultures.
The music was by Maurice Jarre. Jarre is best known for his scores rendered on large orchestral canvases, for films like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Dr. Zhivago.” But by the 1980s, he was experimenting with electronic music in films like “The Year of Living Dangerously,” “The Mosquito Coast,” and “Dead Poets Society.” The approach worked particularly well in “Witness.”
Another police thriller, “On Dangerous Ground” (1952), throws together a detective with definite anger management issues (played Robert Ryan) with the backwoods father of a murder victim (played by Ward Bond) for a wild mountain manhunt. Ryan finds redemption through his interactions with the suspect’s blind sister, played by Ida Lupino. Bernard Herrmann wrote the music. If you find yourself trying to identify the solo string instrument, it’s actually a viola d’amore, an instrument rarely heard outside of the Baroque.
“George Washington Slept Here” (1942), based on the play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, is a “fixer-up” comedy, kind of a precursor to “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” and “The Money Pit,” with perhaps a touch of “Green Acres” thrown into the mix. Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan play a Manhattan couple fed up with city living. They transport their family to a dilapidated Bucks County farmhouse, with predictably disastrous results.
The somewhat cartoonish music is by English-born composer Adolph Deutsch, one of the less remembered names of Hollywood’s Golden Age, although he scored such high-profile films as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Some Like It Hot.” His is an old-fashioned approach – at any moment you might expect to hear a “sad trombone” – but it’s wholly appropriate in a film that features abundant pratfalls.
Finally, the Billy Crystal comedy “City Slickers” (1991) is built on the premise of three middle-aged Manhattanites who find renewal and purpose at a kind of cowboy fantasy camp. Jack Palance gives an Oscar-winning performance as the intimidating trail boss. The music is by Marc Shaiman. Shaiman has also written for Broadway. He may be best known for his scores for the musicals “Hairspray” and “The Book of Mormon.”
Whether you’re on the lam or on the lamb, the fresh air will do you good, as “city mice” go to the country this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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David Lean’s Epic Film Scores Picture Perfect
This week on “Picture Perfect,” take the long view, with Academy Award-winning music from the epics of David Lean.
One of the most celebrated filmmakers of all time, Lean had already spent two decades in the director’s chair, overseeing such treasurable films as “Blithe Spirit,” “Brief Encounter,” “Great Expectations,” “Oliver Twist,” “Hobson’s Choice,” and “Summertime,” when he turned his attention to the form for which he would ultimately be best remembered: the cinematic epic.
His first such attempt, “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” released in 1957, went on to win seven Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Alec Guinness), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score. Malcolm Arnold wrote the music. Lean had worked with Arnold before on “Hobson’s Choice.”
Ironically, it is “Colonel Bogey’s March,” the tune whistled by the English prisoners of war as they enter the Japanese camp, that most people associate with the film. This is actually a pre-existing piece by Kenneth Alford (a pseudonym for British bandmaster Frederick J. Ricketts). Composed in 1914, over the years, the march became outfitted with all manner of bawdy lyrics, which is why the number is whistled, not sung, in the film.
Lean had hoped that he and Arnold would be able to collaborate once more on “Lawrence of Arabia,” released in 1962. Unfortunately, Arnold, who somehow managed to write so much glorious music over the course of his career, for both film and concert hall, suffered a hellish personal life. At the time of “Lawrence,” he was deep in the throes of psychological and emotional turmoil. Under the circumstances, Lean had no choice but to enlist Maurice Jarre. Jarre certainly rose to the occasion, and thereafter became the director’s composer of choice.
Lean followed up his success with “Lawrence” – decorated with seven Oscars – with yet another story rendered on an epic scale, “Doctor Zhivago,” released in 1965. By this time, it was practically a forgone conclusion that the Academy would shower Lean with statuettes. Sure enough, “Doctor Zhivago” was honored with five more Academy Awards. Seemingly, the director had become too big to fail.
It’s hardly surprising that when he stumbled with his next project, “Ryan’s Daughter,” released in 1970 – a film which boasted a similar running time, without perhaps a story of a scope to support it – the critics were there with their knives out. The backlash was such that it would be a good ten years before Lean would find the strength to direct again. The subject of the new film was to have been “Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian,” a retelling of the famous “Mutiny on the Bounty” story. Sadly, the project was plagued with misfortune, so that finally he was unable to hold on to the funding. The film would ultimately be made – by other hands – as “The Bounty.”
Happily, Lean bounced back with “A Passage to India,” released in 1984. His adaptation of the novel of E.M. Forster was widely acclaimed, with 11 Academy Award nominations. It garnered two wins – one for Dame Peggy Ashcroft, for Best Supporting Actress, and the other for its composer, Maurice Jarre. It would be Jarre’s third and final Oscar. All three resulted from his work with Lean.
Shortly before his death, the director embarked on yet another epic, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “Nostromo.” Frustratingly, this was left incomplete at the time of his passing in 1991.
We’re lucky to have what we’ve got. Close your eyes and get the big picture, with music from the epics of David Lean, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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