Happy birthday to the Master, 91 years-old today. I wish I could forget the horrible movie, because John Williams truly is the Last Jedi. Is there any doubt? Here’s a taste of what we can expect this summer.
John Williams is a living reminder of when the movies still had magic and soul. I will be forever grateful for everything this man has contributed to our entertainment and dreams of a better world.
Thanks for everything, and a very happy birthday, Maestro!
‘Tis the season for… “Humbug!”
This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll have a Dickens of a time with a garland of music from movies inspired by his writings. Tune in for selections from “Nicholas Nickleby” (1947) by Lord Berners, “Oliver Twist” (1948) by Sir Arnold Bax, “David Copperfield” (1969) by Sir Malcolm Arnold, and “A Christmas Carol” (1951) by Richard Addinsell.
Blame it on an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There will be more of gravy than of grave about it. Take your pick of Dickens on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Release the Kraken!
This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s a mythological mash-up, with music from four films inspired by classical myths.
“Helen of Troy” (1956) is based on events recounted in Homer’s “The Iliad.” Like the more recent film “Troy,” this version glosses over any participation by the gods. Could it be their wrath that caused this Robert Wise-directed spectacle to be plagued with difficulties?
Reportedly three people were killed during the making of the film, extras were injured by a runaway chariot, and 80 percent of the two-acre recreation of Troy was burned to the ground by a cigarette. On the bright side, it was Bridgette Bardot’s first film made outside of France, and Rossana Podestà played Helen. A spectacle indeed! Max Steiner provided the lush, romantic score.
“Clash of the Titans” (1981) is not to be confused with the 2010 CGI-fest. This is the real deal, with special effects by legendary stop-motion maestro Ray Harryhausen.
Just as special is its luxury casting of supporting roles, including Sir Laurence Olivier as Zeus, and Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, Sian Phillips, and Ursula Andress as fellow Olympians. Burgess Meredith is among the mortals, Flora Robson turns up in one scene as a witch, and Perseus is played by newcomer Harry Hamlin, soon to find fame on television’s “L.A. Law.”
The composer, Laurence Rosenthal, studied at the Eastman School and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He also wrote the music for “Raisin in the Sun,” “The Miracle Worker,” “Becket,” and the 1977 version of “The Island of Dr. Moreau.”
“Clash of the Titans” would be Harryhausen’s final film. Despite flashes of his inimitable brilliance, in sequences like the one involving Medusa, and the creation of something of a cultural icon in the Kraken, the effects came to seem a little too retro in the wake of “Star Wars” and “Superman.” Though a sequel, “Force of the Trojans,” was pitched to M-G-M, it was not to materialize. Harryhausen died in 2013, after a lengthy retirement, at the age of 92.
It would be a crime against peplum to put together a program of this sort without at least a nod to Hercules. The peplum genre originated in Italy with Maciste, a supporting character in the 1914 classic “Cabiria.” So powerful did this strongman prove that he became an industry unto himself. The Maciste craze reached its muscular peak in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. When the films arrived in the United States, in hilariously dubbed versions, the character was invariably renamed Hercules, Samson, Atlas, Goliath, or any other mythological, Biblical, or historical bodybuilder you can think of.
A peplum revival sprang up around “Conan the Barbarian” in the early 1980s. We’ll hear a selection from “Hercules” (1983), starring Lou Ferrigno, television’s Incredible Hulk. The music is by Pino Donaggio.
Finally, we’ll make things right again with an extensive suite from the ultimate Ray Harryhausen mythological playground, “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963). This is the one that features the climactic battle with the skeleton army. The music, by Bernard Herrmann, brilliantly suits the visuals. We’ll hear a superb re-recording of the score on the Intrada label, with the Sinfonia of London conducted by Bruce Broughton.
You won’t want to myth it, no bones about it! It’s a quest for classical mythology this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!
With the Fourth of July right around the corner, “Picture Perfect” celebrates its 12th anniversary with an hour of cinematic fifes and drums.
We’ll begin with selections from “The Patriot” (2000), in which slow-burning pacifist Mel Gibson is pushed too far by ruthless British officer Jason Isaacs and reverts to his bloody French and Indian War ways. By the end of the film, he is literally waving the flag to John Williams’ triumphant score.
Then we’ll hear a suite from the Jack Benny-Ann Sheridan fixer-up comedy, “George Washington Slept Here” (1942), based on the play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman – not really about the Revolution, beyond the fact that the ramshackle Pennsylvania farm house purchased by a transplanted New York couple is alleged to have been one of the seemingly limitless resting places of the Continental Army’s commander in chief. The music is by Adolph Deutsch.
The film “Revolution” (1985) seemed to have everything going for it. Its director was Hugh Hudson, whose “Chariots of Fire” was the big winner at the 1981 Academy Awards; its star was Al Pacino; and its composer was John Corigliano, who would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony No. 2 AND an Oscar for his score to “The Red Violin.” But “Revolution” bombed horribly – so horribly that Pacino gave up making movies for the next four years. James Galway plays the flute and pennywhistle on the film’s soundtrack.
Finally, we’ll hear music from the longest continuously-shown film in cinematic history, “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” (1957), created exclusively for the tourist attraction of Colonial Williamsburg. The 38-minute featurette stars future “Hawaii Five-O” icon Jack Lord, and the score is by none other than Bernard Herrmann.
Here’s a clip from “Williamsburg,” with some of Herrmann’s music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VXfVhenXQ
We celebrate Independence Day this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. Stick a feather in your cap and call it macaroni, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTO: George Washington wagers he can crack a walnut with his bare hand in “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot”
April 4 would have been the 100th birthday of Elmer Bernstein. Over a career that spanned some 50 years, Bernstein scored dozens of film and television projects, many of them now classics.
This week on “Picture Perfect,” sample his versatility with selections from just a few of them, including “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “The Age of Innocence” (1993), “Stripes” (1981), and “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962).
In all, Bernstein was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, but claimed the Oscar only once, fairly early on, for his work on “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (1967), of all things. His final nomination was for his very last score, for “Far from Heaven” (2002). Bernstein died on August 18, 2004 at the age of 82.
Elmer will have you glued to the radio, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PLEASE NOTE: If you were hoping to hear some of Bernstein’s music for “The Ten Commandments” (1956), tune in next week, as we anticipate Passover with selections from Biblical epics from the Old Testament!
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