Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Movie Music Picture Perfect

The game is afoot! This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an hour of music from movies inspired by the world’s greatest detective.

“Sherlock Holmes” (2009) stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, in Michael Ritchie’s post-“Matrix” take on the master detective. While some of the film adaptations over the years may have glossed over the character’s physicality, Ritchie’s revisionist Holmes perhaps errs a mite too far in the other direction. Hans Zimmer (whose birthday it is today) wrote the music, he too going against received wisdom, and in the process coming up with one of his more interesting scores, if only for the quirky instrumentation, which includes a Hungarian cimbalom, accordion, fiddles, and a broken-down pub piano.

Admittedly, it’s unfair to put Zimmer up against an old pro like Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa wrote the music for Billy Wilder’s melancholy portrait of the great detective, “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970). Wilder requested that the composer adapt his lovely Violin Concerto for the project, a recording of which the director had listened to repeatedly during the writing of the screenplay. Rózsa and Wilder had previously collaborated on “Double Indemnity” and “The Lost Weekend.”

The Sherlock Holmes comedy “Without a Clue” (1988) represents a missed opportunity of sorts. The hope had been for Sean Connery to play Watson opposite Michael Caine’s Holmes, a much-longed-for reunion between the two, who had worked so well together in “The Man Who Would Be King.” In the end, it was Ben Kingsley who assumed the role.

The fun conceit that sets “Without a Clue” apart is that Holmes is the fictional creation of mastermind Watson, who is in reality the gifted crime-solver. By way of necessity, Watson hires a second-rate actor to play the part of Holmes. Of course, the actor turns out to be a bumbling idiot. Henry Mancini provides the British Light Music style score, with a nod to Edward White’s “Puffin’ Billy” (familiar stateside as the theme to “Captain Kangaroo”).

Finally, the Steven Spielberg-produced “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985) offers a conjectural origins story, including Holmes and Watson’s first meeting as teenagers (ignoring the particulars laid out by Arthur Conan Doyle in his stories, with Watson already a war veteran who had served in Afghanistan). It’s all for fun, though it’s unfortunate the filmmakers felt the need to interject ‘80s-style special effects, rather than simply trust in the inherent magic of the subject matter. “Young Sherlock Holmes” features the first photorealistic, fully computer-generated character (a stained-glass knight). Also, some Indiana Jones B-movie antics involving an Egyptian cult seem especially out of place.

Interestingly, the film’s screenwriter, Chris Columbus, went on to direct the first two Harry Potter films. By my recollection, “Young Sherlock Holmes,” with its boarding school setting, has some of that same feel.

The music, by Bruce Broughton, is certainly buoyant and beautiful, in the best John Williams tradition. Broughton scored a handful of big screen hits, notably “Silverado” and “Tombstone,” though arguably it is in the medium of television that he’s made his greatest impact. Thus far, his work has been recognized with a record 10 Grammy Awards.

It’s elementary, my dear Watson. I hope you’ll join me for “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!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

September 12, 2025
Sherlock Holmes A Lifelong Literary Love

This short film of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which has been making the rounds on social media, was sent to me last week by a friend. I must say, I find it absolutely delightful. Doyle confirms, as has often been told, that his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, was believed by many to be an actual person – and he has the letters to prove it. If I ever knew Doyle was born in Edinburgh, I’d forgotten it, but surely it is evident in his accent, which you will hear when following the link to the video. I defy you not to smile when he says goodbye and strolls off with his dog.

By coincidence, I have been working my way through the Granada Television adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories starring the great Jeremy Brett, who was widely lauded as the definitive interpreter of the character, and rightly so. At any rate, he is the most faithful to Doyle’s vision. The series, produced between 1984 and 1994, aired here in the U.S. on PBS’ “Mystery!”

The first Holmes’ story I ever read was “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” which I believe was in 8th grade English class. I loved it, as I did just about everything I read that year. This would have included “Great Expectations” and “Romeo and Juliet” (which we students read aloud, taking the various parts). I remember being amazed at how bawdy the latter turned out to be, since it’s always endured in our collective memory as the epitome of romantic love. This led to some lively discussions. That’s what school was like back then. If there were ever any offended students or disgruntled parents, we never heard anything about it. There certainly were never any threats of book-bannings or lawsuits. But maybe I just wasn’t privy to what went on at PTA meetings.

As recently as this past Christmas, I revisited Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (included in an anthology of Christmas stories), which I’d forgotten I’d done until viewing the Granada Television adaptation last week.

So Holmes has been a life-long acquaintance, and Doyle’s stories have provided decades of pleasure. By the time we were in our teens, all of my friends and I had acquired, I venture to guess most of us as Christmas gifts, the collected stories, as well as those of Edgar Allan Poe. And we actually read them, and loved them! It’s remarkable that these works, in Doyle’s case written nearly a hundred years earlier (in Poe’s case, more like 150), still held us in their thrall. I wonder if it’s still the case for young people today, when we are told so many no longer read?

Certainly, Poe and Doyle did wonders for our vocabulary. And we all tittered whenever Watson “ejaculated.”

June 1, 2025
Sherlock Holmes Movie Music on Picture Perfect

The game is afoot! This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an hour of music from movies inspired by the world’s greatest detective.

“Sherlock Holmes” (2009) features Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, in Michael Ritchie’s post-“Matrix” take on the master detective. While some of the film adaptations over the years may have glossed over the character’s physicality, Ritchie’s revisionist Holmes perhaps errs a mite too far in the other direction. Hans Zimmer wrote the music, he too going against received wisdom, and in the process coming up with one of his more interesting scores, if only for the quirky instrumentation, which includes a Hungarian cimbalom, accordion, fiddles, and a broken pub piano.

Perhaps it’s unfair to put Zimmer up against an old pro like Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa wrote the music for Billy Wilder’s melancholy portrait of the great detective, “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970). Wilder requested that the composer adapt his lovely Violin Concerto for the project, a recording of which the director had listened to repeatedly during the writing of the screenplay. Rózsa and Wilder had previously collaborated on “Double Indemnity” and “The Lost Weekend.”

The Sherlock Holmes comedy, “Without a Clue” (1988), represents a missed opportunity of sorts. The hope had been for Sean Connery to play Watson opposite Michael Caine’s Holmes, a longed-for reunion between the two who had worked so well together in “The Man Who Would Be King.” In the end, it was Ben Kingsley who assumed the role.

The fun conceit that sets “Without a Clue” apart is that Holmes is the fictional creation of mastermind Watson, who in reality is the gifted crime-solver. Through necessity, Watson hires a second-rate actor to play the role of Holmes. Of course, the actor turns out to be a bumbling idiot. Henry Mancini provides the British Light Music style score, with a nod to Edmund White’s “Puffin’ Billy” (familiar stateside as the theme to “Captain Kangaroo”).

Finally, the Steven Spielberg-produced “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985) offers a conjectural origins story, including Holmes and Watson’s first meeting as teenagers (ignoring the particulars laid out by Arthur Conan Doyle in his stories, with Watson already a war veteran who had served in Afghanistan). It’s all for fun, though it’s unfortunate the filmmakers felt the need to interject ‘80s-style special effects, rather than simply trust in the inherent magic of the subject matter. “Young Sherlock Holmes” features the first photorealistic, fully computer-generated character (a stained glass knight). Also, some Indiana Jones B-movie antics involving an Egyptian cult seem especially out of place.

Interestingly, the film’s screenwriter, Chris Columbus, went on to direct the first two Harry Potter films. By my recollection, “Young Sherlock Holmes,” with its boarding school setting, has some of that same feel.

The music, by Bruce Broughton, is certainly buoyant and beautiful, in the best John Williams tradition. Broughton scored a handful of big screen hits, notably “Silverado” and “Tombstone,” though arguably it is in the medium of television that he’s made his greatest impact. Thus far, his work has been recognized with a record 10 Grammy Awards.

It’s elementary, my dear Watson. I hope you’ll join me for “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

September 29, 2023
Great Detective Movie Music

This week on “Picture Perfect,” what do Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, Dick Tracy, and Inspector Clouseau have in common? Get clued in, with music from movies about the great detectives.

Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970) is an unusually melancholy meditation from a director often celebrated for his hard-edged comedies. That’s not to say Wilder didn’t make more serious films, or that his Sherlock Holmes lacks humor or irreverence, but the lasting impression is somewhat elegiac.

A good part of the reason was his request of composer Miklós Rózsa (who had written music for the director’s much earlier classics, “Double Indemnity” and “The Lost Weekend”) to adapt his own Violin Concerto, a recording of which Wilder had played incessantly during pre-production. The heart-rending slow movement, especially, appears prominently, and mirrors Holmes’ sense of isolation, to say nothing of his retreats into music and drug addiction.

The great Albert Finney memorably portrayed Agatha Christie’s fastidious detective, Hercule Poirot, in “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974). The first and best of the all-star Christie thrillers, this one featured, among others, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark, and Michael York. Bergman’s performance was recognized with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The catchy score, by Richard Rodney Bennett, was also nominated, but the Oscar that year went to Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola, for their music for “The Godfather, Part II.”

Warren Beatty’s amusing homage to comic strip hero “Dick Tracy” (1990) is worthwhile for its starry cameos, sharp production design, and retro score by Danny Elfman. Elfman’s love theme sounds as if it could have been written by any number of composers from Hollywood’s golden age, all under the influence of George Gershwin.

Lending a touch of noir, Humphrey Bogart plays private dick Sam Spade, in John Huston’s adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). Bogart, at his hardboiled best, is bolstered by a game supporting cast, including Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, and Elisha Cook, Jr.

The music is by Adolph Deutsch, one of the less remembered names of Hollywood’s heyday, although he scored such enduring films as “Father of the Bride,” “Little Women” (1949), and “Some Like It Hot.” He also provided background music for the big screen adaptation of “Oklahoma,” and conducted the orchestra in musicals like “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Finally, to wrap things up on a lighter note, we’ll enjoy a potpourri assembled from the “Pink Panther” comedies of Blake Edwards. Peter Sellers plays the bumbling Inspector (later Chief Inspector) Clouseau. The insinuating, breezy, and “cool” scores are by Henry Mancini.

I hope you’ll join me for this hour with the great detectives, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. To miss it would be a crime, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org

February 5, 2022
Sherlock Holmes Movie Music Scores

The game is afoot! This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an hour of music from movies inspired by the world’s greatest detective.

“Sherlock Holmes” (2009) features Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, in Michael Ritchie’s post-“Matrix” take on the master detective. While some of the film adaptations over the years may have glossed over the character’s physicality, Ritchie’s revisionist Holmes perhaps errs a mite too far in the other direction. Hans Zimmer wrote the music, he too going against received wisdom, and in the process coming up with one of his more interesting scores, if only for the quirky instrumentation, which includes a Hungarian cimbalom, accordion, fiddles and a broken pub piano.

Perhaps it’s unfair to put Zimmer up against an old pro like Miklós Rózsa. Rózsa wrote the music for Billy Wilder’s melancholy portrait of the great detective, “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970). Wilder requested that the composer adapt his lovely Violin Concerto for the project, a recording of which the director had listened to repeatedly during the writing of the screenplay. Rózsa and Wilder had previously collaborated on “Double Indemnity” and “The Lost Weekend.”

The Sherlock Holmes comedy, “Without a Clue” (1988), represents a missed opportunity of sorts. The hope had been for Sean Connery to play Watson opposite Michael Caine’s Holmes, a longed-for reunion between the two who had worked so well together in “The Man Who Would Be King.” In the end, it was Ben Kingsley who assumed the role.

The fun conceit that sets “Without a Clue” apart is that Holmes is the fictional creation of mastermind Watson, who in reality is the gifted crime-solver. Through necessity, Watson hires a second-rate actor to play the role of Holmes. Of course, the actor turns out to be a bumbling idiot. Henry Mancini provides the British Light Music style score, with a nod to Edmund White’s “Puffin’ Billy” (familiar stateside as the theme to “Captain Kangaroo”).

Finally, the Steven Spielberg-produced “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985) offers a conjectural origins story, including Holmes and Watson’s first meeting as teenagers (ignoring the particulars laid out by Arthur Conan Doyle in his stories, with Watson already a war veteran who had served in Afghanistan). It’s all for fun, though it’s unfortunate the filmmakers felt the need to interject ‘80s-style special effects, rather than simply trust in the inherent magic of the subject matter. “Young Sherlock Holmes” features the first photorealistic, fully computer-generated character (a stained glass knight). Also, some Indiana Jones B-movie antics involving an Egyptian cult seem especially out of place.

Interestingly, the film’s screenwriter, Chris Columbus, went on to direct the first two Harry Potter films. By my recollection, “Young Sherlock Holmes,” with its boarding school setting, has some of that same feel.

The music, by Bruce Broughton, is certainly buoyant and beautiful, in the best John Williams tradition. Broughton scored a handful of big screen hits, notably “Silverado” and “Tombstone,” though arguably it is in the medium of television that he’s made his greatest impact. Thus far, his work has been recognized with a record 10 Grammy Awards.

It’s elementary, my dear Watson. Join me for “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 17, 2020

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