Orientalism is a term used to reflect evocations of the East by Western writers, artists and designers. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll take a look at Orientalism in the movies, with musical selections from four films set in faraway lands.
Two of them are loosely based on tales from “The Arabian Nights,” depicting the East as a kind of fairy world. The Alexander Korda production of “The Thief of Bagdad” (1940) features Sabu as the thief, Conrad Veidt as a slippery vizir, and a scene-stealing Rex Ingram as the djinn. The score is one of the earliest and most charming of Miklós Rózsa.
“The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) is really a showcase for the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. In particular, it contains a kind of rehearsal, in the skeleton duel, for the classic sequence in “Jason and the Argonauts.” The alternately sinuous and percussive music, by Bernard Herrmann, fits the images like a Persian slipper.
Director David Lean turned to the historical exploits of T.E. Lawrence for “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962). The film won seven Academy Awards and made international superstars of Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. Maurice Jarre won the first of his three Oscars for his music. Jarre himself conducted on the film’s soundtrack, even though, for contractual reasons, Sir Adrian Boult received the screen credit.
Finally, Sean Connery is Mulay Ahmed Muhamed Raisuli the Magnificent, sherif of the Riffian Berbers, in John Milius’ “The Wind and the Lion” (1975). The score represents composer Jerry Goldsmith at his finest. In fact, so happy was he with the effort that he was convinced that he finally had a lock on the Oscar – then he went to see “Jaws.” Goldsmith would finally be honored the next year for his music to “The Omen.”
I hope you’ll join me for these examples of Orientalism at the movies – a theme that’s really an excuse for me to play some of my favorite scores – this Friday evening at 6 ET, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.
The skeleton duel from “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad”:
PHOTOS: Ingram in “The Thief of Bagdad” (top), with, left to right, Connery and Candice Bergen in “The Wind and the Lion,” Kerwin Matthews fighting the skeleton in “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,” and Peter O’Toole with Omar Sharif in “Lawrence of Arabia”