We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
In my previous post billing reference to 3 stars should of course have read 4 stars.
Best POSTERS 40-21 FL=Foreign Language (1) It’s Alive (2) both for 12 Mile Reef (3) FL for Garden of Evil (4) Anna and the King (5) The Egyptian (6) Twisted Nerve (7) FL Mysterious Island (8) 1st one of Ty in iconic form in King of Khyber Rifles – one of Fox’s very first Cinemascope projects (9) Sisters (10) Marnie – in my observation a very original one with Hitch physically dominant on a poster for one of his own movies.
Standout POSTERS 1-20 (1) Fahrenheit 451 [made in the days when Brit Julie Christie was all the rage – great times!] (2) Trouble with Harry [one of my own least fave Hitch movies – though it did give us the debut of the wonderful Shirley] (3) The Wrong Man [regarded at the time as one of Hitch’s weakest films – certainly in the 1950s (4) FL Man who Knew Too Much Jimmy Stewart, Al Leach, Gable and Rock were the only 3 stars ever to be billed above my Doris once she obtained stardom – even “The Dirty Rat” and Sinatra had to take 2ND Billing to her] (5) both for Sinbad (6) the Jason who was the REAL DEAL as a he-man! (7) Ghost and Mrs Muir (8) both for N by NW (9) great one for a great film – Psycho and (10) FL for Kane.
Superb STILLS I thought were (1) Coop with my Richard – iconic pairings like that are hard to come by these days (2) my Greg with Susan (3) Hank and Vera in Wrong Man (4) Jason – a great one! (5) Cape Fear (6 Sexy” Rexy (7) the off-screen posed one of my Jimmy with “two” KIms (8) the off-screen happy trio of N by NW (9) Norman! and (10) “Every day for f*****g 40 years someone has come up to me and said ‘You talking to me?’” – Bobby DeNiro.
Your Herrmann video is an excellent presentation and well worth 98% in my opinion – indeed Top of the Class stuff. Have a good weekend.
Wikipedia’s filmography for Bernard’s movies lists 51 musical scores between 1941 and 1976, his first one being Citizen Kane and his final project being Taxi Driver. What a way to debut and what a way to go out!
I have seen 22 of the movies for which Bernard composed and my favourites are The Magnificent Ambersons and the Hitch trio Vertigo, N by NW and Psycho
Bernard is ranked 9th on an IMDB list of the greatest film musical composers of all time. On another poll that I’ve seen he is No 1 and Chaplin in his capacity as a composer ranked 10th.
Indeed I recall one critic saying at the time about Charlie’s 1967 Loren/Mumbles flop Countess from Hong Kong that the movie itself was rubbish “but as always Chaplin’s music is luscious and enchanting.” I agree –
Why is my heart so light?
Why are the stars so bright?
Why is the sky so blue
Since the hour I met you?
Love, this is my song
Here is a song, a serenade to you
The world cannot be wrong
If in this world there is you
LOVE, THIS IS MY SONG
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info, trivia, comments and song lyrics, much appreciated. Happy you liked the posters and stills.
I didn’t know Chaplin wrote that song, talented little bugger wasn’t he?
Bernard Herrmann was one of the all time greats. Of the old Hollywood composers I’d venture he has more fans today than any of the others, thanks to his memorable scores for iconic movies and association with Alfred Hitchcock.
Talking of Hitch, how many directors were as instantly recognisable and prominently appeared on poster art for their movies? I can’t think of any others. Plus all those cameos.
Cecil B. DeMille was famous but you never saw his mug on a poster. He did make an appearance at the start of his most popular film though – The Ten Commandments.
Herrmann can be spotted conducting the orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall near the climax of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).
Seven films scored 10 out of 10 on Herrmann’s scoresheet –
Citizen Kane
Psycho
North By Northwest
Vertigo
Taxi Driver
Day The Earth Stood Still
Magnificent Ambersons ,The
Five more scored 9 out of 10.
Citizen Kane tops Rotten Tomatoes chart but IMDB voters prefer Psycho, oooh!
Herrmann has 9 movies listed on AFI’s Official Ballot of 250 great movie scores, a handy list when you’re not sure which films are regarded as a composer’s best. Max Steiner has 11 films on this list, looking at the titles for Steiner, Adventures of Don Juan was the only one I missed. I should have included it. The theme to that film was used again in The Goonies (1985).
https://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores250.pdf
Hi STEVE – Thanks for the feedback and a lot of interesting additional information. I didn’t know that was Hermann conducting the orchestra at close of Man/Too Much – not one of my fave Hitch projects despite my idols Stewart and Day being in the main roles.
Good “trick question”: Another director of great fame whose face has appeared on his own movie posters ? – Mr Mumbles [One Eyed Jacks!]
We,ve mentioned Chaplin’s music. Talking about the massive failure of Countess from Hong Kong he opined that “It was ahead of its time.” However posterity doesn’t seem to support that theory as any modern review that I have read still proclaims it a stinker. Even Hirsch didn’t like it [1 star only]! If Charlie had made and/or released it after Godpop in 1972 Countess might have at least earned a few more dollars at the box office.
AS it was Brando’s star was temporarily on the wane in 1967; Bruce’s figures suggest Loren was never a really big box-office attraction, certainly not in the US; the “Little Tramp” was 78 when he made Countess and anyway was very unpopular in many places because of his perceived communist leanings; and “Brando could do ANYTHING – except comedy.” – Richard Harris. [Apparently Archie Leach was Charlie’s 1st choice for the lead male role of Ogden Mears.]
But oh that Chaplin music! His Limelight theme from the 1952 move is one of my own all-time fave pieces of music, and I loved some of his philosophical one-liners in that flick. For example when Claire Bloom, whom he has rescued from attempted suicide, tells him that she thought she has nothing to live for and has lost all hope Chaplin retorts “Well, then, LIVE without hope.”
Bob, the only Chaplin song I knew was ‘Smile’
‘Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking…”
STEVE
Thanks for reminding me of Smile as it’s another of my own favourites, especially the Nat King Cole version.
The lyrical version of Chaplin’s 1952 Limelight musical score is called Eternally. Charlie belatedly won a “back-dated” Oscar for that piece of music in 1973. They wouldn’t give it to him in 1952 when the Red Scare was still strong and he was considered a “commie” or at least a sympathiser or fellow-traveller.
I’ll be loving you eternally
With a love that’s true, eternally
From the start, within my heart
It seems I’ve always known
The sun would shine
When you were mine
And mine alone
I’ll be loving you eternally
There’ll be no one new, my dear, for me
Though the sky should fall
Remember I shall always be
Forever true and loving you
Eternally
HI STEVE
I’ve mentioned before how much I look forward to your feedback as I often learn something new from it and now is no exception as I didn’t know about the postage stamps and composers.
I also anticipate with interest your future videos on the additional composers you mention – plus of course Al Kasher!”
Take care.
NOTE: FL= Foreign Language
Best POSTERS entries 40-21 (1) Elephant Walk (2) both for Taras Bulba (3) FL Demetrius and the Gladiators (4) both Dark City (5) My Cousin Rachel (6) 2nd one for Spirit of St Louis (7) Sorry Wrong number (8) FL Objective Burma (9) Run Silent Run Deep and (10) raunchy one of my Joan in Strange Cargo.
Most of the Crawford films that I watched for the first time were in the 1950s when I was in my teens and I didn’t really see her as a sex symbol. Her appeal to me was that she came across as a female “tough guy” who could have held her own with the likes of Ladd and Bogie [certainly she could have handled Statham with ease!].
Best POSTERS 1-20 (1) 1st one for Sayonara – very satisfying (2) Dark Passage (3) 1st one for A Day at the Races [possibly the Marx Bros longest film running for nearly 2 hours] (4) Mr Skeffington (5) Joan again in Humoresque (6) FL Suspicion – a Hitch film I never liked (7) FL Nun’s Story (8) Stalag 17 boasting a great solo photo of Golden (9) FL Philadelphia Story (10) both for The Bride of Joel and (11) Captains Courageous. According to Melvyn Douglas Tracy sulked throughout the making of that because 12-year-old Freddie Bartholomew got billed before Spence.
Best STILLS [all 40 entries] (1) Dr Jekyll (2) Katie Hep and Old Cantankerous (3) Myrna OF THE Year (4) the Great Mumbler (5) the Marx Bros (6) Widmark (7) Liz and Monty in The greatest movie about America ever made.” [Orson Welles] (8) Mr Roberts ensemble all in joyous form (9) Frankie! And (10) Mrs Danvers with “I am Mrs de Winter.” “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Is said to be one of the most famous lines in movies.
I rated your Waxman video 98% and welcome your further diversification of your site by profiling these composers.
Hi Bob, many thanks for reviewing my Franz Waxman video, appreciate the generous rating, info and trivia. Happy you enjoyed the picture gallery.
I wonder if Rebecca is unique in that the leading lady’s first name is never mentioned and not known even by the author of the original novel.
I had Rear Window listed for a while, Franz Waxman only composed music for the opening and closing credits but the film as you know only used ambient sounds of the neighborhood. I thought it wouldn’t be fair to include it. I won’t be including The Birds in my Bernard Herrmann video either [Bob gasps] I know, and I call myself a Hitchcock fan. 😉
There a 9 films scoring 10 out of 10 on Waxman’s scoresheet, and 11 scoring 9 out of 10.
Waxman is one of six Hollywood composers featured on USA postage stamps in the Legends of American Music series, honoring Hollywood Composers which were issued in 1999. The others are Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. I’ll be doing videos on all of them.