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.
Erich was not just a fave of mine as a film composer, but my late father used to rave about him. Dad and I would sit together watching for example The Sea Hawk and dad would hum along with the musical score! Accordingly you can understand what a nostalgic treat your video has been for me and despite its brevity it is well worth a 98% rating on its own merits.
Best POSTERS for my money. FL = foreign language (1) FL Give us the Night (2) both for Green Pastures (3) FL Juarez – stunning! (4) FL Prince and Pauper (5) raunchy one for Sea Wolf (6) two for Captain Blood (7) FL Sea Hawk (8) both for Robin Hood (9) Liz and Essex and (10) Magic Fire. How that one especially takes me back!. It was given the hard sell in Belfast on its initial release here and for a few weeks there were large posters for it everywhere you went.
I thought this video had an exceptionally strong presentation of excellent STILLS and here are the ones that brought me greatest pleasure (1) Flynn with [I think] Marabunta’s pinup girl, Miss Parker. (2) the [harmless] bedroom scene (3) Between 2 Worlds (4) leggy Joan Fontaine [again I only ‘think’] (5) Liz and Essex (6) “Where’s the rest of Me?” (7) 2 for Captain Blood (8) the set for The Sea Hawk (9) Robin Hood (10) 2 for Midsummer Night’s Dream [the 2ndt one of a boyish Joe Yule Jr and the 1st one an enigma – how on earth did you get Hirsch into it?] and (11) Anthony Adverse. Again you waltz me down Nostalgia Lane because I recall vividly my dad and I sitting down together to watch that movie about half an hour after I returned home from holiday in the Channel Islands in 1966.
Erich was another composer who even today is a “Pollsters’ Pet”. He is ranked 4th, 9th and 10th in 3 separate polls that I have seen and that last one was called “Swashbuckler Movies Composers”. Your video amply illustrates why . Shrewd selection by you.
Thanks Bob, glad you liked the video, appreciate the review, generous rating and info.
Happy you enjoyed the picture gallery.
I was surprised Korngold worked on so few movies, considering how many movie scores other composers like Newman and Steiner were producing during the same time period. I think Korngold fancied himself as a serious musician and was faintly embarrassed composing music for Hollywood movies.
Looking at the stills, that first color one with Flynn is I think with Ida Lupino not Eleanor Parker. I might be wrong, where’s our Lupino expert? 🙂
I thought the leggy ‘broad’ looked more like Alexis Smith than Fontaine.
And the ass-headed dude in Midsummer Night’s Dream was named Bottom, would you believe, and played by, of all people, James Cagney.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/theatre/2016/01/07/cagney-bottom_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqndiIBtEViA84rOw8lBGavUSNa2jcmL_Wjd6LGH0JFNQ.jpg
Two of Korngold’s films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – The Sea Hawk and Robin Hood.
Six more scored 9 out of 10 including Captain Blood and Kings Row.
Korngold was a child prodigy and composed his first major work, a ballet, at the age of 11.
Film composer Hugo Friedhofer on Korngold: “His contribution was enormous, and he influenced everyone working at that time. He was the first to write film music in long lines, great flowing chunks, that contained the ebb and flow of mood and action, and the feeling of the picture.”
Thanks once more for an interesting reply to my own post. As the dude in the ass-head was named Bottom he certainly ticks all the boxes that add up to a Hirsch doppelganger! According the the Work Horse on his Cagney page Midsummer Night’s Dream was one of only two films out of the droves of movies that Jimmy made for Warners that lost money
So I got wrong two of the females in your stills -ouch! However back in the 1930s/1940s the great female stars were very fashion conscious [often regarded as “clothes horses”] so that whilst in screen ‘costume’ they looked very sophisticated and sexy it was often difficult to tell them apart at a quick glance.
Also, their features changed of course to one degree or another over a decade so that when someone such as I in the 1950s caught up with them years after their looks had been at their most pristine, that could add to the difficulty in identifying some of them from old photos. The two movies we are talking about were made way back in 1943 and 1947. Anyway to paraphrase Bing and Danny in White Christmas “Those are my excuses. They may not be good excuses, but at least they ARE excuses!” I hope you can forgive me., Steve.
I think I’ve mentioned before on this site the TV drama play called The Night Elvis Died in which a disc jockey, who is obsessed with the King and plays nothing but HIS records, does the rounds of his own mates after midnight, rapping them up so that they can join him in mourning the death of his idol.
One of them incredulously reminds the DJ of the late hour it is and asks him why it doesn’t occur to him that most people might be sleeping, to which he replies “NOBODY’s sleeping tonight anywhere!”
I take it that you were doing the rounds of all your pals and mistresses in wide-awake Manchester last night to cry on their shoulders about the possible imminent departure of your pin-up girl from Downing Street! The bookies currently make her 1/50 on to step down, probably this summer.
Bob, she should have resigned when her deal was first rejected, why is she hanging on? May’s the reason we’re in this Brexit mess, everyone hated her deal even her own party. Now she’s promising to go if they accept her deal. She’s setting herself up as a Brexit martyr. Ridiculous person.
I sometimes get mixed up with the stills on these videos too and have to double check on google to make sure it’s who I think it is. Especially actresses, actors I can usually recognise.
HI STEVE
I agree with you about mother Theresa. In fact I would go further – she should have resigned in 2017 when she lost her majority in the general election that year.
During the 2016 referendum campaign she told the public that it would be madness for us to leave the EU but changed her tune to get the Tory leadership. In effect though the Leave politicians, who were the winners of the surprise referendum, delegated power to 2 Remainers – May and her Chancellor Spreadsheets Phil.
Chaos and or betrayal was bound to ensue. It has always struck me a bit like a party winning a general election and then handing power to the leader of the opposing party.
My thoughts on Steve’s Mr. Newman page….Alfred that is….
“Composer videos continue…I like it. Seen #40, #39, #37 The Robe…huge hit…bad reviews #36, #35, #34, #33, #32, #31, #30, #28, #27, #26, #25, #24, #23, #21The Black Swan is one of my favorite Tyrone Power movies. So that is 17 of the first 20. #20 The Snake Pit…a good but depressing movie. #19 HTWWW…what a cast #17 Song of Bernadette….made Jennifer Jones a star. #16 Ball of Fire….one of the few comic performances by Gary Cooper I like. #15 Leave Her To Heaven…Gene Tierney…one of the great villains in screen history. #14 12 O’Clock High…one of my dad’s Top 5 movies. #13 Diary of Anne Frank..good movie..but not one I re-watch often. #12 Tree Grows in Brooklyn…great performance by James Dunn. #11 King and I…musical…Yul is good. #10 Foreign Correspondent…McCrea makes good Hitch hero #9 Zorro…made Tyrone Power a superstar. #7 Prisoner of Zenda…my favorite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. performance #6 How Green Was My Valley..ok drama even with all the Oscar wins #5 Gunga Din…another of my dad’s favorites….he never ever mentioned Newman’s scores…I wonder if he knew Newman did the music to so many of my dad’s favorites. #4 Hunchback of Notre Dame…Laughton shines #3 Wuthering Heights….many love this one…I think it is ok. #2 Grapes of Wrath….probably Fonda’s best performance. #1 All About Eve….fun movie….all-time classic. So that is 18 of the Top 20…and a total of 35 altogether…for a nice 88% rate. Voted up and shared. Good video.”
Nice post Bruce thanks, appreciate the vote and share. More composers, more well known films on display. I was telling Bob that a second top 40 (or #41 to 80) for these composers might be more enjoyable because of the less famous and not quite prestigious movie titles that would turn up.
Anyway Flora has seen 36 out of 40, Your tally 35 and I managed 27.
Added Steve’s latest videos to the page…my thoughts on Mr. Herrmann are here.
“Great composer. Seen #38, #35, #33 (not my favorite Peck movie), #25, and #21 Marnie….so only 5 of the first 20. #20 F 451…classic sci-fi film #16 The Trouble With Harry….Hitch’s only non-classic of the 1950s #15 The Wrong Man…Fonda and Hitch. #14 Man Who Knew Too Much….Hitch remake of own movie #13 Sinbad…one of your favorites. #12 Jason…back to back Steve favorites. #10 Cape Fear…love Mitchum in this one #8 Ghost and Mrs. Muir…one of my favorite Harrison movies #7 Magnificent O’s….Welles other classic #6 Day Earth Stood Still….far outshines the Keanu remake #5 Taxi Driver…a classic…but not one I really like #4 Vertigo…considered best movie ever made…yet 4th here (I agree with you) #3 North by Northwest …the best Grant/Hitch movie. #2 Psycho…probably Herrmann most famous music #1 Citizen Kane….wraps up a stellar Top 5. Much better on the Top 20…seen 15. Grand total of 20….50%….not too bad…but far from a good total. Voted up and shared.”
Hi Bruce. Your tally 20, mine 25 and Flora 28. Yep I was happy to include Harryhausen and Hitchcock in the same video, how often does that happen? 🙂
Today Bernard Herrmann is probably the most well known of the golden age film composers thanks to his association with Hitch and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. His music for Cape Fear (1962) became famous after Scorsese adapted it for his popular 1991 remake.
Thanks for the comment, vote and share, much appreciated.
Best POSTERS entries 40-21. FL=Foreign Language. (1) two for David and Bathsheba (2) FL The Robe (3) 1st one for Captain from Castile (4) Call Me Madam (5) Blood and Sand (6) 1st one for Camelot (7) Razor’s Edge [possibly my own fave Ty Power flick] (8) Anastasia (9) one for The Black Swan [my own fave pirate film] and (10) The Rains Came.
The last one is a collector’s item as it reflects one of the very few times Myrna Loy ever got 1st billing above another major star. However Ty whilst important enough in 1939 had not yet reached the zenith of his own stardom and indeed that movie was the last one EVER in which Ty was not top billed
Best POSTERS entries 1-20 (1) Snake Pit (2) FL one for How the West was Won – truly stunning (3) Ball of Fire (4) 1st one for Foreign Correspondent (5) The King and I (6) How Green was My Valley (7) “You’re a better man than I am Gunga Din!” (8) 2 great ones for The Hunchback of Notre Damme (9) 1st one for Wuthering Heights (10) All about Eve and [11] FL one for Leave Her to Heaven.
First class STILLS in my opinion are (1) The Robe (2) FL lobby card for 1952’s Prisoner of Zenda (3) The Black Swan [4[ How the West was Won [5] leggy Babs Stanwyck [6] Walt and Maureen O (7) The Gunga quartet [8] Prisoner of Zenda 1937 [9] Zorro [10] Ty and Linda [11] that bald King again [12] iconic shot of the Hunchback and [13] “Cathy!” “Cathy!”
Alfred Newman was another very prolific film music composer and I note from his Wikipedia filmography which covers the 40-year period 1930-1970 that I have seen 21 of the movies in it for which he composed the music. My personal favourites among the 21 are How Green was my Valley, The Black Swan, The Mark of Zorro and Demetrius and the Gladiators.
Alfred was popular with pollsters as in 4 separate polls that I have seen he was ranked 11th, 25th, 26th and 39th. IMBD credits him with 10 acting awards and 44 nomination. That was a good haul for Alfred’s times because as I have highlighted before in those days awards/nominations weren’t nearly as numerous and diverse as they are nowadays.
For example according to IMDB the great Lord Oliver attracted ‘just’ 39 acting wins and 36 nominations over his illustrious career whereas Sir Maurice Micklewhite earned almost the same number of wins (38) but a whopping 63 nominations. Yet IMDB in its self-proclaimed ULTIMATE list of the Greatest Movie Actors of all time ranks Sir Mick slightly below His Lordship, 14th and 12th respectively.
I rate your video 98% and with 40 entries very good value for money. Great to see you educating us all about these old-time film musical composers as, although film music can thrill and enchant us, we may not often enough appreciate the driving force behind the music.
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, comments, posts, generous rating, info and trivia, always appreciated. Glad the posters, stills and lobby cards met with your approval.
I had about 60 Alfred Newman films on my master list (out of about 220 listed at IMDB), chopping 20 out wasn’t easy, lots of goodies were left behind including, Prince of Foxes, Hell and High Water, Wilson, Gentleman’s Agreement, Flower Drum Song and Les Miserables. But the poster art and stills to most of the missing can be found in other videos on my channel.
In fact Newman’s name is linked to over 400 films at IMDB in various music categories but he composed the music to about 220, and that includes musicals where he provides the dramatic scoring between numbers and dance sequences.
John Williams has had more Oscar nominations but Alfred Newman has won more Oscars than any other composer – 9 Oscars!
15 Alfred Newman films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources! Wow! 12 more scored 9 out of 10.
Trivia – Newman composed the famous 20th Century Fox theme still in use today!
HI STEVE
Thanks for your detailed feedback to my Newman posts and for the amazing stats that you have listed such as the 400 movies, all in a variety of musical functions – wow!
You are to be complemented on the extensive research that you clearly undertake for your well-informed videos.
I didn’t know about his involvement with the Fox signature music but as the cliche goes “We can learn something new every day.”
Take care.
Thanks Bob, one of your favorite composers tomorrow, but it’s only a top 20.