Movie Tournament: Classic Film Scores (1 Viewer)

[Agee Bassett]

Updated.

Which would you have voted for? Just curious.

The following users, who have voted more than once in this tourney, still have noms/seconds left (I apologize if I have missed anyone):

 [I]Jay E[/I]: 5n/4s
 [I]Bill J[/I]: 5n/4s 
 [I]Ric Bagoly[/I]: 5n/3s
 [I]Kirk Tsai[/I]: 4n/4s
 [I]Rob Tomlin[/I]: 4n/3s
 [I]Peter Apruzzese[/I]: 4n/3s
 [I]SteveGon[/I]: 2n/1s
 [I]george kaplan[/I]: 3s
 [I]Evan Case[/I]: 2s
 [I]Brook K[/I]: 2s
 [I]Justin Doring[/I]: 1s
 [I]Lew Crippen[/I]: 1s[/b]

Let's get those wild-card vacancies filled.

 

[Evan Case]

I'll second Of Mice and Men
Though I can't nominate any other films, let me throw two more Rota scores, 8 1/2 and La Strada, into the "consideration pot."
For John Barry, any of his '60s Bond scores (I'm particularly fond of On Her Majesty's Secret Service) or The Lion in Winter.
I'd also add Wendy Carlos' work for A Clockwork Orange but I'm not entirely sure how eligible it'd be as it receives a lot of assistance from Purcell, Rossini, Elgar, Beethoven, and several songs.
Evan

 

[Agee Bassett]

Excellent suggestions, Evan.

As Carlos' original contribution to the score is more or less a single theme (heard most famously in the chilling opening sequence)--thus, only a tiny portion of the music used in the film--I have reluctantly decided to exclude it.

 

[Agee Bassett]

High Noon takes it easily, 8-1. I fully concur with the outcome, though I do like the quirky Butch Cassidy score, “Raindrops” and all. As usual, Evan sums it up well.
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ROUND 1; Bracket 12:

Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre)
vs.
King Kong (Max Steiner)

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This bracket will remain open until 00:00 Tuesday (EDT).

 

[Evan Case]

Oh man, this one is almost impossibly unfair...
Two giants of scoredom in my mind and each covering such diverse musical ground (fitting, as it's hard to imagine two highly regarded adventure films that take such differing paths to success).
Steiner's score is denser, more chaotic. In turns it pulses with jungle energy, envelopes the listener in atmosphere as thick as Skull Island's fog, and takes them to a bustling metropolis of dischordant sounds. Tying it all together is the massive (in feel, if not complexity) 3-note motif for the Kongster himself. One of my very favorite efforts and certainly among the most important scores of all-time.
Jarre's score is more romantic in nature, capturing the majesty of T.E. Lawrence's epic journey. There is much pageantry in the score with incredibly joyful bursts of the main theme and other appropriately militaristic motifs for the Arab leaders. Yet there is also atmosphere galore. Seldom has any music captured as well the feel of heat as Jarre's scoring of the trek to Aqaba. Other highlights include the percussion underscoring Gasim's presumably hopeless abandonment on the Sun's Anvil and the slowly rising underscore signifying Lawrence's meditation on and arrival at the Aqaba plan--as brilliant a musical portrayal of the workings of a character's mind as I have ever heard.
All that out of the way, I must choose King Kong, if only because I listen to it on more occasions than Lawrence.
Whichever one wins this contest, it's a fair bet that it will be receiving my vote against a vast majority of the other titles in the tournament.
Evan

 

[SteveGon]

I'll go with King Kong.

Which would you have voted for? Just curious.

Probably Strangers on a Train though I would have needed to dig out my VHS copy of Sergeant York to make sure.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Well, it looks like Evan has summed up my opinion very nicely:
King Kong
I see I have some nominations and seconds coming to me. I'll have to use them tomorrow when I'm more awake and can look through the CD library...

 

[Brook K]

Like Evan said, this is a near impossible choice
King Kong

 

[Ric Bagoly]

Lawrence Of Arabia

 

[Bill J]

Lawrence of Arabia

 

[Justin Doring]

This is a really difficult choice; the most difficult bracket by far! Both are extremely important scores historically speaking, and both are superb musically. I'll put in a vote for Lawrence of Arabia, because it's one of Jarre's best scores, while King Kong is a bit lower on the list of Steiner's best scores.

 

[Tiffany A]

Lawrence of Arabia

 

[Jay E]

King Kong

 

[Lew Crippen]

Evan has summed up my position nicely
King Kong

 

[Agee Bassett]

In perhaps a surprise upset, King Kong usurps Lawrence of Arabia for advancement into the second round, 6-4. In this case, I would have had to very narrowly cast my vote for the epic work. Evan, as always, articulates the virtues of both scores very well; in particular, his analysis of Lawrence’s meditation on the Aqaba plan demonstrates one of the many brilliances of Jarre’s masterful score—married to Freddie Young’s expressive desert nightscapes, the highlight of a brilliant work. As, too, is the schizophrenic Overture, volleying between British and Arabic themes, adroitly echoing the inner conflict of the protagonist’s dual nature.


The 32 wild-cards:

• Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Popul Vuh)
  The Apartment (Adolph Deutsch)
  The Bicycle Thief (Alessandro Cicognini)
  Cape Fear (Bernard Herrmann)
  Charade (Henry Mancini)
  City Lights (Charles Chaplin, Arthur Johnston, Jose Padilla)
  El Cid (Miklos Rozsa)
  Fahrenheit 451 (Bernard Herrmann)
  Godzilla (Akira Ifukube)
  The Great Escape (Elmer Bernstein)
  Midnight Cowboy (John Barry)
  Mon Oncle (Franck Barcellini, Alain Romans)
  Nights of Cabiria (Nino Rota)
  Of Mice and Men (Aaron Copland)
  Pather Panchali (Ravi Shankar)
  The Sand Pebbles (Jerry Goldsmith)
  The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Bernard Herrmann)
  Spartacus (Alex North)
  A Streetcar Named Desire (Alex North)
  To Kill a Mockingbird (Elmer Bernstein)
  Woman in the Dunes (Toru Takemitsu)
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy
  Vacancy

Current unseconded nominations:

• Taras Bulba
  Young Frankenstein
  Jules and Jim
  Paths of Glory
  The Alamo
  Touch of Evil
  The Odd Couple
  Way Out West
  The Greatest Story Ever Told
  The Pink Panther
  The Most Dangerous Game

Composer slots filled, leaders:

• Bernard Herrmann: 9
  Dimitri Tiomkin: 6
  Erich Wolfgang Korngold: 5
  Max Steiner: 5
  Miklos Rozsa: 5

The following users, who have voted more than once in this tourney, still have noms/seconds left (I apologize if I have missed anyone):

 [I]Jay E[/I]: 5n/4s
 [I]Bill J[/I]: 5n/4s 
 [I]Ric Bagoly[/I]: 5n/3s
 [I]Kirk Tsai[/I]: 4n/4s
 [I]Rob Tomlin[/I]: 4n/3s
 [I]Peter Apruzzese[/I]: 4n/3s
 [I]SteveGon[/I]: 2n/1s
 [I]george kaplan[/I]: 3s
 [I]Brook K[/I]: 2s
 [I]Evan Case[/I]: 1s
 [I]Justin Doring[/I]: 1s
 [I]Lew Crippen[/I]: 1s[/b]

Bracket 13 sees yet more classic Tiomkin trotted to the voting block:

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ROUND 1; Bracket 13:

Lost Horizon [1937] (Dimitri Tiomkin)

vs.

Wuthering Heights [1939] (Alfred Newman)


-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[Justin Doring]

Lost Horizon
These brackets keep getting more and more difficult!
I just revisited Wuthering Heights (Richard Kaufman/New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Youth Choir, 12:40) and Lost Horizon (Charles Gerhardt National Philharmonic Orchestra and John Alldis Choir, 23:06), and while this choice is a bit more difficult than I originally thought, my original preference holds true.
While Newman's "Cathy's Theme" is sublime, it does make up a good portion of the music of Wuthering Heights. The additional music, of which there is, admittedly, quite a bit, however, is not up to the caliber of music as, say, The Song of Bernadette, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Robe, and even lighter fare; I can't help but favor a number of other Newman scores a good measure more than Wuthering Heights. As an aside, I can't quite help imagining what Korngold would have done with Wuthering Heights, although Devotion is probably a good indicator of what he would have done.
Tiomkin's Lost Horizon, his first major score, is, simply put, brilliant music. I'm sure that Tiomkin wished to put his best foot forward for this assignment, and it truly shows. Tiomkin thrusts you into the situation of the characters, keeps you on your toes with complicated measures, complements the visuals with exotic orchestrations, enhances the mood of the film with excellent themes, and still manages to deliver a bit of subtext and commentary. The Finale is a tour de force of momentum with its huge percussion section and vibrant colours. Grand film scores don't get any better than this.

 

[Ric Bagoly]

Lost Horizon

 

[george kaplan]

Just a thought:

Since noms/seconds have kind of trickled off, and you have 11 vacancies and 11 films waiting to be seconded, why not just move those all into the vacancies?

 

[Lew Crippen]

These choices just keep getting harder. How to choose? On the basis that Newman’s score advances the understanding of the desperation felt by the lovers (and makes me feel as though I had lived on the moors), more than Tiomkin makes me believe that I’m in Tibet (or wherever).

Musically I really would not be able to choose, and I’d bow to Justin’s very fine analysis.

Wuthering Heights

This has been a very hard tournament all the way along. Including the nomination process (I am reserving my last second, hoping for lightning to strike).

 

[Agee Bassett]

That's a consideration if I can't get more scores nominated/seconded before long. Awarding more noms/seconds to those who have used them; or electing scores myself are other immediate possibilities. Peter says he will be looking to use some of his noms once he has time to peruse his CD collection.
Jay E, Bill J:

Do you guys want to nom/second something?
Ric Bagoly, Kirk Tsai, and Rob Tomlin also have several noms/seconds waiting to be used. Page 5 has a full list of suggestions in case you are all having a hard time deciding on scores to nominate.