Movie Tournament: Classic Film Scores (1 Viewer)

[SteveGon]

Lost Horizon
I'll second The Pink Panther.
Agee, sorry for not participating overly much - it's just that I'm not nearly as expert with this topic as you and some of the other guys are. Your knowledge of film scores is impressive and puts mine to shame!

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Abstain.

Bummer that LoA and Jarre's score lost. However, it has been way too long since I have seen King Kong to even allow me to vote in the last round.

 

[Evan Case]

Well, I can't be as insufferably verbose this time around.
While I'm not nearly as familiar with these scores as I am with some of the others, I feel nonetheless secure in selecting Lost Horizon.
I find myself less impressed by Alfred Newman than many of his Golden Age contemporaries. I can't really put my finger on why, alas. Even watching Hunchback this afternoon, very little of the music has remained with me in the way a great Korngold, Steiner, Rozsa, or Prokofiev score does. A point in Newman's favor--he did pen my favorite studio fanfare.
Evan (now officially ostracized from the Golden Age of Film Music fan club )

 

[Agee Bassett]

Lost Horizon comes out on top, 4-1. And deservedly so, I may add; Tiomkin’s massive work is an important milestone in film music composition—arguably the first “epic” work in the American film music idiom. Not surprisingly, Justin sums up its intrinsic qualities quite eloquently.
Steve: No apologies called for or required, Steve--active participation is certainly nothing you’ve lacked for in this tourney. And no need to worry about any presupposed qualifications. Bear in mind that the only prerequisite for participating in this tournament is familiarity with the film scores concerned, and the capacity to know what you like. Even Rob Tomlin can claim as much.
Evan: You know all you have to do is rectify the omission of Oliver Twist from your library, and you’re back in my good graces.
Moving on...
-----------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 1; Bracket 14:

Goldfinger (John Barry)
vs.
Alexander Nevsky (Sergei Prokofiev)

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

 

[Justin Doring]

As much as I love John Barry and his spectacular score to Goldfinger, one of the best Bond scores along with OHMSS and The Living Daylights, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky is the obvious choice.

 

[Evan Case]

An important question: should the performance of the score as heard in the film be a major factor in our voting?

I'm guessing you'll understand why I ask this.

Evan

 

[Agee Bassett]

Since Rule 2.B allows that one not necessarily be required to see the film on which a score is based (as long as one if familiar with the score itself), then, no, the quality of any particular performance--in or outside of the film--is in itself not critical to the final assessment. To coin a phrase, the score's the thing.

 

[Justin Doring]

Evan, when you write "performance," do you literally mean the performance of the music, i.e. the quality of the playing of the orchestra, or do you mean how the music works in the film, i.e. the spotting of scenes by the composer and/or director, and how the music supports or comments on the film?

 

[Ric Bagoly]

Goldfinger
Sorry for lack of nods, but I honestly think most of the good ones have already gotten in. Now, if it were a POST-'75 tourney...

 

[Evan Case]

Right, well then it's Alexander Nevsky, no question (and I love Goldfinger).
The build-up to and subsequent battle on the frozen lake is some of the greatest work ever done by a composer for film. The screeching violins (and the brass counterpoint) accompanying the Teutonic knights across the ice is among the most exciting (yet chilling) pieces of music I've yet heard.
It is also notable just how closely Eisenstein and Prokofiev worked in marrying music to visuals. A book on Eisenstein that I've read includes numerous side-by-side comparisons of the the music charts with corresponding shots establishing the battle. Prokofiev and Eisenstein attempted to merge the two in such a way that as an audience member's eye moved across a particular shot, the music would perfectly correspond to what they would at the time be looking at in the frame (ever the theorist, Eisenstein felt that he could predict how an audience would view a shot--that is, at what moment they'd look at one side of a shot and then the changing of their focus as their eyes moved across the image). Truly amazing.
That said, one of the greatest scores of all-time also receives what is arguably the worst performance of all-time. I'd frankly expect a better performance from the local middle school than what ended up in the film. It's gotten the point where I can barely watch parts of Nevsky anymore. I've grown so used to hearing the score performed superbly on CD that I can barely stomach the mutilation that it undergoes in the film (the aforementioned Battle on the Ice, with it's drunken-8-piece-orchestra-recorded-from-across-the-street-by-a-malfunctioning-microphone-covered-with-a-wet-comforter type sound, is probably the most egregious example in my mind). I cease caring about the drama and start wishing that I could hear a real performance of the music. I have not bought the Criterion for this very reason. Had they included a rerecording of the score as an extra feature (a no-brainer, I would've thought), the DVD would be on my shelf as I type.
Evan

 

[Evan Case]

Justin, I meant how it was performed by the orchestra, as I'm sure my fourth paragraph makes clear.

Evan

 

[Evan Case]

(Geez, I use a lot of parentheses, don't I? )
Evan

 

[george kaplan]

Goldfinger

 

[Jim_K]

I'm a little late joining in so if I have noms and seconds here goes
What many consider to be Herrmann's finest "Score" Nominate: Mysterious Island
and 2 more excellent Barry scores:
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Second
Young Frankenstein
As long as the performance is adequate it doesn't factor in. I can't think of any scores in this Tourney that don't measure up.
It's the body of music that matters and also how well it fits into the film.
Vote
Goldfinger

 

[Jay E]

Alexander Nevsky

 

[Lew Crippen]

Alexander Nevsky

 

[Evan Case]

I'll second On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Evan

 

[Agee Bassett]

Updated wild-card/nom list (pg. 1).
Jim_K: Thanks for joining us. Everyone has 5 nominations and 4 seconds. You have used 3 of your noms, and 1 second, so you now have 2n/3s left.

 

[SteveGon]

Alexander Nevsky

 

[Brook K]

Alexander Nevsky