Movie Tournament: Classic Film Scores (1 Viewer)

[Rand]

Vertigo

 

[Lew Crippen]

I can’t really say that either would necessarily get my vote (on the day) for the top film score. And in a way it’s too bad not to have Korngold or Tompkin or Bernstein in the final, but I can’t be unhappy with two of Herrmann’s best scores (which means two of the best scores ever).
I’m pretty sure that I’ve already commented on both scores. And as George and Steve point out this is basically a tie. I find Vertigo to be a better film than Psycho, and I believe that a contributing factor to my overall view on this must be the score. Therefore:
Vertigo
As an aside, a thread some months ago that presented some list of best scores had no scores by either of our finalists.
I am pretty sure who has the better list.
Thanks for putting this together Agee. Lots of fun.
And my thanks to the thoughtful and insightful comments by everyone. I learned a lot.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Great tourney, Agee. I'd also like to thank my fellow particpants for making the voting both interesting and heartbreaking at times.

What George, Steve and Lew said - this is basically a dead heat for me and my choice of either title could change on a moment's notice. For today, right now, I vote for

PSYCHO

 

[Brook K]

Psycho

 

[Rain]

Vertigo

 

[Agee Bassett]

UPDATE:
Vertigo - 8
Psycho - 6
So far, it's pretty neck-and-neck.
(Thanks for all the complimentary words, guys! I also second Peter's comment. )

 

[Evan Case]

Excellent tournament, even though a number of circumstances (holiday spent with a terrible PC, coming back to find my good PC's moniter had fried, etc) kept me from fully participating towards the end.
I'll go with Vertigo, which is one of the few scores as essential to the onscreen action as Psycho is. Since it's also an infinitely better listen on its own, this is an easy choice for me.
Evan

 

[Agee Bassett]

As decreed by the HTF faithful by a vote of 9-6, the greatest classic film score of them all is:

Bernard Herrmann
I must say with pleasure that we have a most deserving winner. Herrmann’s legendary work remains a watershed in film music composition; of superb musical commentary upon, and enhancement of, a film’s action; and just plain spellbinding music in its own right. A true giant of its genre.
Great fun, guys. Once again, thanks for participating.

 

[Justin Doring]

I have no problem with the winner, as I think Vertigo is Herrmann's best score, and Herrmann is certainly among the best film composers of all time. This is not to say, however, that there aren't other scores and composers that give Vertigo and Herrmann a run for their money, but Vertigo belongs near, if not at, the top of any great score list.
Agee, thanks for all of your tremendous efforts. This has been a most excellent tournament.

 

[Ric Bagoly]

Great Tourney, Agee! What a finish for the ages!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Stop the presses.

Is it possible that we have a tourney winner that no one is going to strongly oppose.

 

[Agee Bassett]

Then again, if I had a little controversy, it might get this thread to 1000 posts.
(I see I should have contacted the mod who changed my thread title, per my request of two days ago, by email rather than PM. )

 

[JenB]

Well done tournament, Agee!

 

[Brook K]

Thanks for your work Agee, I obviously have a lot of great score listens to look forward to. I should be seeing Henry V in a month or so as it creeps up my Netflix list.

 

[Bill J]

Again, Agee, great tourney.

How about doing one that does not only include only classical scores?

 

[Agee Bassett]

Around the time of the preliminary stages of this tourney, I was in contact with Craig S, who had expressed interest in running a modern (post-1975) film score tourney in tandem with mine (these posts, along with others, were purged from page one of this tourney on the day the tourney began, so as not to clutter up the proceeding); but I haven't heard back from him in quite a while. In any case, it would have to be the undertaking of someone else, as the more recent film music does not fall under my field of expertise.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Agee, fun and informative at the same time. Really enjoyed it.