Movie Tournament: Classic Film Scores (1 Viewer)

[Justin Doring]

The Bridge on the River Kwai
It's just a shame that everybody remembers Alford's Colonel Bogey March and not Arnold's brilliant score.
Jan, Tiomkin's western scores sound far more Russian than American (i.e. Coplandesque) in my opinion. Bernstein, Goldsmith, and Moross, however, do owe a debt to the Copland. In fact, Copland was a great champion of the vastly underrated Moross.
I'll use my final nomination for Bernard Herrmann's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
I'll use one of my seconds for A Streetcar Named Desire, as it's a very significant as well as brilliant score. I also would urge others to second El Cid, Taras Bulba, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. All three scores represent their composers in top form.

 

[Jan H]

Agree with the mention of Streetcar. Disagree that Tiomkin sounds Russian (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Red River's score sounds like a hybrid of Copland, Gershwin, and Prokofiev to my ears. But Copland definitely stands out as the primary influence. But, jeez, I've been wrong before!

 

[george kaplan]

Bridge on the River Kwai

 

[Brook K]

I like Kwai's score very much, but like Evan, I really don't remember To Be Or Not To Be's score.
Hard to make one nomination amongst so much, I've got two that I'd really like to nominate, one is a phenomenal early work from an artist I should be a lot more familiar with, the other wrote songs that move me like few others in film. I'll nominate the latter:
The Blue Angel - Friedrich Hollaender
I'll 2nd Godzilla, though I wish Godzilla vs. The Thing was nominated, gotta love the Mothra song "Mosura-ah"

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Nominate the influential and powerful score of Bride of Frankenstein, by Franz Waxman.

 

[SteveGon]

The Bridge on the River Kwai
I'll second The Bicycle Thief.

 

[Ric Bagoly]

The Bridge On The River Kwai
Ill second
Cape Fear
Bride Of Frankenstein

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Ill second
Cape Fear

Finally! Thanks Ric!
I have to abstain this round, although I would love to vote for The Bridge on the River Kwai, I haven't seen To Be or Not To Be. :frowning:

 

[Agee Bassett]

Wild-card/nom/composer list updated. BTW, wanted to make it clear that, as a rule, to find the most recently updated list, please consult the list on page 1.
Jan & Brook: Sorry, but neither The Umbrellas of Cherbourg nor The Blue Angel, as their scores comprise largely/exclusively of lyrical songs, are eligible for this tourney (please see guideline IIb). While technically these may qualify as original “scores,” according to whomever, it was a judgment call on my part to exclude scores of this type for the reason that I am not keen on the idea of perhaps unfairly forcing voters to decide between scores dominated by vs. without lyrics. Certainly Cherbourg, regardless of the originality of the material, qualifies formally as a musical. Indeed, if I exclude O Lucky Man!, I must exclude Cherbourg. Please nominate again.
Justin & Kirk: Both The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Bride of Frankenstein are already in (please see list of drafted entrees on page 1). Please nominate again.
The 32 wild-cards:

• Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Popul Vuh)
  The Bicycle Thief (Alessandro Cicognini)
  Cape Fear (Bernard Herrmann)
  Fahrenheit 451 (Bernard Herrmann)
  Godzilla (Akira Ifukube)
  The Great Escape (Elmer Bernstein)
  Nights of Cabiria (Nino Rota)
  The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Bernard Herrmann)
  Spartacus (Alex North)
  A Streetcar Named Desire (Alex North)

Current unseconded nominations:

• El Cid
  Taras Bulba
  Young Frankenstein
  Jules and Jim
  Woman in the Dunes
  Paths of Glory
  City Lights
  The Sand Pebbles

Composer slots filled, leaders:

• Bernard Herrmann: 9
  Dimitri Tiomkin: 6
  Erich Wolfgang Korngold: 5
  Max Steiner: 5
  Miklos Rozsa: 4

Please note: At 9 scores, Bernard Herrmann is now one short of exhausting his maximum of 10 scores allowed, meaning that only one more of his scores will be eligible for election.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Please note: At 9 scores, Bernard Herrmann is now one short of exhausting his maximum of 10 scores allowed, meaning that only one more of his scores will be eligible for election.

As long as Cape Fear is included, I have no problem with that!

 

[Justin Doring]

I didn't realize The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was on the list.

I'll second The Sand Pebbles.

Since Tiomkin's Red River got knocked out by Rota's inferior The Godfather, I'll nominate The Alamo.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I'll have to abstain as I can't remember anything about the score to To Be or Not To Be.

I'll use up two more seconds on:

El Cid
City Lights

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Oops, sorry about that Agee, somehow missed BoFrankenstein.

I'll use my nomination on Henry Mancini's jazz heavy, foreground and background fused score for Touch of Evil.

 

[Agee Bassett]

Wild-card/nom/composer list updated (page 1).
A sparse vote sees The Bridge on the River Kwai (Malcolm Arnold) take it unanimously, 4-0. It’s interesting to me how many who have seen To Be or Not to Be actually cannot recall its musical score (a deft high-wire act toeing to perfection the film’s precisely balanced mix of sharply comedic and deadly serious moments); for in a Lubitsch film, the biting satire and corrosive wit provide plenty of accent and commentary on their own. That said, I agree with the outcome.
For bracket 6, we have a couple of giants of the film score world:
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ROUND 1; Bracket 6:

Ivan the Terrible, parts I & II (Sergei Prokofiev)
vs.
Kings Row (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)

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[george kaplan]

OK, I've frankly lost track of whether I have any more nominations, but if so, the recent mention of Mancini spurred me to recall that Charade isn't in here yet.

I nominate Charade.

 

[Agee Bassett]

george: By my count, you have now used up but 3 of your 5 noms. So feel free to nominate away (and vote, too, if you can).
BTW, this bracket will remain up until 00:00 Tuesday morning (EST).

 

[SteveGon]

Abstain

 

[Brook K]

Will have to abstain on King's Row, I like Prokofiev's Ivan score, but prefer Alexander Nevsky.
Agee, no problem, in thinking about it afterwards, I realized it didn't fit the bounds of the tournament. So I'll nominate the other film I was considering:
Pather Panchali - Ravi Shankar

 

[Ric Bagoly]

abstain

 

[Rob Tomlin]

abstain :frowning: