Alex North was and is one of my favorite film score composers. I loved his score for SPARTACUS, for CLEOPATRA, and for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? I was disappointed in '64 when North's magnificent score for CLEOPATRA lost to John Addison's magnificent score for TOM JONES. Years later I still love both.
But perhaps North's greatest single achievement was writing the melody for one of the most beautiful popular songs ever written, "Unchained Melody", from the rather unknown film UNCHAINED (1955). The story of this song is very interesting. I learned some things I did not know about the unusual history of the song when I googled the title not long ago.... This is the link: http://www.martin.mesanetworks.net/unchained/unchained.html There are many good versions of the song, but, for me, no version is as alluring as the fragment of the song that is heard in Joni Mitchell's "Chinese Cafe / Unchained Melody" on her early eighties album "Wild Things Run Fast." Kirby Kirby McDaniel MovieArt Original Film Posters P.O. Box 4419 Austin TX 78765-4419 512 479 6680 www.movieart.net mobile 512 589 5112 On Feb 13, 2012, at 10:52 PM, Neil Jaworski wrote: > I haven't seen The Artist yet, but will take a bet that it was not the > director's original intention to use the Herrmann, but that he fell in love > with his temp track and then wouldn't replace it with scored music. The most > famous example of this, of course, is Kubrick scrapping poor Alex North's > perfectly serviceable score for 2001 in favour of the rather better known > tunes he already had on LP.... > > From: David Kusumoto <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 4:09 > Subject: [MOPO] OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist" > > Note: The links below have been tested and are safe. > > * I went to see "The Artist" a second time to confirm my initial positive > feelings about it. If you've seen "Vertigo" (1958) - then you already know > its score by master composer Bernard Herrmann is a classic. It's so > effective at bringing out feelings of tragedy - or inexplicable longing for > something unattainable - that the musical passage below was brought back for > "The Artist" - and is heard in the film in its entirety: > > http://bit.ly/waRJoP > > * Some film buffs found the Herrmann music inappropriate in "The Artist." > But I thought it enhanced the picture despite being applied to a story that > has an old-fashioned ending. And I bet most audiences today cannot reference > the music back to "Vertigo." > > * And for those who can't get enough of Herrmann -- here's the chilling theme > that runs over the opening credits of "Vertigo." (The theme below is NOT > heard in "The Artist"). > > http://bit.ly/xovThM > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: [email protected] > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: [email protected] > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
