Hey Dave and all.......
I am coming into this thread late but had to comment. All the songs that
Dave mentioned are the same for me, especially Downtown. I can remember running
down the streets of Hollywood when I was about 9 years old with my sister
singing that song at the top of our lungs. To this day, whenever, I hear it,
that is where my mind floats back to. Moon River is a song that pulls at my
heartstrings every time I hear it. My mind goes to Audrey sitting in that
window singing and so much emotion seems to fill me up. I never quite
understood that power but just accept it as the way it is for me. I have always
viewed that film as a drama, also. While the comedic scenes have their moments,
it is this "lost soul" that I have the connection with and it is one of those
films that you beg for a happy ending even though you know it will come with
great sadness, but revelation. I'm not normally quite so philosophical, out
loud, but knew Dave would understand.
I love Moonglow and Picnic is one of my top 10 favorite films. I do love
Mancini and another song that stirs me is "The Days of Wine and Roses". The
love them from Spartacus is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and
haunting themes in any film. For me, the score is just as important as the
film and that is why Herrman, Kaper, Tiomkin, North, Goldsmith, Mancini,
countless more, and one of my favs, Elmer Bernstein are unbelievable. The theme
to "To Kill a Mockingbird" is so simple, yet so beautiful. I heard Bernstein
talk about it once and he said that he wrote it with a child in mind. How a
child would sit down at the piano and play one note at a time. That theme
meshes so incredibly with the opening credits of the film. I think we could all
go on for days about music and films. I have yet to see "The Artist", but hope
to do so soon. I actually just rewatched Point of No Return with Bridget Fonda
and was reminded of how much I love Nina Simone and have now introduced her to
my 15 year old daughter. So...............happy times at the movies all!!
Sue
www.hollywoodposterframes.com
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:37:54 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] OT: Moon River and Tiffany's
To: [email protected]
I love "Moon River," but I catch myself going back and forth on "Breakfast at
Tiffany's." The film is lovely and has a five star opening, a lovely bridge in
the middle when Audrey sings "Moon River" on a guitar and a five-star ending.
But the stuff in-between isn't funny to me, certainly not the party scene nor
Mickey Rooney's efforts at playing a horny Japanese dolt while channeling Jerry
Lewis. (But after a couple of beers, I admit I DO laugh at Rooney's facial
expressions with his buck teeth and glasses, e.g., esp. when he says, "MISS
GO-RIGHT-REE, I MAUST PRO-TEST!"). The movie plays better to me as drama than
comedy. Cut some of the junk out and you have a masterpiece because the story
is really about Audrey as a lost woman who puts on a front that she doesn't
want to be tied to anyone but who in fact is dying to be loved. Without "Moon
River" in "Tiffanys," I would go as far as saying you've lost 3/4ths of the
heart of that picture! -d.
P.S. - A MoPo member wrote me privately today that another memorable tune is
"Moonglow" in "Picnic." How could I have left that out? Great tune,
especially when the violins come up mid-way through the piano.
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:20:28 -0600
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
Those songs are all memorable, of course. The history of MOON RIVER is
addressed in FIFTH AVENUE, 5 A.M., Sam Wasson's little book about the making of
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. This is a very entertaining read. The footnotes are
almost as entertaining as the text. The most amazing thing about MOON RIVER is
that the top exec at Paramount did not like it and wanted to rip it out. The
producers had to fight for it. Paramount also wanted to have someone else sing
it, not Audrey Hepburn. They also had to fight for hiring Henry Mancini!
Imagine that. Today's TIFFANY'S will have no score at all, just songs by
ADELE, FLEET FOXES, WILCO, you get the idea. Nothing against any of those
artists, just saying!
Another fascinating story in the book is how George Peppard thought HE was the
star of the film! And nobody liked him. But the best is the account of the
filming of the party and how that experience morphed into the idea for making
THE PARTY.
Kirby
On Feb 14, 2012, at 12:33 AM, David Kusumoto wrote:
Thanks for providing that link, Kirby. Great story-behind-the-song, "Unchained
Melody." I never tire of hearing or reading about - the origins of some of the
great classics of any decade. And wouldn't you know that of course some of the
greatest songs have their genesis in bittersweet tales buried in the folds of
some poor soul's brain. I think everyone remembers the one that either "got
away" or "could have been something" - had you had the courage to act quickly
on a passing window of time. Then, in an era of social media like Facebook -
when you are indeed able to re-connect with that person or persons many years
later - you find yourself lamenting at what could have been - and/or ruminating
about time's unforgiving nature on the fresh memories of youth. Some songs and
movies have tremendous replay value and I never tire hearing or watching them
repeatedly. Songs in particular that weird me all out with emotion include the
theme from "A Summer Place," "Moon River," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco,"
"The Way You Look Tonight" and - (here's one that's so corny that I'm afraid to
admit it) - Petula Clark's rendition of "Downtown." Man oh man I'd love to
learn the back stories of those songs. -d.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:27:26 -0600
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
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
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