# The Sound of Cinema



## Guest

This programme - a series of three - has started on BBC4. I watched the first last night, which was about the big, stirring scores covering Steiner's invention of the click track for _King Kong_, Korngold's score for _Adventures of Robin Hood_, Herrmann's problems with _Torn Curtain_ and his 'rehabilitation' with _Taxi Driver_, and Zimmer's scores for _Gladiator _and _Inception_. I thought it noteworthy that Zimmer "didn't want to write a march, or militaristic score" for the battle sequence at the beginning: to my ears, it sounded pretty militaristic. Zimmer says that he decided he wanted to write a waltz! I hadn't noticed. He also claims that Ridley Scott was going to open with the battle, and it was Zimmer who suggested the 'hand on the wheat' scene instead, which does indeed give a completely different slant on the character of Maximus.

Next week, the use of pop...

I enjoyed it: anyone else watching?


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## Symphonical

I watched it as well, MacLeod. I also really enjoyed it and learnt a lot since I don't listen to much music that came from after 1880. It also answered my own question of how orchestral music came to be in most blockbuster films? Wasn't complaining about it, though. 
I had this essay that I had to write for music lessons in school and it was an essay on the history of music from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The program provided me with a lot of rather detailed information for me to use in the essay as I don't know as much about music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Brilliant 

Therefore, I really enjoyed the program but missed the 'pop' episode. Is it worth watching?


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## Guest

I've not yet watched ep 2.

I had to go away and watch _Inception _again - I've only seen it once at the movies and half on DVD when my son was watching. The film is, I think, a horrific exploration of the ambiguities of our existence, and when your sense of mortality begins to creep across your daily consciousness, the emotion such films provoke, accompanied by a grand, emphatic score, it's difficult not to find it a draining experience.

I'd put _Inception _in my top 5 list, and Zimmer's score makes a significant contribution to the film's heft.


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## CypressWillow

There's an old film called "Downhill Racer" with Robert Redford. I like his acting, am interested in skiing, liked the plot and the dialogue, etc. A film I really enjoy is like an old friend that I'll happily revisit, many times. However, I just can't watch this film any longer. The score, oh the score. As I recall it, it had a lot of then-current, supposedly 'hip' Euro-pop music. (Hip, not hip-hop!) I didn't much care for the music when the film was new. On trying to view it again a few years later, it practically made my ears bleed! 
I thought I was being ridiculous and tried again recently. Nope, same reaction. What is it about the sound track for that film?!?! It's the first time I ever found myself wishing they could use the same footage and just create a brand-new sound track for the film.


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## Art Rock

There are numerous iconic movie scenes that rely just as heavily on the music as on the image. Examples are Jaws, Star Wars (Darth Vader entry), Psycho (shower scene).


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## Blancrocher

Art Rock said:


> There are numerous iconic movie scenes that rely just as heavily on the music as on the image.


I used to watch "Jules and Jim" repeatedly until I discovered I could get most of the story just by listening to the soundtrack. Whether on DVD or CD, in any case, this one's a must-hear!


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## Guest

I've not seen _Downhill Racer_, but looking at some clips on YouTube, I think I might have given it a miss (though I like Redford and was an avid fan of _Ski Sunday_). I see the score was by the not particularly well known Kenyon Hopkins, who also did the rather better received _12 Angry Men_ (1957)_._ Some scores do seem to date a movie.

It's interesting that silent movies are often rereleased with new soundtracks, though that's presumably because, as they were silent (!) they enjoyed the variable accompaniment of whatever theatre they were playing in. I presume that no-one bothers now: I wonder what difference it would make to _Psycho _if, say, John Williams or Danny Elfman were to compose for it? Or Carter Burwell?


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