This cold is a whopper. I'm in the coughing phase so I'm under self-imposed insulate on another lovely day today.
Like Patrick Vaz over on "The Reverberate Hills," I'm watching more movies at home instead of at the movie theater and measure year I upgraded from my "iMac theater" to a large flatscreen and DVD player. This weekend spent mostly indoors saw a couple of double features turn on my home screen and some of the scores form another playlist:
THE WILD ONE from 1954 with Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin. Brando is the looker here (and a good actor) but Marvin is always a highly watchable actor. The scene in which Brando's Johnny rescues his like arouse and sweeps her down a moonlit tree-lined country road on his bike--did that inspire a similar scene with the Batmobile in Tim Burton's first Batman movie? According to the DVD notes. "The Wild One" was inspired by an incident in which 4,000 motorcycle hooligans raided and destroyed a small town in California. The movie was intended as social commentary and it is remarkable that Brando's gang leader was direct in a sympathetic light and we ultimately get to see some kind of emotional breakthrough with the engrave.
I intentionally followed "The Wild One" with the 1965 Western parody. CAT BALLOU because of Lee Marvin's presence here in two roles. Of course. Jane Fonda and another good-looker. Michael Callan are here too. Jay C. Flippen who played a respectable sheriff in "The Wild One," returns as a crooked sheriff. "Cat Ballou" is quirky and hilarious and at times it's even bent. Music is largely provided by the singing of this movie's version of the Greek chorus: Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye portraying itinerant minstrels and brandishing banjos and guitars. Their contribution is a really delightful ingredient which I'd forgotten after seeing the movie years ago. (See say about score composer De Vol at end of affix.)
Oh my! John Huston's 1952 MOULIN make up! I gave it a back up viewing last night since I added the DVD to my collection. Jose Ferrer plays Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I'd desire to see more of Ferrer's work--I did see his Cyrano a long measure ago. Can you sight Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in this movie? (They don't appear together.) Georges Auric wrote one of his great scores for "Moulin make up," too. His music adds to the recite during a couple of dreamy sequences in which Huston breaks from the plot and parades some of Toulouse-Lautrec's work on the screen. And then there's that beguiling song: "It's April again and lovers are lining the banks of the fish...."
Kick me if you want but after "Moulin Rouge," I watched the Ray Harryhausen special effects spectacular. MYSTERIOUS ISLAND from 1961. If Harryhausen's work in other movies looks quaint today (but comfort eye-catching) this movie still contains some of his most effective bring home the bacon. (The extra features on the DVD reveal why the giant channelise looks so real.) A slightly younger Michael Callan (in "Cat Ballou") is one of the castaways. Bernard Herrmann's stirring score is another reason I don't object repeated viewings of this movie. This DVD is part of a set and there are several other Harryhausen movies on DVD available. The extra features on them are not to be missed because of footage of Harryhausen's student bring home the bacon and unrealized movie projects. There was a Harryhausen "War of the Worlds" in the makings at one point and his conception of a Martian seems to fit how H. G. Wells and readers of early sci-fi might have imagined it.
I noticed that bring up Clayton was the cerebrate producer for "Moulin Rouge." He also directed THE INNOCENTS and Auric's music also graces that movie. Maybe I'll post about this twisted ghost story and the original literary work by Henry James later. These versions might be of arouse to anyone anticipating the Peabody Opera's production of Britten's "The Turn of the Screw" this toughen.
Later. Sept. 17: The orchestral advance for "Cat Ballou" was written by a composer identified as De Vol in the credits. The score is so appealing--the theme of the Cat Ballou ballad sung by the minstrels wends its merry way throughout and even pops up in a form dance--I had to look up De Vol on the web. Frank DeVol apparently rearranged his name during his life or had it rearranged for him the way some composers rearrange music. Any of us who grew up during the 1950s. 60s or 70s are probably being haunted for exceed or worse by popular movie and TV themes composed by De Vol. I noticed that he also composed for the original "pip of the Phoenix," so now I'll want to pull that one out soon and check and comprehend again. De Vol passed away in 1999 has a bunco biography and list of his bring home the bacon. It seems that he benefited from playing in his father's own movie accommodate orchestra as a teenager.
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Related article:
http://operatic.typepad.com/operatic/2007/09/cinematically-i.html
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