Valentine's Day, Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 10:20 am

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By the way, I wonder if Herrmann self-borrowed and used this Love Theme later. I'llhave to check The Man in the Gray Flannel Suite and other movies in that period._______________________________________________talkingherrmann mailing list******************************Talking Herrmann: 'Night Digger' on TCMReply by: Bill Wrobel ()______________________________________________________________________I too am enthusiastic about the Warner Archive/Turner releases. In fact, they just releasedIce Palace with a fantastic score by Max Steiner.However, I watched much of Night Digger and all of Obsession last evening. While Iconditionally value the music by Herrmann of the former movie, I thought the film itselfwas inferior. I am not talking about the quality of the print of the movie aired (althoughthat is an important factor for most people) but the nature of the movie itself. I felt it wasa rather ugly movie in terms of overall content. The same can apply for It's Alivealthough I actually liked the music better in that movie than Night Digger because Ibecame annoyed somewhat by Herrmann's excessive use of the harmonica in the latterscore. The overused harmonica was a major flaw in that score, and even the so-calledclever use of the special viola denoting Neal's "love" and affection for biker "Billy" wasoverstated. Herrmann's work on this movie was definitely lower drawer quality (althoughI enjoyed several isolated cues).At any rate, even if the print was pristine and in the perfect ratio on a new dvd release,I would not waste my money on it because the movie itself is pretty lousy! I groanedmany times at various scenes and dialog sections. The subject matter is not to mypersonal liking, and even then the approach (direction, actors, plot, etc) was not quality.Then, of course, the poor print quality did not help either. So out of five stars, I mightgenerously give it one star (probably only because Herrmann was involved).As for Obsession it is not that much better. I like the music far more than the formerfilm, although it too is flawed at times because of the nature of the scene Herrmann wastrying to compose for. For example, the Main Title's jagged approach is taxing on thesystem. Here you have DePalma constantly cutting between the Florence church structure(I believe San Miniato) and the earlier photos between Mike and Elizabeth. So Herrmanntried to adapt with his approach to the music mood. It wasn't successful, in my opinion. IfDePalma had a far different opening credits approach (preferably not with abrupt andsudden changes!) then you would've had Herrmann compose the Main Title differently(and far more agreeably or uniformly). If DePalma was paying homage to Vertigo thenhe should've had a far more creatively visual approach as given in the Hitchcock film.118
I did like DePalma's stylist approach to the look of the film: rather dreamy, gauzyfiltering softness that fostered a nice atmosphere in most scenes. So don't expect a highdefinition dvd transfer if it should ever get released again (currently unavailable). But theplot holes, incredulous actions, and other flaws of the film would only garner two starsfrom me. It is simply not a well-thought-out story. The ending is terrible (except for themusic!).At any rate, if a perfectly transferred dvd ever becomes released, I may buy it(especially for a really cheap price!) but I rather doubt it. But in comparison to NightDigger then it is a superior movie and score!Incidentally, of that general time period, I liked Endless Night more than Night Diggerboth in terms of music and the movie itself.Back to Warner Archive dvd releases: I will speculate that there is a high probabilitythat they will soon offer The Naked & the Dead because they aired it on TCM a fewweeks back and it looked liked a very good print. It is not a very good movie butHerrmann's brassy score is quite dynamic. I am hoping that they will eventually releasewonderful family Fifties "B" movies such as The Lion & the Horse with a wonderfulscore by Max Steiner. Also I hope Hell on Frisco Bay is released too because it has cleverand funny dialog between Edward G. Robinson, Alan Ladd, Paul Stewart, and others. I'dwatch and enjoy that old "B" movie many times, while I can only tolerate Taxi Driver afew times._______________________________________________talkingherrmann mailing list***************************Tom:Yes, I have that Forsyth Saga book (the 1982 soft cover version). On page 100, hestates:quote: One may be permitted to mention here that the Trumpet suffers the mute muchmore gladly than the other brass instruments. In fact it preserves under this indignity anunexpected pliancy and agility....but the tone-quality, especially in the f {forte} etchesitself so deeply into the mind as to become unbearable after a little while....Perhaps Forsyth should have muted his prejudicial comments and instead practicedsome "For-sight" (foresight). Beliefs condition experience. Fortunately Herrmanngleefully ignored Forsyth's highly limited beliefs in this area!_______________________________________________talkingherrmann mailing list**************************Talking Herrmann: UCSB Box 55 Material119
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FILM SCORE BLOGS [Blog # 41]Valenti
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I enjoyed watching The Fugitive but
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-“Fugitive Susp.” [I assume Fug
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Then in the Fugitive episode comes
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One purchase I did take advantage (
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session but almost always left behi
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pages to UCSB. The person is Marcus
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triplet value 8ths down to (Bar 2)
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for $2.50 long ago (probably at the
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marriage with Groucho was a joke?
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I discuss this in my final Talking
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“Main Title” Cue #35885 Maestos
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on note B.Bars 13-14 = The ostinato
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whole notes. Timp trill (roll) on G
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Bar 14= The melody line continues w
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find 16th notes G#-A-B-C-D-E to 32n
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sound). In Bar 12, notes F#-C#-F#,
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Bar 24 = Bis on E min again. Bass c
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Cmaj7#9 (C/E/G/B/D#), etc. Clarinet
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amongst them. Very interesting chas
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"Maria's Room" Lento (mesto) in C."
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Principal recording date was July 1
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to quarter notes as Hugo jokes abou
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whole notes D/G held fermata. Bass
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music "vira do minho" [unknown auth
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ut with notes D-Eb-E, F, Gb-Ab to (
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Bars 26-32 = The strings and organ
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minor 2nd inversion 8th note chord
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At the end of Bar 4 the baritone tr
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octave F up to small octave C 8ths
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(Bar 3) F/small octave C half notes
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Page 73 and 74: [“Like what?!”] R6/5. Dramatic
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Page 85 and 86: Reel 9 pt 7 "The Camp(original)" Sl
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Page 99 and 100: Reel 9/A "Judith Rejected". Deleted
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Page 105 and 106: First is John Barry's simple but ef
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Page 111 and 112: -All cues # entries (whether 1 page
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Page 123 and 124: Thanks for your interesting observa
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Page 127 and 128: Mer,”…certain passages of it, I
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Page 133 and 134: While Herrmann was not the King of
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Page 137 and 138: So Herrmann was playing with heavil
Page 139 and 140: different takes). I wonder if Bill
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Page 147 and 148: NotHitch:"Coll" or "col" (normally
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Page 153 and 154: I had long ago written a paper on t
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Page 157 and 158: Below is another image from "A Man'
Page 159 and 160: CBS-television score for the pilot
Page 161 and 162: The image below is my own personal
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You know, I've been trying to recal
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http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/
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The top of the scan shows On Danger
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Personally I was a bit disappointed
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5. BH discussed his meeting with Co
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Crime school, Four Daughters, Break
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I wonder if anybody here knows (per
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talkingherrmann mailing list*******
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was far more adaptable and willing
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I forgot to mention that the Wester
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On Monday, they will start showing
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Vera Miles is in episode # 19, "The
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gets a revelation at that instant w
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***************************Sunday,
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2010 and maybe into 2011). This esp
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Herrmann television scores, various
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I archived into Word whatever inter
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