Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

-Darby’s Rangers (1957) *** [music ****]
http://www.wbshop.com/Darbys-
Rangers/1000179569,default,pd.html?cgid=ZARCHIVEALL
This is a good, entertaining “B” WW II war drama with lots of good stars, and the
music score by Max Steiner is exceptional (I think Max’s best war movie score for
Warner Bros. and maybe better than Columbia’s Caine Mutiny). I plan someday to do a
full film score rundowns treatment of the score, so I guess I’ll just leave the review at
that. Until then, I strongly recommend this picture, and especially if you are a Steiner fan
and never hear this score before.
************************
-So This Is Love (1953) *** [music ***]
http://www.wbshop.com/So-This-Is-
Love/1000179617,default,pd.html?cgid=ZARCHIVEALL
I liked this Technicolor film with music adapted by Max Steiner. I never
researched this score but I can tell that Steiner composed a fairly large amount of original
incidental music. Kathryn Grayson is lovely in the role of Grace Moore. It was nice to see
Joan Weldon in a small role here as Ruth Obre. She is very pretty here (go to dvd
00:14:55 as she introduces herself, and also 00:18:18). I remember her best as Pat
Medford a year later in Them! She was a matter-of-fact scientist so she wasn’t dressed up
so “prettily”! I thought she was also very good as Martha Cutting in The Command in
1954 as well. She wasn’t made up and dressed up in a very feminine manner in that
western action as well. But she’s a tall beauty in this film under review now—and she
was, in fact, trained as a singer (her first love, not acting). Another trivia note: She played
the role as the singer, Faye Hollister, in “The Singer episode of Have Gun Will Travel
(Feb 8, 1958) who was abducted by Denver Pyle because he loved her. My wife and I
didn’t recognize initially, but there she was—and she actually sang in that episode too!
Incidentally (trivia within trivia), there is a fabulous long piece of music by Herrmann
used starting at the 13:10 point of the episode tracked in by the music editor. The piece is
almost in its entirety titled “Rundown” (part of his Police Force) suite.
*******************************
-Hotel (1967) *** [music ****]
http://www.wbshop.com/Hotel/1000179993,default,pd.html?cgid=ARCHIVENEW
I am a Rod Taylor fan so I purchased this film from Warner Archive. Immediately
I liked it right from the get-go with those luscious colors and interesting animation of the
opening credits. And I liked Johnny Keating’s Main Title. I tend to be fascinated with
mid-Sixties movies anyway with their vividness and bold colors and fashions. You can
access Keating’s soft symphonic jazz Main Title in waltz time here:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/386/Hotel-Kaleidoscope/
133