Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

characters are the central focus, adding Duddits as the uncertainty part of the equation.
Some of the scenes and special effects are outstanding—such as at dvd 00:34:33 with the
bird’s eye perspective down on the snowy road as the snowflakes float downward. Other
scenes are just plain disgusting and just plain unnecessary. You can probably figure out
which ones are they. My wife would call this, just plainly (but stated empathically!)
“ugly!” Nevertheless I’ll still give it a “good” three *** star rating because of the talent
involved, but be wary. You are entering not the Twilight Zone but the (Mr.) Gray Zone!
It is not for the squeamish. In the final analysis, it probably would’ve been better if this
movie was never made at all. Fine talent behind such a project is not a gain but ultimately
a loss. The music by James Newton Howard was not particularly impressive to me. Too
electronic I felt, not engaging enough. Howard hits and misses. He’s not consistent (as
Herrmann was!).
-A Summer Place (1959) *** [music ****]
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Place-Richard-
Egan/dp/B000JU8HBA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292883116&sr=1-1
Beautiful-looking movie and a top-notch score by Max Steiner. However,
eventually the movie starts to wear the viewer down with the out-dated or old-fashioned
values regarding marriage, children, love affairs, and so on. It gets pretty silly and
stereotyped while taking itself so seriously! Sandra Dee is particularly annoying here.
Richard Egan is great here (almost every daughter’s dream of a loving, ideal father), and
also Dorothy McGuire . Arthur Kennedy is ok but he was hampered by this twodimensional
role. Constance Ford plays to the hilt a mother (or wife, depending on the
point of view) everyone loves to hate! But the music is worth the dvd. Note that I have
already delineated the score on my site:
http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/steiner/summerplace.pdf
-Operation Pacific (1951) ** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Pacific-John-
Wayne/dp/B00008MTY6/ref=sr_1_6?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292883164&sr=1-6
This movie is ok at best but hardly worth viewing more than once or twice. The
same applies to Max Steiner’s music, although I find some of the music quite nice. I like
how in the “Main Title” Max employs rising and falling harp glisses (I believe also
contrary motion) every time the credits show card changed. The opening enemy island
night scene is rather moody with the dark clouds, the choppy waters, and so forth as
Wayne and men ferry over nuns and kids onto the sub. Max’s lushly strings music is
quite pretty. I never pulled the written score –never got around to it (not high on my
priority list).
Patricia Neal is onboard this movie but John Wayne is no Gary Cooper! She and
Wayne simply have no believable chemistry here—at least none that I could detect
(although my wife watching it now with me thinks there is some!). This movie is a bit in
the same league, so to speak, as Wayne’s Trouble Along the Way: it’s an okay movie but
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