Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

-# 2B “Bye Bye Charlie” in � time, 7 pages, 52 bars. Dvd location 00:15:29. This is
the body-viewing scene (Regina’s recently murdered husband). Someone plays a record
and this is the music we hear. It is a “string quartette.” Lento in 3/4 time. I assume
Mancini wrote it but I am not sure.
Violin I sounds mp Line 2 F quarter note legato to E half note to (Bar 2) D quarter
note to C dotted quarter note down to Line 1 C 8 th to (Bar 3) E down to small octave G#
8ths up to B to Line 1 D 8ths legato to E-G# 8ths, and so forth. Violin II plays Line 1 B
quarter note to Line 2 C half note down to (Bar 2) G# quarter note to A dotted quarter
note (followed by an 8 th rest) and silent next two bars. The viola plays Line 1 D quarter
note to E half note down to (Bar 2) B dotted quarter note to C middle dotted quarter note
(silent next two bars). The cello plays small octave G# quarter note to A half note to (Bar
2) F quarter note to E dotted quarter note (followed by an 8 th rest) and silent next two
bars. Etc.
[MAJOR NEWS ON CNN: Devastating 8.9 earthquake in Japan. The tsunamis
are particularly powerful…Will end this session now after 11 pm Thursday, March 10,
2011…]
*******************************
-North by Northwest (1959) ***** [music *****]
http://www.amazon.com/North-Northwest-Cary-
Grant/dp/0790749815/ref=sr_1_4?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292994924&sr=1-4
I already gave this Bernard Herrmann score an 84-page rundown treatment that’s
available online:
http://www.filmscorerundowns.net/herrmann/north_by_northwest.pdf
This is about as perfect a motion picture can be! What a terrific combination of
talent: Hitchcock as director; Herrmann as composer; Cary Grant as lead (with James
Mason co-starring!); witty and action-packed script by Ernest Lehman; gorgeous
Technicolor; you name, this film has got it. Both the film and the score get a rare duo
five-star (*****) rating by me. This is a definite Must-Have in anyone’s collection. My
wife is still getting a big laugh out of that drunk Thornhill scene at the Glenn Cove police
station scene right after the frantic car chase scene. Very funny, clever writing, and a
great acting job by Grant.
Hitchcock liked to utilize a lot of familiar directing techniques. I particularly
enjoyed the Bird’s-Eye-View shots. The first one that I noticed of interest was at
00:11:16 when Vandamm (Mason) interrogates Thornhill. Afterward at 00:38:19 is the
extreme bird’s eye shot down on Thornhill running from the United Nations building to
grab a taxi. Very impressive shot. Another is the start of the Highway scene when
Thornhill gets out of the bus out alone in the flat farmland country (dvd 1:06:12). But the
most effective bird’s eyeshot for me was at the Vandamm house a stone’s throw from
Mount Rushmore. Thornhill overhears Vandamm telling Leonard that this matter with
Eve is best disposed of “over water” (plotting to dump Eve over the ocean on the planned
279