Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

yarn) starring the excellent Johnny Depp (instead of Jack Nicholson!) as the book shamus
after an item that becomes too hot to handle! I consider Polanski one of the most talented
directors around—terrific, atmospheric composition of shots. Working title: “The Devil
and Dean Corso” but Polanksi thought it sounded too much like The Devil and Daniel
Webster….Just kidding! Frank Langella as Boris Balkan is perfect casting by Polanski
(his first choice). That long dialog scene starting around 14-15 minutes intop the movie is
quite atmospheric and interesting to look at, and hear. The music by Wojciech Kilar is
very appropriate for this movie. The soli section at 22 minutes (and 34 minutes into the
movie) of the bassoons is very good.
So I feel the movie overall deserves a rating that edges towards being a classic
despite the subject matter (I’m not a believer or devils and Satan or anything like that!).
The picture is so well-composed that I think it deserves a classic (classically-produced &
directed & starred) status. Be sure to listen to the director’s audio commentary!
-Torn Curtain (1966) *** [music: Herrmann ****]
http://www.amazon.com/Torn-Curtain-Paul-
Newman/dp/B000055Y16/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1293596012&sr=1-3
My wife likes this Hitchcock movie better than I do. She likes Paul Newman and
the intrigue. I would’ve preferred it with Herrmann’s music. At least there are several
scenes you can play in this special edition that uses Herrmann’s music.
-36 Hours (1964) *** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/36-Hours-James-
Garner/dp/B000NTPG5C/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1293596147&sr=1-1
If you like psychological thrillers, this black & white movie is a decent
suspenseful film rather of the Hitchcock tradition. I am a Rod Taylor fan (he was terrific
in The Birds) so it was nice to watch him act here, even though he played the bad Nazi
here masquerading as a Major in the United States military trying to fool Major Pike
(admirably played by James Garner) into revealing D-day information by placing him in
a purposively 1950 military base in Germany. Nice to see Alan Napier in a bit role in the
beginning. Remember him in Journey to the Center of the Earth?? WARNING: Spoiler
coming up….. Pike finally realizes that it’s all an elaborate trick setup at around the 57
point of the movie when salt on his finger causes his under-the-nail cut from just a few
days ago to hurt. I write these reviews with the assumption that almost everyone has seen
the movie, but just in case I better put of a spoiler warning now and then! At any way, so
what if Pike knows now because we, the audience, knew about it right from the
beginning. So the way the movie is constructed tends to minimize true or deep suspense.
You might worry if the James Garner character is going to get killed, but usually the lead
in such movies tend to get away safely! By the way, speaking of Rod Taylor, I think he
has the general looks and face build as George Reeves (of Superman fame). And I am a
fan of both of those actors. John Banner (of tv’s Hogan’s Heroes fame as the comical
nazi Sergeant Schultz) plays a small role towards the end of the movie. Maybe CBS saw
him in this role and thought he was the perfect choice for the television role, I don’t
know. Celia Lovsky is also in that church scene. She is best known perhaps for playing
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