Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

master, I can see how a wife and daughter would feel fear towards a father/husband, but a
New England Thirty-ish “spinster” being terrified of how mother thinks of her (talk about
the total projection of personal power!) is rather unbelievable. Anyhow, that was the poor
setup, and it was nice to see poor Charlotte come out and live life and break free from
dear old constipated mom! Fortunately Max wrote some nice exotic music in various
select placements of the movie as Charlotte traveled abroad. The Mountain Car Ride cue
(Reel 5/A) is good.
Greenwood Press in 2000 released “Film Score Guides, Number 1” by Kate
Daubney titled “Max Steiner’s Now, Voyager: A Film Score Guide.” I purchased a copy
from Amazon for around $45 but now from Amazon it costs nearly $70 (a bit too
pricey!)—but perhaps you can find a used copy for a less costly price! I recommend it to
serious researchers and film music students but I wish it had included several full score
page reproductions but unfortunately the only reproduction was the title page sketch on
page 14.
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-Jim Thorpe—All American (1951) ** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Thorpe-American-Burt-
Lancaster/dp/B00005JNGO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1293682228&sr=1-1
This is not one of my favorite Warner Bros. movies (and Max Steiner) score. I
wish the producers had given it a Technicolor treatment, but considering the many
archival black & white footage used in this film, I understand why they couldn’t.
Lancaster was rightly cast as Jim Thorpe, especially considering his athletic performance
a year earlier in The Flame & the Arrow (a far better film!). He was not anywhere as
swashbuckling in this role as Thorpe than as Dardo in the previous movie. The Thorpe
characterization and life events and problems necessitated a muted portrayal from
Lancaster. It was a far more serious and realistic role, so he did not smile very much in
this picture (except when running freely)! It was not a “fun” movie, nor escapist fare. It
was decidedly a “downer” movie, and that’s probably why I rarely ever watch it. I am
now because I am doing this review and music analysis, but I doubt if I would visit it
even briefly once every ten years, say!
However, while this is not anywhere near my top Steiner favorites, it does have its
moments. One of them is the Main Title with that vigorous and brassy expanded Warner
Bros. logo music (originally from Max’s Gold Is Where You Find It). Instead of the two
or three bars used for it, we have a full seven bars’ worth of exciting music. I am trying to
think if Steiner even did this before and afterwards—expanding the logo music besides
just newly revising it. I think this is the only case.
“Main Title” Cue # 33620. Con moto in C time, 37 bars, 1:03 duration. I handcopied
the first seven bars of the full score but I cannot find the pages right now but I do
have the rest of the score (and also the Conductor score). Instrumentation: 3 flutes, 2
oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, bass sax, timp, tom
toms, gong, snare drum, cymbal, harp, organ, 2 pianos, strings.
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