3:10 TO YUMA – George Duning
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The original story for 3:10 to Yuma was the brainchild of writer-producer David Heilweil, who adapted the 1953 short story of the same name written by crime author Elmore Leonard. He offered it to producer Robert Aldrich and his production company, who liked it enough to commission a screenplay by Halsted Welles. Yet the company was in need of cash, and so Aldrich sold the screenplay and film rights to Columbia Pictures for $100,000. Heilweil was assigned as producer, and Delmer Daves was tasked with directing. A creative decision was made to shoot the film in black and white using red filters on the camera lens, which afforded the picture a more arid and parched appearance. A fine cast was recruited, including Glenn Ford as Ben Wade, Van Heflin as Dan Evans, Leora Dana as Alice Evans, Felicia Farr as Emmy, Robert Emhardt as Mr. Butterfield, Henry Jones as Alex Potter, and Richard Jaeckel as Charlie Prince. Read more…
NIGHT PASSAGE – Dimitri Tiomkin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Producer Aaron Rosenberg decided that he wanted to cast the stars of Universal Pictures’ recent hits – “The Glenn Miller Story” (James Stewart) and “To Hell and Back” (Audie Murphy) – together in a Western. He saw an opportunity in the 1956 novel “Night Passage” by Norman A. Fox. Universal gave the green light; Rosenberg would manage production, Anthony Mann was tasked with directing, and Borden Chase was hired to write the screenplay. For the cast, James Stewart would star as Grant McLain, and Audie Murphy would co-star as the Utica Kid (Lee McLain). Joining them were Dan Duryea as Whitey Harbin, Diane Foster as Charlotte “Charlie” Drew, Elaine Stewart as Verna Kimball, Brandon de Wilde as Joey Adams, and Jay C. Flippen as Ben Kimball. Production went off the rails quickly when Mann left the project, believing that Audie Murphy was miscast and that the screenplay was weak. To his credit, his opinion was later validated by critics and the box office. Consequently, James Neilson was brought in to direct. Read more…
Mark Smythe, 1972-2026
Composer Mark Smythe died on May 9, 2026, after suffering a heart attack while hiking with friends on Mount Wilson near Los Angeles, California. He was 53 years old.
Mark Cyprian Ward Smythe was born in Nelson, New Zealand, in October 1972. He was a chorister at Nelson Cathedral, played violin and clarinet in the Nelson Symphony Orchestra, and performed in several rock bands on New Zealand’s South Island before pursuing a career in screen composition. Smythe moved to Australia in 2004, where he completed his MA in Screen Music at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. He eventually relocated to Los Angeles in 2013 to further his career as a film composer.
He received SCL Award and World Soundtrack Award nominations for his score to the shark thriller “The Reef: Stalked” (2022) — helped by his innovative “Vote Mark, Vote Shark!” campaign. His other notable works included the horror films “Daddy’s Little Girl” (2012), “Charlie’s Farm” (2015), “Boar” (2017), and “The Possessed” (2021), as well as the war drama “Unfallen” (2017) and the romantic comedy “Love You Like That” (2021).
In addition to his film work, Smythe was also a composer of concert and choral music. His most notable classical works included the orchestral suite “Flying South,” adapted from his score for a Natural History New Zealand documentary and conducted by Smythe in Bulgaria in 2017, and “Song of the Sea,” a work for choir and electric guitar that premiered at the 2024 Choral Arts Initiative Project Festival in Los Angeles. He collaborated with the LA Choral Lab on several projects and also produced new music for strings and electric guitar at The Night Temple. Read more…
THE SEVENTH SIN – Miklós Rózsa
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
MGM decided to remake the 1934 film “The Painted Veil,” updating the story’s 1930s setting to 1949 to showcase studio star Ava Gardner. David Lewis was assigned as producer with a $1.577 million budget, Ronald Neame was tasked with directing, and Arthur Laurents was engaged to adapt W. Somerset Maugham’s 1925 novel “The Painted Veil” for the screenplay, retitled The Seventh Sin. Things went south quickly, with Neame rejecting Laurents’ script and hiring Karl Tunberg to rewrite it. Producer Lewis soon lost faith in Neame, believing the film was pedestrian and insufficiently updated. He fired Neame mid-production, and Vincente Minnelli was brought in to complete the film. For the cast, Ava Gardner, for reasons unknown, was replaced by Eleanor Parker, who would star as Carol Carwin. She was joined by Bill Travers as Walter Carwin and George Sanders as Tim Waddington. Read more…
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER – Hugo Friedhofer
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1952, 20th Century Fox studio executives decided that they wanted to remake one of the most popular romantic films of all time – 1939’s “Love Affair,” which starred Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl were initially assigned to star in the remake, but the project stalled and did not regain traction until 1956, when Leo McCarey and Jerry Wald took over production with a $2.1 million budget. They chose to use the same screenplay as the 1939 film by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart. McCarey would also direct the film and brought in a splendid cast, including Cary Grant as Nicolo Ferrante, Deborah Kerr as Terry McKay, and Richard Denning as Kenneth Bradley. Read more…
STARBRIGHT – Luděk Dřízhal
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Starbright is a science fiction-fantasy-action film directed by Francesco Lucente, starring John Rhys-Davies, Diego Boneta, Ted Levine, and Alexandra Dowling. The story follows a young woman named Aisling (Dowling), who lives on a remote farm with her grandparents, and whose life changes when something crash-lands in a field near her home. When she investigates, she encounters a mysterious angel-like man named Raphael (Rhys-Davies), who reveals what crashed – a tiny star – which Raphael then entrusts to Aisling for safekeeping. With the additional help of a kind-hearted stranger named Joshua (Boneta), Aisling and Raphael attempt to protect the star from three criminals who wish to exploit its power; what follows (according to the film’s press material) is “a perilous journey through a world where magic and life collide,” with the three characters “discovering that the light’s true power lies in awakening hope in humanity.” Make of that what you will. It sounds rather biblical to me. Read more…
GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL – Dimitri Tiomkin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Producer Hal Wallis came upon a magazine article, “The Killer,” written in 1954 by George Scullin, which explored the relationship between Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, as well as the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Despite the bloodbath, Wallis decided to take a gamble and purchased the film rights for $500. He took personal charge of production and secured a $2 million budget from Paramount Studios. Leon Uris was hired to write the screenplay, and John Sturges was tasked with directing. An exceptional cast was assembled, including Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, Rhonda Fleming as Laura Denbow, Jo Van Fleet as Kate Fisher, and John Ireland as Johnny Ringo. Read more…
EXECUTIVE DECISION – Jerry Goldsmith
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Executive Decision is a rather far-fetched and very silly high-concept action thriller built around a hijacked airplane and a ticking bomb, directed by veteran film editor Stuart Baird, in what was his directorial debut. The film centers on a high-stakes crisis when a commercial airliner is hijacked by a group of terrorists demanding the release of a captured leader. What initially appears to be a political hostage situation quickly escalates when authorities discover the plane is carrying a highly dangerous weapon, putting countless lives at risk if it reaches its destination. In response, a specialized military team is assembled, led by U.S. Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Travis (Steven Seagal), which carries out a daring midair operation to secretly board the aircraft. One of the team members is intelligence analyst David Grant (Kurt Russell), who becomes an essential part of the mission despite having little field experience. Once aboard, the team must work carefully to assess the situation, deal with the unpredictable hijackers, and find a way to regain control of the plane without triggering disaster. Read more…
AETHER & IRON – Christopher Tin, Alex Williamson
GAME ZONE REVIEW
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Aether & Iron is a new narrative role-playing game (RPG) from publisher Seismic Squirrel, creative director Duane Stinnett, and narrative director Tyler Whitney. The game is set in an alternate 1930s New York reshaped by the discovery of a new element called ‘aether,’ which has allowed for the development of anti-gravity technology and has transformed the Big Apple into a towering vertical city. The story follows a character named Gia, a smuggler who moves in a world of crime syndicates and dirty political intrigue; player choices directly influence not just her story, but the broader fate of the city as a whole. The game is reportedly visually spectacular, stylish, and striking, with New York-coded steampunk elements that give the whole thing a rich, appealing palette. Read more…
BOY ON A DOLPHIN – Hugo Friedhofer
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
20th Century Fox executives made the decision to bring writer David Divine’s 1955 novel Boy on a Dolphin to the big screen, purchasing the film rights prior to publication. Sam Engel was assigned as producer with a $2.8 million budget, Ivan Moffat and Dwight Taylor were hired to write the screenplay, and Jean Negulesco was tasked with directing. Casting proved problematic, with Cary Grant dropping out at the last minute to comfort his ailing wife; Robert Mitchum then declined, and Alan Ladd was ultimately cast as Dr. James Calder. His co-star, Sophia Loren, who played Phaedra, was two inches taller than the diminutive Ladd and was forced to walk in a trench or have Ladd stand on a box to ensure she did not dwarf him. Joining them were Clifton Webb as Victor Parmelee, Jorge Mistral as Rhif, Laurence Naismith as Dr. Hawkins, and Piero Giagnoni as Nikko. Read more…
MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND – Hans Zimmer, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Several years before he and Klaus Badelt effectively redefined the musical sound of the Hollywood swashbuckler with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Hans Zimmer dipped his toes into the genre with a very different kind of pirate movie: Muppet Treasure Island, directed by Brian Henson. It is very loosely based on the famous 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and follows the adventures of young Jim Hawkins, who discovers a mysterious map that leads to a legendary pirate treasure. He joins a sea voyage to search for it, traveling with a crew that includes the charming but mutinous Long John Silver and the more forthright Captain Smollett. As the journey unfolds, Jim realizes not everyone can be trusted, and danger grows as secrets and rival loyalties emerge on the island. The twist, of course, is that the majority of the cast is comprised of members of the Muppets, notably Kermit the Frog as Captain Smollett and Miss Piggy as a gender-swapped Benjamina Gunn, the queen of a native tribe of pigs. The human cast stars young Kevin Bishop as Jim and Tim Curry as Silver, plus Billy Connolly and Jennifer Saunders in supporting roles. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2026, Part 1
I’m pleased to present the latest installment in my ongoing series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the first of 2026, explores five outstanding scores from the first month or so of the year, including a historical fantasy action epic from Finland, a Japanese anime TV series about two young people falling in love in turn-of-the-century London, an Italian TV drama mini-series about a heroic doctor standing up to the Nazis in World War II, a Chinese family comedy-drama film about the friendship between a young man and an old man with Alzheimer’s disease, and a German fantasy action film sequel about a teenage boy with the power to shapeshift. Read more…
BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL – Hugo Friedhofer
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
20th Century Fox studio executives made the decision to bring Francis Gwaltney’s popular WWII novel The Day the Century Ended (1955) to the big screen re-titled Between Heaven and Hell. They hired playwright Rod Serling, who served as a paratrooper in the Philippines during the war, to write the screenplay, several years before he would create pop culture history with his groundbreaking TV series The Twilight Zone. His voluminous script, which would have resulted in a nine-hour film, was rejected. Additional writers were brought in, with Harry Brown eventually crafting the final version. David Weisbart was assigned as producer with a $1.52 million budget, and Richard Fleischer was tasked with directing. The cast would include Robert Wagner as Private Sam Gifford, Terry Moore as Jenny Gifford, Broderick Crawford as Captain “Waco” Grimes, and Buddy Ebsen as Corporal Willie Crawford. Read more…
FARGO – Carter Burwell
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Fargo is a groundbreaking crime drama written, directed, produced, and edited by filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. It is a masterpiece of 1990s cinema, a brilliant film that merges noir-style crime storytelling with pitch-black humor. The central figure in the story is Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a financially desperate car salesman in Minneapolis who is deeply in debt and eager to get his hands on money without alerting his wealthy father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell). In a reckless scheme, Jerry hires two criminals – Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), a talkative con man, and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), a silent and intimidating enforcer – to kidnap his wife, Jean. Jerry’s plan is to have Wade pay a large ransom, from which he intends to secretly skim a portion. The kidnapping initially goes according to plan, but things unravel almost immediately when Gaear kills a highway patrol trooper, as well as two witnesses who happen upon the scene. Enter Marge Gundersen (Frances McDormand), the pregnant police chief of Brainerd, Minnesota. With her calm demeanor, sharp intuition, and methodical approach, Marge begins investigating the roadside murders. She quickly notices inconsistencies and starts connecting the crime to a suspicious vehicle and, eventually, to Jerry’s dealership – at which point he begins to panic and desperately tries to cover his tracks. Read more…
THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN – James Bernard
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1956, having enjoyed success with their sci-fi film The Quatermass Xperiment the previous year, esteemed British film studio Hammer Film Productions decided to embark on an audacious new enterprise: resurrecting the horror film genre, which had suffered a decline after WWII. For their inaugural film, they decided to retell the story of Frankenstein. The threat of a lawsuit from Universal Pictures forced the studio to abandon using Boris Karloff as the Monster, shoot in black and white, change the film’s title, and rewrite the planned screenplay. Anthony Hinds was assigned as producer with a modest $270,000 budget, Jimmy Sangster was hired to write the screenplay, and Terence Fisher was given the reins to direct. The cast included Peter Cushing as Baron Victor von Frankenstein, joined by Christopher Lee as the Monster, Robert Urquhart as Paul Krempe, Hazel Court as Elizabeth, Valerie Gaunt as Justine, Noel Hood as Aunt Sophie, and Paul Hardtmuth as Professor Bernstein. Read more…
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