Archive
WHITE WITCH DOCTOR – Bernard Herrmann
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
20th Century Fox executive Darryl F. Zanuck was fond of adapting novels for the big screen and when he came across the 1950 work White Witch Doctor by Louise A Stinetorf he purchased the film rights and assigned Otto Land to production with a $2.02 million budget. Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts were hired to adapt the novel, but Zanuck instructed them to deviate from a literal retelling of the novel, insisting that they infuse the tale with romance, sex, physical excitement, and physical violence set against beautiful African vistas. Roy Ward Baker was tasked with directing, but was replaced by Henry Hathaway when he fell ill in Africa. A fine cast was assembled, including Robert Mitchum as Lonni Douglas, Susan Hayward as Ellen Burton, Walter Slezak as Huysman, Timothy Carey as Jarrett and Mashood Olabisi as Jacques. Read more…
HOCUS POCUS – John Debney
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most enduringly popular films from 1993 is Hocus Pocus, a children’s fantasy comedy with a spooky edge. Directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert and a story by David Kirschner, the film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as Winifred, Sarah, and Mary, the Sanderson sisters of Salem, Massachusetts, who were executed 300 years previously for practicing dark magic and witchcraft. In modern day Salem Max, a teenager new to town, inadvertently brings the sisters back to life on Halloween Night when he lights a black-flame candle in the witches’ former house while out trick-or-treating. Now, with the help of his younger sister, his girlfriend, and a talking cat named Binx, Max must stop the witches from stealing the life force of the town’s children, and achieving immortality. The film co-starred Omri Katz, Thora Birch, and Vinessa Shaw and, despite it not being especially successful at the time, has since become a popular kid’s Halloween cult classic. Read more…
OPPENHEIMER – Ludwig Göransson
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.
In lesser hands, a movie about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer could have been a dusty, staid affair. Oppenheimer, for those who don’t know, was a theoretical physicist who, in 1942, was recruited by the US government to lead the Manhattan Project, a top-secret military program created with one goal: to design and build a nuclear weapon before Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did the same, so that they could bring about the end of World War II. Oppenheimer and his colleagues successfully built several bombs over the course of many years, culminating in the detonation of two such devices over the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. However, despite his ‘success’ and initial celebrity, Oppenheimer was haunted by the ethical questions that surrounded his creation, and suffered a great deal of personal and political turmoil in the years that followed. This latter issue was compounded by the fact that, early in his life, Oppenheimer had pro-communist opinions, and was friendly with many members of the US Communist Party – something that certainly wouldn’t fly with the House Un-American Activities Committee and the McCarthy-era politics of the 1950s. Read more…
YOUNG BESS – Miklós Rózsa
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1945 MGM Studios took notice of the best-selling 1944 novel Young Bess by Margaret Irwin and believed they could present a grand adaptation for the big screen. The film rights were purchased and Sidney Franklin was assigned production with a budget of $2.423 million. In 1946 Katherine Anne Porter, Jan Lustig and later Arthur Wimperis were hired to write the screenplay, and George Sidney was tasked with directing. Casting problems and production postponements delayed filming until October 1952. After considering Deborah Kerr, Janet Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor for the lead role, Jean Simmons was chosen to play Elizabeth. Joining her would be; Stewart Granger as Thomas Seymour, Deborah Kerr as Catherine Parr, and Charles Laughton as King Henry VIII. Read more…
Mark Thomas, 1956-2023
Composer Mark Thomas died on July 19, 2013, at his home in Wales, after a long illness. He was 67.
Thomas was born in Penclawdd, near Swansea, Wales, in April 1956. He attended Gowerton Grammar School, and studied music composition and orchestration at university, before starting his musical career as a professional violinist, working mostly as a session musician in London. He played on countless film soundtracks in the late 1970s and 1980s, working with composers including John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and John Barry, and was one of the violinists in the orchestra pit on the opening night of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary musical The Phantom of the Opera in 1986.
Thomas began writing his own music for film in the early 1990s and quickly established himself as one of the most in-demand composers in the British film and television industry; Thomas took extra pride in writing music for Welsh cinema and television, and intentionally sought out Welsh-language projects. His most profile work included films such as Daisies in December (2005), Twin Town (1997), The Big Tease (1999), Dog Soldiers (2002), Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004), Shadows in the Sun (2005), and The Magic Roundabout (2005), while his TV work included writing for acclaimed mini-series such as Aristocrats (1999), and episodes of Shaun the Sheep, Doc Martin, Benidorm, and Dalziel and Pascoe. He was nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for his main title music for the TV series Episodes, and won a BAFTA Cymru Award in 1998 for his score for Twin Town.
Thomas leaves behind his wife, Luz Marie, and children Imogen, Rosana and Tristam.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE – Lorne Balfe
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There aren’t many bonafide movie stars these days; actors or actresses who can will a film into production, attract top notch support, and get audiences flowing into cinemas, purely on the strength of their charisma and appeal. Tom Cruise is one of the few who can still do that in Hollywood, and his latest film – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One – is an action blockbuster tailored to his unique blend of movie-making. Cruise returns for the seventh time as IMF Special Agent Ethan Hunt, the all-action leader of a team of spies saving the world from clandestine threats and evil super-villains. In this latest film, the threat is a piece of rogue artificial intelligence nicknamed ‘The Entity,’ which was designed to sabotage digital systems, but has since achieved sentience and ‘gone rogue’ with the capability to infiltrate all of the world’s major defense, military, and intelligence networks. Control of the Entity is obtained by way of a specific type of key, which various powers attempt to obtain, while Hunt and his team try to stop the key from falling into the wrong hands – one of whom is a shadowy figure from Hunt’s own past. Read more…
THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL – David Raksin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
MGM executives came across a magazine story “Of Good and Evil” by author George Bradshaw, which was expanded into a full story titled “Memorial to a Bad Man”. They believed this riveting character driven drama offered a potent narrative that would be perfect for the big screen. The studio purchased the film rights and assigned renown producer John Housman with production and a budget of $1.56 million. Charles Schnee was hired to write the screenplay and Vincente Minnelli was tasked with directing. A very talented cast was assembled, which included; Kirk Douglas as Jonathan Shields, Dick Powell as James Lee Bartlow, Walter Pidgeon as Harry Pebbel, Barry Sullivan as Fred Amiel, Lana Turner as Georgia Lorrison, Gloria Grahame as Rosemary Bartlow and Gilbert Roland as Victor “Gaucho” Ribera. Read more…
FREE WILLY – Basil Poledouris
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When the movie Free Willy played in cinemas in the UK in the summer of 1993 the title elicited a great deal of snickering from the more childishly-minded among us, but in the end it turned out to be a very heartwarming film about the relationship between a troubled young boy and an orca killer whale. The film is directed by Simon Wincer and stars Jason James Richter as Jesse, a troubled orphan, who is assigned to do community service at a marine theme park after committing a minor crime. At the park he forms a deep connection with Willy, an intelligent and sensitive orca who has just been captured in the wild by unscrupulous whalers, and is now being held in captivity. As Jesse spends more time with Willy, he observes the orca’s miserable living conditions and the park’s exploitative practices, and with the help of his friends and a sympathetic park trainer named Rae (Lori Petty), devises a plan to release Willy back into the ocean. The film ended up being a popular success at the box office, and eventually spawned two sequels in 1995 and 1997. Read more…
THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD – Dimitri Tiomkin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Producers Edward Lasker and Howard Hawks believed that the science fiction-horror novella “Who Goes There?” (1938) by John W. Campbell could be successfully adapted to the big screen. They hoped to tap into the public’s angst with how scientists had unleashed the atomic age and fundamentally changed the world. They purchased the film rights, and Hawks’ Winchester Pictures Production company would fund the project with RKO Pictures agreeing to distribute. Charles Lederer, Hawks and Ben Hecht collaborated in writing the screenplay, and Christian Nyby was tasked with directing. The cast did not feature any box office stars, and was comprised of Margaret Sheridan as Nikki Nicholson, Kenneth Tobey as Captain Patrick Hendry, Robert Cornthwaite as Dr. Arthur Carrington, and James Arness as the alien. Read more…
THE FIRM – Dave Grusin
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Firm was the first film adapted from the works of the massively successful novelist John Grisham, and is a crackerjack legal/political thriller. The film is directed by Sydney Pollack and stars Tom Cruise as a young and talented lawyer named Mitch McDeere, who joins a prestigious firm in Memphis called Bendini Lambert & Locke. Initially thrilled by the firm’s high salary and luxurious lifestyle, Mitch soon discovers that the firm is involved in criminal activities, and as he delves deeper into the firm’s workings, he uncovers a web of corruption, money laundering, and ties to organized crime; worse still, Mitch realizes that the firm’s previous associates who discovered the truth met with mysterious deaths. Faced with the dilemma of exposing the firm and risking his own life, or remaining silent and continuing to benefit from their illicit activities, Mitch decides to gather evidence against the firm for the FBI. As he investigates, he becomes entangled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the firm’s operatives, who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets. The film has a superb supporting cast, including Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn, Wilford Brimley, and Gary Busey, and was a strong critical and commercial success, grossing more than $270 million at the US box office, and receiving two Oscar nominations: one for Holly Hunter as Best Supporting Actress, and one for Dave Grusin’s score. Read more…
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY – John Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT.
When you look back at the film series that John Williams has been involved with over the course of his astonishing career, his musical legacy starts to come into sharp relief. Nine Star Wars movies. Two Jaws movies, with his themes used in multiple further sequels scored by other composers. The original Superman, plus themes in sequels. Two Home Alone movies, plus themes in sequels. Two Jurassic Park movies, plus themes in sequels. Three Harry Potter movies, plus themes in sequels. However, other than the three Star Wars ‘main trilogies,’ the only film series that John Williams has scored in its entirety is the Indiana Jones series, which began with Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, and continued through Temple of Doom in 1984, Last Crusade in 1989, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008. His iconic Raiders March has underscored the escapades of the titular archaeologist and adventurer for more than 40 years, and has seen him clashing with death-worshipping cults, psychic communists, and far too many Nazis. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the fifth film in the series and – if reports are to believed – will be the final cinematic adventure for the character. Read more…
MADAME BOVARY – Miklós Rózsa
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
MGM Studios had a history of successfully adapting popular works of literature for the big screen. In that tradition, the 1857 French novel “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert was universally recognized as a classic of literature, which MGM believed merited a film presentation. The film rights were purchased, Pandro S. Berman was assigned production with a $2.076 million budget, Robert Ardey was hired to write the screenplay with instructions to maintain fidelity to the novel, and Vincente Minnelli was tasked with directing. A stellar cast was hired, including Jennifer Jones as Emma Bovary, Van Heflin as Charles Bovary, Louis Jourdan as Rodolphe Boulanger, and James Mason as Gustave Flaubert. Read more…
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