Under-the-Radar Round Up 2025, Part 1
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the latest installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the first of 2025, covers seven scores released in the first quarter of the year from a wide array of genres and countries, including tender romance score from Japan, a fantastic historical animated action-adventure TV score from France, a jazzy Swiss period drama, a Japanese animated short film, a Norwegian nature documentary TV series, a French period TV series, and a French action-adventure score with a gender-swapped twist! Read more…
THE SWAN – Bronislau Kaper
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In May of 1955 Don Schary, MGM’s Executive for Film Production, was seeking a film to showcase the studio’s marquee star, Grace Kelly. He believed he found the story and so bought the film rights to a Hungarian play entitled “A Hattyú, Vígjáték Három Felvonásban” (The Swan, A Comedy in Three Acts) written in 1914 by Ferenc Molnár. Schary took personal charge of production, allocating a budget of $3.094 million. John Dighton was hired to write the screenplay and Charles Vidor was tasked with directing. Joining Grace Kelly in the starring role of Princess Alexandra would be Alec Guiness as Crown Prince Albert, Louis Jourdan as Dr. Nicholas Agi, Jessie Royce Landis as Princess Beatrix, Brian Aheme as Father Carl Hyacinth, and Agnes Moorehead as Queen Maria Dominika. Read more…
THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN – Stephen Endelman
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There’s trouble brewing down in the Welsh valleys. It’s 1917, in the waning years of World War I, and there’s an Englishman who works for the ordnance survey in the village of Ffynnon Garw. He’s measuring the local mountain, Ffynnon Garw itself, but he’s come down from the mountain saying that it’s ten feet short of actually being classified as a mountain, and is now officially a hill. The villagers don’t like this one little bit, so they try to concoct lots of unusual reasons for the Englishman to stay in Ffynnon Garw while they physically make their hill ten feet higher, so that it’s a mountain again. And that’s why this smashing little film has one of the longest titles in living memory: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. Read more…
SINNERS – Ludwig Göransson
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There’s a moment in Sinners, director Ryan Coogler’s outstanding new horror-drama, where the lead characters in the ‘juke joint’ are listening to live blues music, rich and authentic. As the crowd becomes entranced by the performances, overcome by the songs, something magical happens: slowly, almost imperceptibly, avatars representing the entire history of black American music emerge from within the massed dancers, ghosts of the past and foreshadowings of the future of what this music would eventually become over the span of multiple subsequent generations. There are tribal drummers and Zaouli dancers from Côte d’Ivoire, who brought their music and their traditions with them when they were forcibly removed from Africa as slaves, and which eventually became the work songs and ‘Negro spirituals’ of the plantations and the cotton fields. There is 1940s jazz, and 1950s rock and roll. There are 1980s breakdancers, 1990s DJs and rappers, and references to contemporary hip-hop and R&B. It’s a brilliant distillation of one of the major things that Coogler is trying to say with his film – that African music and Black music is at the core of so much of modern American culture, and that that history remains very much overlooked and under-appreciated by too much of the mainstream. Read more…
TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN – Miklós Rózsa
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
MGM Studios has suffered a string of loses and sought to recoup them with a film in a popular, money-making genre – Westerns. They came across the short story “Hangings for the Lucky” by Jack Schaefer, and purchased the film rights, which ultimately became this film: Tribute to a Bad Man. Sam Zimbalist was assigned production with a $2.8 million budget. Schaefer and Michael Blankfort would write the screenplay, and Robert Wise was tasked with directing. Casting was not smooth sailing as the star Spencer Tracy was fired by Wise for disrupting filming and Grace Kelly left her career to marry Prince Ranier III of Monaco. James Cagney was brought in for the starring role of Jeremy Rodock, and joining him would be Don Dubbins as Steve Millar, Stephen McNally as McNulty, and Irene Papas as Jocasta Constantine. Read more…
ROB ROY – Carter Burwell
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of two ‘historical Scottish epics’ released in 1995 – the other, of course, being Braveheart – Rob Roy is a historical drama set in the early 18th-century Scottish Highlands. The film follows Rob Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson), a clan leader who strives to maintain honor and dignity while navigating the brutal social and political landscape dominated by aristocratic landowners and English influence. Rob borrows money from the Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) to improve his clan’s welfare but is betrayed when the money is stolen by the cunning and sadistic Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth), an associate of Montrose. Rob refuses to falsely implicate himself in a political scheme in order to regain the funds, choosing instead to uphold his principles. This decision makes him an outlaw and sets him on a dangerous path of vengeance, survival, and moral conflict. The film was directed by Michael Caton-Jones, and co-stars Jessica Lange as Rob’s devoted wife Mary, plus Eric Stoltz and Brian Cox in other supporting roles. Read more…
THE KING OF KINGS – Tae-Seong Kim
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
For many years during Hollywood’s golden age one of the studio staples was the ‘biblical picture,’ big-budget star-studded epics adapting stories from the Christian bible. Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Robe, Quo Vadis, and so on and on; films like these won Oscars, broke box office records, and are today remembered as some of the best and most important films in history. However, over the last couple of decades, the popularity of these biblical epics has decreased significantly, and now very few of them are made. The last one to achieve any sort of commercial success was Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in 2004, and efforts to revitalize the genre have mostly failed – Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, and Ridley Scott’s Exodus among them. Read more…
DIANE – Miklós Rózsa
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Samuel Goldwyn of MGM was given a fifty-page manuscript titled “Diane de Poitiers” by John Erskine, which producer Edwin H. Knopft purchased in 1939. The project was given the green light to proceed, however financing delayed production until 1953 when Knopft renewed his effort and received the blessing of studio executive Don Schary to proceed. A $3.892 million budget was provided. Christopher Isherwood was hired to adapt Erskine’s story, and David Miller was tasked with directing. An impressive cast was assembled, which included Lana Turner as Dian de Poitiers, Pedro Armendáriz as King Francis I, Roger Moore as Prince Henri/King Henri II, Marisa Pavan as Catherine dé Medici, Sir Cedric Hardwick as Ruggieri, Torin Hatcher as Count de Brézé, Taina Elg as Alys, John Lupton as Regnault, and Henry Danelli as Gondi. Read more…
THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR – Hugo Friedhofer
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In the early 1950s, 20th Century Fox Studio executives committed to remaking several of their popular black and white films of the 1930s in DeLuxe Color Cinemascope. It was decided that the 1939 film “The Rains Came” would be refashioned as “The Rains of Ranchipur”. It would again be based on the 1937 novel “The Rains Came” by Louis Bromfield, with Merle Miller adapting the screenplay. Frank Ross was placed in charge of production, provided a budget of $2.9 million, and Jean Negulesco was tasked with directing. A stellar cast was assembled, including; Lana Turner as Lady Edwina Esketh, Richard Burton as Dr. Rama Safti, Fred McMurray as Tom Ransome, Michael Rennie as Lord Esketh, Joan Caufield as Fern Simon, and Eugenie Leontovich as Maharani. Read more…
UNE FEMME FRANÇAISE – Patrick Doyle
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Une Femme Française is a French romantic drama film co-written and directed by Régis Wargnier, starring Emmanuelle Béart and Daniel Auteuil. The story follows Jeanne (Béart), a passionate and free-spirited woman, who marries Louis (Auteuil), a devoted but rigid French army officer, in the early 1940s. Soon after their marriage, Louis is sent off to fight in World War II, leaving Jeanne alone for several years; she struggles with loneliness and eventually engages in various torrid romantic and sexual affairs, seeking love and companionship in his absence. When Louis finally returns, he discovers Jeanne’s infidelities but remains deeply in love with her, and they attempt to rebuild their marriage, but the emotional wounds and social constraints of the time make it difficult. Over the course of several decades their relationship is tested by Louis’ military deployments, societal expectations, and Jeanne’s unrelenting desire for independence and passion – including an extensive affair a wealthy industrialist in post-war Berlin – all of which combined to offer a deeply emotional portrayal of a woman torn between personal fulfillment and societal norms. Read more…
SNOW WHITE – Jeff Morrow, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In 1937 producer Walt Disney and his team of artists made history when they released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first ever feature-length animated motion picture. It was based on the famous fairy tale ‘Schneewittchen’ by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and tells the story of a kind and beautiful princess who is abused by her wicked stepmother, the Queen. When the Queen’s magic mirror announces that Snow White, and not the Queen, is the ‘fairest of them all,’ the jealous and vengeful Queen banishes Snow White to the forest to be killed by a huntsman; however, the huntsman takes pity on Snow White and secretly releases her, and she eventually begins a new life with seven dwarf miners who live nearby. However, when the Queen learns that Snow White is still alive, she hatches a plan: to poison Snow White with an enchanted apple, which will place her in a death-like sleep, from which she can be awakened only by true love’s kiss. Read more…
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN – Frank Skinner
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Studio executives at Universal conceived of an audacious new film featuring their star comedians Abbott and Costello, which would bring them into contact with Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy and the Invisible Man. Lou Costello was singularly unimpressed with the script, but relented when he was offered $50,000 and informed that his friend Charles Barton would be directing. Robert Arthur was placed in charge of production with a $759,524 budget, Charles Barton would direct, and Robert Lees, Frederic Rinaldo and John Grant were tasked with writing the screenplay. For the cast, Bud Abbott would play Chick Young and Lou Costello would play Wilbur Grey. Joining theme would be Lon Chaney as Lawrence Talbot (The Wolfman), Béla Lugosi as Dr. Lejos (Dracula), Glenn Strange as Frankenstein’s monster, and Lenore Aubert as Sandra Mornay. Read more…
THE ELECTRIC STATE – Alan Silvestri
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There are a lot of similarities between The Electric State and Ready Player One. Both are based on highly respected and popular written source material – The Electric State is adapted from a graphic novel by Simon Stålenhag, Ready Player One was adapted from a novel by Ernest Cline. Both stories feature a great deal of period pop culture nostalgia seen from a point in a dystopian future. Both movies are directed by filmmakers with tremendously successful records at the box office: Ready Player One by the legendary Steven Spielberg, The Electric State by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, whose films include MCU blockbusters Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. And both films have received scathing reviews, from critics and audiences alike; one recent review in The AV Club eviscerated The Electric State, saying that the Russos had “crafted a crass commercialist product that both misunderstands and betrays its source material.” Read more…
PICNIC – George Duning
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Columbia Pictures took notice of the enormous success of the Broadway play “Picnic” by William Inge, which opened on February 19, 1953 at the Music Box Theater, ran for 477 performances, and won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1953. The studio purchased the film rights in 1953 for $350,000, Fred Kohlmar was placed in charge of production with a budget of $3 million, Joshua Logan, the director of the Broadway stage production was tasked with directing, and Daniel Taradash joined William Inge in writing the screenplay. For the cast, the studio made the controversial decision to cast 37 year old William Holden, their marquee star, as 21 year old Hal Carter, joining him would be Kim Novak as Madge Owens, Rosalind Russel as Rosemary Sydney, Betty Field as Flo Owens, Cliff Robertson as Alan Benson, Nick Adams as Bomber, and Susan Strasberg as Millie Owens. Read more…
DON JUAN DEMARCO – Michael Kamen
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Don Juan DeMarco is a romantic drama written and directed by Jeremy Leven, based on his own short story, Don Juan DeMarco and the Centerfold. The plot follows a mysterious young man who believes he is Don Juan, the figure from Spanish literature who presents himself as the world’s greatest lover. After a dramatic suicide attempt, he is placed in a psychiatric hospital under the care of Jack Mickler, a caring doctor nearing retirement. Mickler is intrigued by the young man’s passionate and elaborate tales of romance, seduction, and adventure, and as he listens to his stories rather than dismissing them outright he is encouraged to rediscover the passion in his own life, particularly in his marriage to his wife Marilyn. As the film unfolds, it becomes ambiguous whether Don Juan is truly delusional or if there is some deeper truth to his claims; either way, his influence ultimately revitalizes not only Mickler’s marriage but also the lives of others around him, and ultimately ‘Don Juan’ is allowed to leave to continue his life as an enigmatic and romantic figure. Read more…
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