Archive
SERGEANT YORK – Max Steiner
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Alvin C. York was an iconic American WWI Medal of Honor hero celebrated in the 1928 biography “Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary” by Tom Skeyhill and York himself. Producer Jesse L. Lasky approached York several times to allow a movie to be made of his life, but was repeatedly refused, declaring; “this uniform ain’t for sale.” Lasky eventually convinced York that, with war threatening in Europe, it was his patriotic duty to allow the film to proceed. York finally agreed, but only on three conditions. First, his share of the profits would be contributed to a Bible school he wanted to be built. Second, no cigarette-smoking actress could be chosen to play his wife. Third, only Gary Cooper could recreate his life on screen. Cooper at first turned down the role, but when Lasky sent him a letter with a personal plea that included York’s forged signature, Cooper agreed to do the picture. Lasky, Howard Hawks and Hal B. Wallis were placed in charge of production with a $1.7 million budget, Hawks would also direct, and the team of Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston and Howard Koch would adapt York’s biography. Gary Cooper would play the titular role supported by Walter Brennan as Pastor Rosier Pile, and Joan Leslie as Gracie Williams. 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…
THE ROSE TATTOO – Alex North
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Renowned director Hal Wallis saw opportunity with the Broadway production of “The Rose Tattoo” by Tennessee Williams, which opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York on February 3, 1951, ran for 306 performances, and won four Tony Awards. He stated in his memoirs that he saw its premiere and “knew at once that I had to buy it. It was sure to be a great success. Audiences would identify with its earthiness, its sexuality, its deeply felt emotions and naturalistic dialogue.” He purchased the film rights, and sold his vision to Paramount Pictures, who placed him in charge of production. Daniel Mann was hired to direct, and author Tennessee Williams would write the screenplay. For the cast, Williams was insistent on Italian actress Anna Magnani playing Serafina Delle Rose, and this would be her first English speaking role. Joining her would be Burt Lancaster as Alvaro Mangiacavallo, Marissa Pava as Rosa Delle Rose, and Ben Cooper as Jack Hunter. Read more…
EMILIA PÉREZ – Clément Ducol, Camille Dalmais
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most acclaimed films of 2024, and the recipient of 13 Oscar nominations, is Emilia Pérez. Directed by the French auteur Jacques Audiard and filmed almost entirely in Spanish, it is a genre-bending mix of ideas: it explores themes involving Mexican drug cartels, political corruption, and transgender issues; it is about redemption and forgiveness; tonally, it veers from heavy drama to absurd comedy, and even includes some action sequences; and, most importantly from the point of view of this review, it is also a fully sung musical containing almost twenty originals songs, each performed by different members of the cast. Read more…
OKLAHOMA! – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Adolph Deutsch, Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1943 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Oklahoma!” opened on Broadway and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances. Studios began a bidding war to acquire the film rights in hope of capitalizing on the play’s phenomenal success. Eventually Magna Theatre Corporation prevailed, purchasing the rights for an astounding $1 million. It would take eleven years to get the project off the ground as the company insisted on using a new widescreen filming process called “Todd-AO”. Arthur Hornblow Jr. was assigned production with a $6.8 million budget, Sonya Levien and William Ludwig were hired to write the screenplay, Agnes de Mille would stage the choreography, and Fred Zinneman would direct his first, and only musical of his career. A fine cast was assembled, which included Gordon MacRae as Curly McLain, Shirley Jones as Laurey Williams, Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie Carnes, Charlotte Greenwood as Aunt Eller, Rod Steiger as Jud Fry, Gene Nelson as Will Parker, and Eddie Albert as Ali Hakim. Read more…
THE BRUTALIST – Daniel Blumberg
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There’s a famous quote – which no-one seems to want to take credit for – which states that ‘writing about music is like dancing about architecture’. It basically means that it’s impossible, and probably futile, to try to encapsulate in words what is, at its core, an entirely subjective response to art. As I have spent almost 30 years writing about music I disagree with this sentiment, and that is even more true when it comes to this review of The Brutalist, in which I will attempt to write about the music for a film which is in part about architecture, among many other things. Read more…
LITTLE WOMEN – Thomas Newman
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
As a classic of American literature, there have been multiple big screen adaptations of the 1868 novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott over the years. The story follows the March sisters – headstrong and mercurial Jo, willful and artistic Amy, maternal and meek Meg, creative but sickly Beth – as they come of age in post-civil war Massachusetts. The narrative deals with numerous issues of the day, including the effects of ‘genteel poverty,’ the fallout of the war, sibling rivalries, the entrenched class system, and of course romance and love, the latter of which usually revolves around Laurie, the handsome grandson of the March’s wealthy neighbor. My favorite movie adaptation is the version from 1949 directed by Mervyn LeRoy starring June Allyson and Elizabeth Taylor, but this version from 1994 runs it a close second; it was directed by Gillian Armstrong from a screenplay by Robin Swicord, and stars Winona Ryder, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, and Claire Danes as the sisters, with Gabriel Byrne, Eric Stoltz, and a young Christian Bale as their various suitors, and Susan Sarandon as their beloved Marmee. Read more…
WICKED, PART ONE – John Powell, Stephen Schwartz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I don’t think a stage musical had captured the attention of mainstream American society the way that Wicked did since the heyday of Andrew Lloyd Webber in the 1980s. It’s interesting how over the last thirty years or so, for the most part, Broadway and West End shows have started to slide out of popular culture and into a niche. It used to be that a new work by Rodgers and Hammerstein, or Stephen Sondheim, or indeed Lloyd Webber, would be big news. The showstopping main number would probably top the charts, and the music would quickly become part of public consciousness and the cultural lexicon. However, and with the obvious exception of Hamilton, the last time this really happened was when Wicked premiered on Broadway in 2004. It was a bonafide smash, making stars out of its two leads Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, and thrusting composer Stephen Schwartz back into the spotlight in a way he hadn’t been since his successes with Godspell and Pippin in the early 1970s. And now, twenty years after its stage premiere, Wicked has finally been turned into a movie. Read more…
THE WILD ROBOT – Kris Bowers
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Wild Robot is a new animated science fiction adventure film, based on the 2016 children’s novel of the same name by Peter Brown, and directed by Chris Sanders, one of the co-directors of How to Train Your Dragon. The story follows the life of Roz, a highly sophisticated service robot who is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and who must quickly adapt to her surroundings. Over time she builds relationships with the local wildlife, including befriending a fox named Fink, and becoming the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose named Brightbill; however, she soon finds that her new idyllic life as a ‘wild robot’ is under threat from the company that built her. The film has an enormously impressive voice cast led by Lupita Nyong’o as Roz, Pedro Pascal as Fink, and Kit Connor as Brightbill, plus Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames. The film is a beautifully drawn, artistically rendered, funny, moving exploration of numerous concepts related to environmentalism and nature, consumerism, motherhood, adaptability and building relationships, and it has been an enormous box office success, grossing more than $270 million, and sequels based on Brown’s other Roz novels are already in the works. Read more…
CONCLAVE – Volker Bertelmann
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Conclave is the latest film from German director Edward Berger, whose last film All Quiet on the Western Front won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and was nominated for Best Picture, in 2022. It is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris and stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, and Isabella Rossellini. Fiennes plays Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, an English catholic priest who is called into action by the Vatican when the Pope dies of a heart attack. Lawrence is charged with organizing and overseeing the papal conclave – a gathering of the Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world which is convened to elect the next pope – but quickly finds himself at the center of a firestorm, investigating allegations and scandals inside the church, while also navigating his own personal crisis of faith. Read more…
BATTLE CRY – Max Steiner
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The genesis of Battle Cry lay with Leon Uris, author of the 1953 novel on which the film is based. He served in World War II as a radio man in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, during the Guadalcanal and Tarawa campaigns, being evacuated with malaria. The novel was a Top Ten seller and by 1954 was already in its sixth printing. Warner Brothers saw opportunity for an epic WWII drama in cinemascope and so bought the film rights. Jack L. Warner and Raoul Walsh oversaw production, with Walsh also directing and Uris adapting his novel for the screenplay. A huge stellar cast was assembled, including Van Heflin as Major Sam “High Pockets” Huxley, Aldo Ray and Private First Class Andy Hookens, Nancy Olsen as Pat Rogers, James Whitmore as Master Technical Sergeant Mac, Tab Hunter as Private First Class Danny Forrester, Mona Freeman as Kathy, Dorothy Malone as Mrs. Elaine Yarborough, Ray Massey as Major General Snipes and Ann Frances as Rae. Read more…
THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS – Irving Berlin, Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
20th Century Fox wanted to showcase their bombshell star Marilyn Monroe in a musical. She was under suspension for violating her contract when she refused to star in the musical “The Girl In Pink Tights”. When they offered her the starring role again for There’s No Business Like Show Business she initially refused again, but eventually relented when she was promised a starring role in “The Seven Year Itch”, and her weekly salary raised to $3,000 a week. Sol Siegel was assigned production with a $4.3 million budget, Walter Lang was tasked with directing, and writers Phoebe and Henry Ephron would adapt Lamar Trotti’s story. A cast for the ages was assembled, with Marilyn Monroe starring as Victoria Parker, joined by Ethel Merman as Molly Donohue, Donald O’Connor as Tim Donohue, Dan Dailey as Terrence Donohue, Johnny Ray as Steve Donohue, and Mitzi Gaynor as Katie Donohue. Read more…
A STAR IS BORN – Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin, Ray Heindorf
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In December of 1952 producer Sid Luft approached director George Cukor and proposed that he remake the Selznick International Film’s “A Star Is Born” (1937) with his wife, Judy Garland making a comeback to star in the lead role. Cukor agreed and the two men received the green light to proceed from Warner Brothers. Luft would produce the film, whose budget soared to $5 million due to 41 sick days and a two-week drug rehabilitation withdrawing from all the medications she had become addicted to, which extended filming to nine months. George Cukor took the reins to direct, and Moss Hart was hired to write the screenplay, which was adapted from the screenplay of the 1937 film. For the cast, Judy Garland would star as Esther Blodgett, in her first film in four years. Joining her would be James Mason as Norman Maine, Jack Carson as Matt Libby, and Charles Bickford as Oliver Niles. Read more…
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS – Gene de Paul, Johnny Mercer, Adolph Deutsch, Saul Chaplin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
MGM was seeking to produce another in its fine line of musicals and decided they had found their story; “The Sobbin’ Women” by Stephen Vincent Benet, which was itself derived from the ancient roman mythological tale “The Rape of the Sabine Women”. Jack Cummings was assigned production with a budget of $2.54 million. Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley were hired to write the screenplay, Michael Kidd was brought in as choreographer, and Stanley Donen was tasked with directing. For the cast of the seven brothers and their brides, we have; Howard Keel as Adam and Jane Powell as Milly, Jeff Richards as Benjamin and Julie Newmar as Dorcas, Matt Mattox as Caleb and Ruta Kilmonis as Ruth, Marc Platt as Daniel and Norma Doggett as Martha, Jacques d’Amboise as Ephraim and Virginia Gibson as Liza, Tommy Rall as Frank and Betty Carr as Sarah, and Russ Tamblyn as Godeon and Nancy Kilgas as Alice. Joining them would be Ian Wolfe as Reverend Elcott, Howard Petrie as Pete Perkins, Russell Simpson as Mr. Bixby and Marjorie Wood as Mrs. Bixby. Read more…
CALL ME MADAM – Irving Berlin, Alfred Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1951 20th Century Fox executives took notice of the success of the Broadway musical “Call Me Madam” which opened 12 October 1950, ran for 644 performances, and grossed in excess of $4 million. The film rights were purchased, Sol Siegel was assigned production with a $2.46 million budget, Walter Lang was tasked with directing, and Arthur Sheekman was hired to adapt the original story by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. For the cast, Ethel Merman, who was intent on securing a dramatic role to expand her career, was coaxed into taking on the musical comedy, starring in the lead role as Sally Adams. Joining her would be Dennis O’Connor as Kenneth Gibson, Vera-Ellen as Princess Maria and George Sanders as General Cosmo Constantine. Read more…
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