Music from the Films Programme May 2019
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MUSIC FROM THE FILMS MAY 19th 2019 Programme Sound and Vision - ATV March (1955) Eric Coates (1886-1957) The march was used as a daily start-up music of Associated TeleVision in London Weekend programmes from 1955-68 and in the Midlands from 1956-71. It is also one of the last orchestral compositions of Eric Coates. Reach for the Sky (1956) John Addison (1920-1998) A British biographical film based on a 1954 biography by Paul Brickhill of Douglas Bader, an RAF pilot during WWII, staring Kenneth More and Muriel Pavlov. The composer was brother-in-law to Bader. The Carousel Waltz (1945) Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) Carousel was the second musical in the Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration in 1945, and is an adaptation of Molnar’s 1909 play, ‘Liliom’, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline in US. It opened on Broadway in 1945 and was filmed in 1956. This is the very much loved waltz from the musical. Jealous Lover (1949) Charles Williams (1893-1978) Written for and used in the Billy Wilder film ‘The Apartment’ in 1960. Arthur Dulay was the pianist and starred Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacClain and Fred MacMurray etc. An insurance broker lends his Upper West Side apartment to a company boss to use for extramarital affairs, when it transpires one of the lovers of the boss is none other than the elevator girl he himself was interested in! Piano soloist - Lydia Melleck Monty’s Double - March (1958) John Addison (1920-1998) Directed by John Guillermin and starred John Mills, Cecil Parker, Michael Horden, Marius Goring, Leslie Phillips and Sid James. As D Day approaches during WWII, British officers plot to give the Germans misinformation about military strategy, when Harry spots an actor playing himself in the true story. Elvira Madigan (1967) Piano Concerto No.21 K 467 (Andante) W.A.Mozart (1756-1791) Directed by Bo Widerberg. A Swedish film based on the tragedy of a Danish tightrope dancer. Starring Pia Degermark and Thommy Berggren. Geza Anda was the piano soloist in the film score as it used this beautiful piano concerto movement. Piano soloist - Lydia Melleck I Whistle a Happy Tune and Shall we Dance from the ‘King and I’ (1951) Rodgers and Hammerstein The King and I was the fifth musical in the Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration and is based on Margaret Landon’s novel - Anna and the King of Siam. The Broadway show opened in 1951, and after great success, was made into a film in 1956 starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. Vocalist - Val Baulard Oh! Mr. Finkelheimer - Characteristic Dance Howard Talbot (1865-1928) This music comes from a booklet entitiled ‘Cinema Gems’ , dated 1912, which was used in the Pavilion and Picture House silent cinemas in Morley, Leeds and comes from the collection owned and used by Ted Barham and his Orchestra. The Pavilion orchestra was also the place where the famous violinist, young Tom Jenkins began his early career. The music was used as an interlude between acts or before and after the film show. The composer was famous for writing many musicals, including ‘The Arcadians’. Warsaw Concerto theme (1942) Richard Addinsell (1904-1979) Written for the film ‘Dangerous Moonlight’, which is about the Polish struggle against the 1939 Nazi invasion and represents this struggle and the romance of the leading characters, played by Anton Walbrook and Sally Gray. The music is very much styled on Rachmaninov’s piano concertos. Piano soloist - Lydia Melleck Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938) Frank Churchill (1901-1942) Based on one of the Grimm brothers fairy tales, this was Disney’s first animated feature film in Technicolour and starred Adriana Casselotti, Harry Stockwell and Lucille la Verne. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines! (1965) Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) Arr. Gavin Sutherland Starring Robert Morley, Terry Thomas, Stuart Whitman, James Fox and Sarah Miles and directed by Ken Annakin. In 1910, newspaper mogul, Lord Rawnsley, decides to offer a large cash sum to the first pilot to successfully fly over the English Channel. Aviation experts from near and far enter the race. Waltz: The Orient Express (1974) Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012) Arr. George Pollen Directed by Sidney Lumet, and starred Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave and Lauren Bacall. Having concluded a case, Hercule Poirot settled into what he expects will be a relaxing journey home aboard the Orient Express, but when a unpopular billionaire is murdered en-route, Poirot takes over the case. The Legend of the Glass Mountain (1949) Nino Rota (1911-1979) A romantic film based on folklore and concerned a mountain made of glass and a man’s attempt to climb it to win the love of a princess. Filmed in the Dolomites and Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and starred Michael Dennison, Dulce Gray and Valentino Cortese, with Tito Gobbi and the Venice Opera House orchestra. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1936) Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) This score is a ballet with music by Richard Rodgers. It occurred near the end of Rodgers and Hart’s 1936 Broadway musical comedy ’On Your Toes’. Danced by Ray Bolger and Tamara Gera in the stage production and Eddie Albert and Vera Zorina in the film version. Piano soloist - Lydia Melleck Kehaar’s Theme from Watership Down Angela Morley (1924-2009) Angel Morley’s piece Kehaar’s Theme is from the music she composed for the film ‘Watership Down’. She writes, ‘In the film, Kehaar is a seagull. The actor Zero Mostel, who provided Kehaar’s voice, played him with a pronounced German accent. Consequently, I decided to write Kehaar’s music in the form of one of those saxophone waltzes fashionable in the 1920’s in France and Germany. Thus it would be ‘flying’ music with a continental accent’ Alto saxophone soloist - John Woodhouse ‘Whatever will be, will be’ Jay Livingston & Ray Evans This is a song introduced into the Alfred Hitchcock’s film -‘The Man who knew too Much’ (1955), starring Doris Day and James Stewart. The Good Companions (1933 and later 1957) Rossi, Roberts and Parsons Directed by Victor Saville, Good Companions, is a British comedy film starring Jessie Matthews and John Guilgud, and is based on J.B.Priestley’s novel. The later film version is directed by J. Lee Thompson and starred Eric Portman, Joyce Grenfell, Janette Scott, Celia Johnson and Hugh Griffin, and George Ponsford composed the music. Vocalist - Val Baulard Theme from the Swedish Rhapsody (1957) Charles Wildman (1893-1978) The theme was used for the film, ‘Gypsy Fury’, and tells of a nobleman who forsakes his royal life to marry a beautiful gypsy girl played by Viveca Lindfors. Piano soloist - Lydia Melleck Kiss me Kate - Selection (1948) Cole Porter (1991-1964) Arr. Cole Porter (1951) Starring Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and Ann Miller, the 1953 film is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, Taming of the Shrew. It was a Broadway musical the same year as the film was made in Polarised 3D, and sited as one of the best examples. There are many memorable Cole Porter songs included. .