The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town University of Cape Town Faculty of Humanities 2008 Two Shadows in the Moonlight Music in British Film Melodrama of the 1940s John Morris MRRJOH014 A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Film Studies Programme Code: FAM5005Z Due date: 1 April 2008 University of Cape Town This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Two Shadows in the Moonlight Music in British Film Melodrama of the 1940s John Morris Town Cape of Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 1 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1 - Nineteenth-century Roots .................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2 - Hollywood and Twentieth-century Developments .............................. 25 CHAPTER 3 - Musical Techniques in Melodrama ...................................................... 47 CHAPTER 4 - The British Case ................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 5 - ConcertoUniversity Films of the Second World War.. ......................................... 85 CHAPTER 6 - Vaughan Williams, Joanna Godden and the Rural Idyll ................... 105 CHAPTER 7 - The Gesamtkunstwerk that is Pandora and the Flying Dutchman .... 119 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 131 References .................................................................................................................. 135 Filmography ................................................................................................................ 139 Town Cape of University ------------------------------------------ Acknowledgements Without the encouragement of a number of colleagues, friends and associates writing this thesis would have been impossible. First, to Christine Weir for setting me on the road nearly 20 years ago. David and Careen Chidester have shared this particular journey with me and I thank them for the interest and enthusiasm they have shown, and especially for their willingness to engage in the minutiae of my subject matter. Lesley Marx I thank for her input as my supervisor, for the excitement we have shared over the material, and for the discoveries we have made during the research process. But especially, thank you for the opportunity to join the Centre for Film and Media Studies for this programme. The staff of Extra Mural Studies at UCT have been hugely instrumental in this expedition and my special thanks go to Medee RaIl for her patience and constructive criticism, as well as for her encouragement.pe Town To my mother, thank you for the regular supply of relevant video-recordings from terrestrial BBC TV channels and for the joy of sharing the music and, of course, the films themselves. ty of Ca Universi Town Cape of -------------------------------------- University ............... ~ Abstract Almost from the beginning of moving pictures, music has played a more or less central role. Early film often displaced the stage melodrama from the music hall bill but retained many of its stylistic elements, notably the music used to enhance the dramatic effect or signify on-screen emotion. The history that music shares with the cinema is rooted in Victorian melodrama, where formal aspects of staging were continued in the new medium, as well as in the content of the film subject matter. The style of music employed in film, however, found its antecedents in the music dramas of Richard Wagner, which were themselves based on Greek Attic drama and which represented the 19th century orchestral tradition at its most expressive, finding in Tristan and Isolde the very apotheosis of the Romantic. Film melodrama took these ideas to their limit and during the 1930s a distinct style of film composing began to be established (especially in Hollywood with the music of Max Steiner) which exemplified these techniques, and drew on particular methods such as the leitmotiv, I itself a tool invented by Wagner. The development of film music in this tradition was largely facilitated by the influx of emigrants from Nazi Germany into the Hollywood studios whose training was rooted in the orchestral styles and the rich vein of highly romantic music of Vienna and "Mittel Europa" of the previous century. But British melodrama seems different from that of Hollywood, especially when it comes to music, in style and intensity. In this thesis I examine the differencesUniversity between music in theof two Cape cinemas. Concentrating Town on exemplary films from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, I show how the apparent differences are manifested, and by analysing a number of key British films, I illustrate the modes of musical expression used. There are many ways to approach film music. My own interest lies in the connection between music of the romantic period of the 19th century and what th became of it during the 20 . "Serious" music from Schoenberg onwards became increasingly dissonant, but the rich melodic tones of romantic music appear to have found a new home in the cinema, and in this thesis I explore how film composers kept the previous traditions alive. I Throughout this dissertation I use the German form leitmotiv (literally leading-motive), rather than leitmotif, except where I quote directly. Town Cape of University Introduction Theatre melodrama uses an exaggerated style that emphasises emotion. Films which feature serious music are often considered the direct heirs of melodrama, at least films in which music contributes significantly to the overall effect. But when music emphasises the depiction of emotion or dramatic action by other means, it becomes a key sign of film melodrama. Music is usually foregrounded in the film melodrama, though not necessarily all the time, and not always at the most significant moments. While the occasional absence of music is called for, its absence altogether would compromise the narrative. Music in melodrama is even a "character." Its style is largely drawn from Wagner and, particularly in Hollywood, it uses a stock set of devices, such as unison strings in the higher register, tremolo, and techniques such as the leitmotiv. "The combining of music with drama is a practice extending back at least to ancient Greece, but no other medium excels the expressive range of the cinema," writes Louis Giannetti, I and according to Caryl Flinn the link between film music and Wagner also goes back a long way. In her important volume Strains of Utopia, she writes "As early as 1911 the moving picture world was claiming that 'every man or woman in charge of the motion picture theatre ... is a disciple or follower of Richard Wagner' .,,2 By 1920, the use of leitmotiv had been established, and connections were also being made to Wagner's idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total art work) "which would supposedly unite all other arts (lyricUniversity poetry, drama, dance, of vocal Cape and instrumental Town music).,,3 The dominant purpose of music in opera "has always been as a medium for the representation and expression of the emotive states of mind of the dramatis personae," writes Peter Kivy, who draws the parallel with film music: "its primary purpose is always expressive: expressive of the dominant emotions of character and scene.,,4 As early as 1929 the problem of expressing romantic love in the new talkies ensured that instead of using the spoken word in place of the earlier convention of intertitles, the suggestion of the romantic note would henceforth be "conveyed by properly pitched I Giannetti, 2002: 229 2 Flinn, 1992: 14 3 Ibid. 4 Kivy, 1997: 317 ------------------------------ music,"S the romantic orchestral tradition providing the "in-built force,,6 deemed necessary. In Britain, composer and author Jan Swynnoe identifies a "golden age" of film music roughly equivalent to the "golden age" of Hollywood. 7 Many of the films of this period, of course, concerned the War, and those that did not were products of their time even if they were wildly escapist, the Gainsborough melodramas providing the obvious example. According to Jeffrey Richards, Gainsborough melodramas "were informed by the extravagant emotionalism and criminality of the Gothic novel and the florid romance, by the sensation scenes and stereotyped characters of the stage melodrama.,,8 British melodrama of the period features a peculiar quality of music which seems to have endured longer than the films themselves. Even if Brief Encounter (1945), which used pre-existent music, may be remembered for its iconic mise-en-sceneTown and dialogue, it is especially