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By
FRANK BEHRENS Now
that the Naxos label is carrying
nearly two dozen CDs dedicated to film music, my mind has wandered over
all those memorable musical sequences in movies that so affect me no
matter how many times I see them—or simply hear them on recordings. One
of the great weddings of the music on the soundtrack and the dramatic
event on the screen comes at about the middle of “Viva Zapata.” The
title character (Brando) is arrested at a home in the village and tethered
to a horse so that he is forced to keep pace with the rider. One man,
I think it was Anthony Quinn, picks up two stones and begins to strike
them with a steady beat. By some form of mental telepathy, the rest
of the village gets the idea and does the same. As
the steady beat of the stones is the only sound heard, the music begins
to creep up very slowly, building to a climax as more and more peasants
begin to follow the cortege. Just as with Ravel’s “Bolero,” the steady
crescendo portrays perfectly the growing number of people surrounding
the police—until at the climax (I believe the music ends on an
unresolved chord), the rider, for once an intelligent Mexican law enforcer,
simply lets Zapata go to save his own skin and that of his men. The
use of a crescendo is used to stunning effect in the Agincourt sequence
of Olivier’s “Henry V” with its score by William Walton. We see from
the side the French knights lowering their lances and beginning to advance
at a very slow pace. Olivier had decided not to use any sound effects,
so the music reproduces the sound of the hooves with a BOOM-pum, BOOM-pum
bass ground. Only after several bars do the rest of the instruments
make their statement. Even if one just listens to the CD recordings
of this sequence, one can hear the heaviness of the French armor and
the acceleration of the steeds as they hurtle towards their destruction
in the shower of arrows that comes just at the climax of the music. Of
course, having said that, I must mention the scene and indeed the music
that inspired the Henry V sequence: the Battle on the Ice in “Alexander
Nevsky” with its Prokofiev score. In fact, one should play any of its
many recordings and then hear the Walton music, which is too good to
be called mere imitation. Someone
once commented on some television documentary long ago how absurd yet
how convincing is the music to the sacrifice sequence in the original
“King Kong.” Of course, first all that is heard is drums. Then slowly,
an entire symphony orchestra is introduced very carefully; and those
used to film music think not a whit about any discrepancy. One
of my favorite film composers is Miklos Rozsa, who gave us the scores
to “The Jungle Book,” “The Thief of Bagdad,” “Quo Vadis,” “El Cid,”
and even Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” (with that haunting theme melody).
To me, some of the most thrilling music in all films is in “The Thief
of Bagdad” when Rozsa depicts the Genie with Sabu clinging to his hair
flying through the sky to “the roof of the world” so the little thief
can steal the All-Seeing Eye. (Shots of the Grand Canyon below help
enormously, but even the musical alone in this sequence is breathtaking.)
If
I was pressed to choose a “desert island” CD of film music, I would
not hesitate to choose the Georges Auric score to “La Belle et le Bete.”
Never has a realistic telling of an old supernatural tale (those who
know the film will understand the paradox) been so well supported by
a score that matches its magic and grandeur so perfectly. I can only
urge those not familiar with it to see the film (now available on an
expensive Criterion DVD) and hear the score alone on a Naxos budget-priced
CD. I
would very much appreciate if any readers would let me know their favorite
musical moments from original film scores (not those that draw from
the music of the past, a topic I want to deal with separately). Please
contact me directly at fbehrens@ne.rr.com. |