Peyton Place again, only this time away from the mainland. Cliched? Somewhat. Outdated, perhaps laughable dialogue? At times (Molly's "naughty dreams"!). But the movie unravels the pretentious pseudo-priggish alleged mores of the 1950s in a manner that isn't shocking now but must have been considered bold for its day.

And then there's Max Steiner's music. Cliched? Only when that sly, leery sax oils its way across the ears while underscoring sexual tension. Repetitive? Yeah. Overblown? Maybe, yet an absolute joy nonetheless. And that's the genius of Max Steiner: his music brings dignity to an otherwise mundane albeit stylish B-movie. What does he dignify? Human longings, 'little' things like newly-found love, old love rekindled, unspoken passions, hopes, shattered dreams...and damaged lives. Oh yes--with real live melodies that pull you in and make you forget that you're watching a potboiler.

That's what first comes to mind when I think of the genius of Max Steiner: elevating a simple soap opera to dignified heights. I think of the "Belle Watling Theme" when Melanie thanks the madam-with-a-heart in Gone With The Wind; the ending of Now Voyager; the love story with the platinum blonde and the big ape; and in A Summer Place the close-ups of Dorothy Maguire, especially during the early scene at the dinner table in the inn.

Steiner basically employed variations of 4 love themes throughout the picture. Let me call them 1) the Adult Love Theme introduced during the opening credits; 2) the Teen Love Theme made memorable and best-selling by Percy Faith and his orchestra; 3) the Sex Theme, already alluded to in accordance with its arrangement for the 'devil's instrument'; and finally 4) the Innocent Love Theme introduced in Molly's good-night to Papa.

I recommend you ignore the cloying harp and vibraphone (?) arrangement of the latter and savor the string arrangement employed the 2nd time around; either way, all 4 are pure listening pleasures. It's just such a shame the entire score has never been released, so far as I know. Warner Brothers has an ignominious reputation for having discarded original soundtrack sources and it wouldn't surprise if this one is among those lost forever. If worse comes to worse, get a video (I'm told the film's an excellent transfer to tape) and just watch/listen to the first 45 minutes. You will not be disappointed. Guaranteed.

Sorry to burst your bubble, Howard.

Remember when Johnny & Molly got stranded overnight on that island? And after they got rescued, Molly's mother hires a doctor to give Molly a physical in order to determine if Molly is still a virgin. What a hoot. Another hoot was provided by 3 separate successive shots that show 3 people reacting to shocking information. Steiner's 3 successive sting chords cracked me up. Constance Ford's Swede-bashing was another highlight. Needless to say, it's totally implausible that Richard Egan would ever have married Constance Ford in the first place.

If I remember correctly, the Lascivious Sax Theme underwent 2 variations. During the dinner-table scene, there's a string version. Another version is heard when Johnny & Molly go back to Pine Island to tell Arthur Kennedy that they're getting married. It's an eerie version with a nautical rhythm-section, and Steiner put the sax in an echo chamber. I also liked the sax version of the Young Love Theme. But I sorta begrudge Steiner for putting it to such hackneyed manipulative Pavlovian effect during those close-ups of Sandra Dee.

Regarding the Innocent Love Theme: You could also call this the Girls School theme. Because I think that's the only scene where that theme is used. I didn't consider the vibe & harp version to be cloying. (By the way, Howard, an unplugged unelectrified vibraphone is called a metallophone. Or at least that's what Steve Reich calls it.)

Whydaya think I said the first 45 minutes, you maroon. And didn't you read the caveats all through my original post? the last sentence of the follow-up??

"Dorothy McGuire is not my idea of a good-looking broad."

Do you recall her line the first meeting in the boathouse about not being as pretty as before? The camera captured her deep beauty within. You missed it.

"Richard Egan's deep rich euphonious voice."

He had a tremendous screen presence. Anyway, when all's said & done the music remains the thing. And the deep blue sea.

For people who haven't heard much of his music, I'd recommend the compilation CD "The Flame and the Arrow: Classic Film Music of Max Steiner" as a good introduction. Two of my favorite suites from the CD are "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and "The Hanging Tree"; I've seen both of these movies at least a couple of times each on TV, but didn't realize until listening to the CD how much Steiner's scores contributed to their effect. (Some of the others on the album I enjoy, in addition to "Flame and the Arrow": "Ice Palace," "The FBI Story," "Sergeant York" and "Johnny Belinda.")

Another favorite of mine is his "Charge of the Light Brigade," well-represented on Marco Polo's "Historical Romances" CD.

Out of curiosity, it is a matter of you're just discovering the movies he underscored or soundtracks on CDs or both? There was a thread on the FSM site about this sort of thing; went into the level of interest (or lack of interest) in older films and how it may correlate with composer awareness. Just the same, Steiner was credited as "Music Supervisor" on Lost Horizon which, of course, contained another great Tiomkin score. One of the earliest flicks (1937) I know of to feature significant choral cues.

BEHOLD! The Power Of CHEESE!

What's next, a WRITTEN ON THE WIND thread? (I love that enormous score cue where impotent Robert Stack is staring at the little boy in the cowboy outfit on the mechanical horse. And that wonderful scene where Dorothy Malone kills her father by dancing upstairs to all the sexy music. Did the Mystery Science Theater people ever get to this one? It'd be pointless, it's funny and self-aware enough as it is. That wacky Douglas Sirk.)

NP: space heater humming at my feet (why is it so cold this April?)

His colleague Kurt Raab, who is also presently dead (and will no doubt remain so for the forseeable future), made a movie I liked somewhat more, entitled ESCAPE FROM BLOOD PLANTATION. Original German title is ISLAND OF THE BLOODY PLANTATION. Great (English language!) theme song as well, I should move this discussion over to the Song thread.)

("on the iiiiii-land [drum roll] of the BLUD-dy plan-TA-tion ... " I'm yearning for ABBA to get back together and do a cover of that one.)

Another Sirk fan, and a filmmaker I respect more, is the estimable lunatic John Waters. There's a cover story about him in the current CULT MOVIES magazine, although it came out in January or so, might be sold out. Basil and Zoe Poledouris are scoring (already scored?) his newest, CECIL B. DEMENTED.

Actually, in honesty (am I ever less than honest? frankly, it is my curse), I've only seen the one Sirk film I mentioned. There's other things in the universe of movies that I'd rather catch up with ... but I did read a synopsis of MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, and it looks so nuts that I might rent it one day, but it would have to be that PARTICULAR day. (I've already taken out Altman's M*A*S*H, which I haven't seen in fifteen years, and the so-called "collector's edition" of VANISHING POINT -- curious if this restores the few minutes of "desert" footage that got cut -- in tone these could hardly be more opposite than WRITTEN ON THE WIND, so that sufficiently illustrates my present frame of mind.)

NP: nothing, I don't feel like popping in a CD and my RealPlayer has balked on me. I have to reload it with whatever the updated stuff is, but I tried it and it wouldn't do it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Try again later ...

Neat! One of my favorites, Basil Poledouris, will be scoring Cecil B.
Demented. So I have to ask, your H’ness, if this will be a satire
on the late, great DeMille or a brand new character? Any
insights or rumors about the plot?

Let’s see. This week I’ve seen H Rocco travel from Ifukube to
John Waters, to bikini clad ladies mud wrestling (I know, you
were forced into that by one Chris ) to zillions of Japanese names
probably ALL spelled correctly. To quote an Edward Albee play,
“I (meaning Hank) do have a certain catholicity of taste.” Do you
have a photographic memory? Best, Mom. (Shoot, adopted
Internet mom; can’t even take credit for the gene pool of Chris
and Hank.)

NP White Fang II Debney Very Americana

I think you're cheating yourself by not seeing Mr. Waters' DESPERATE LIVING, no matter how gory it is. I would never recommend PINK FLAMINGOS to anyone, however.

Basil Poledouris also did the lushly cheesy, VERTIGO-like score for Mr. Waters' earlier SERIAL MOM. I remain convinced that the director chose Poledouris because he had done THE BLUE LAGOON and SUMMER LOVERS for the director of those films, Randal Kleiser.

What his daughter Zoe Poledouris is contributing to the score, I don't have a single clue, but she was working with her father as early as CONAN THE BARBARIAN -- she shared credit for the "Orgy" cue, and she was an infant at the time. No doubt a tune she came up with and he interpolated -- sweet of him to give her credit.

(Curious the number of film composers that give their daughters the name "Zoe." Besides Basil Poledouris, we know of Michael Kamen, and didn't Hans Zimmer also name a daughter Zoe? I'm less sure about that last one though.)

I don't have a PHOTOGRAPHIC memory, I have a WEIRD one. I can perfectly spell the name of the third assistant floor-sweeper from that picture NOTHING YOU EVER HEARD OF (Japanese, what was the year?), but I couldn't tell you what color my socks are without checking. Although that one's actually easy, I rarely wear socks except to go out in the weather. Mostly I wear white and gray ones until they wear out and become unspeakable.

Don't know Albee's work except for the ridiculous "Who's Afraid Of Virgina Woolf." As for my range of fiction tastes, well, as I've written elsewhere, "It's manifest I'm a lunatic." (I CANNOT remember which author I stole that from ... whoa, I just did, Darryl Brock, who wrote one of my favorite novels, the amazing "If I Never Get Back." Miss it at your own peril.)

NP: 100 RIFLES (FSM version, now we're into the mono sections, but I love this music so much that I do not feel like switching it -- you wouldn't either if you were hearing this astonshing cue "Escape and Pursuit")

P.S. It's HATFIELD who has the photographic memory, as well as a thing or two else we've been waiting for. Go pick on him.

quote:

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Originally posted by TimT:
Is it worth getting? Is it big and symphonic like Gone with the Wind?

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uhm... symphonic? What else should it be? I don't think Mr. Steiner knew the synth-banging technique.

And I's can't stop laughing over that sly sax! But this really is a tremendous stand-alone listening experience. What I have referred to as a cloying arrangement of "innocent love" theme when Molly says good-night to Ken (track: A Filthy Word) is nothing of the sort when heard on its own. Positively lovely celeste melody made lovelier with the ensuing string arrangement.

{man, can't believe this old thread's been resurrected }

*****************************************************************

quote:

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Originally posted by Howard L:
Yeah, that theme made famous by Percy Faith also appeared in [b]Matinee and then was parodied by Mr. Goldsmith. And it's also been Simpsonized, as we all know. [/B]

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Not bad for an almost-72-year-old guy (talking about Steiner, not Howard! ). The theme ranks with the best of the film themes that have reached the popular consciousness -- MAGNIFICENT 7, EXODUS, LAURA, "Tara's Theme" from GWTW, a very few others in that stratum. I've been listening to the wonderful BYU release repeatedly but not analytically (i.e., without reference to film or liner notes), and love the way it flows. So many wonderful themes besides the one we all know. The reference to "Belle Watling's Theme" from GWTW is apt here -- even the smaller moments are so graced musically by Steiner's devotion to the emotional content of a story. Great stuff, I'm really pleased to have this one in my collection!