I don't know, how often did it happen before 1960? If it has only happened once or twice, then trying to dismiss today's film scores with your question doesn't really work, does it.
It happened often. Without going through every year, here is 1951:
A Place in the Sun - Franz Waxman David and Bathsheba - Alfred Newman Death of a Salesman - Alex North Quo Vadis - Miklós Rózsa A Streetcar Named Desire - Alex North
Thank you, Doug. And here's the list for the rest of the 1950s. How many of these scores would you consider unworthy? Then compare this list with the period 2001 to the present.
1952
* High Noon - Dimitri Tiomkin Ivanhoe - Miklós Rózsa The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima - Max Steiner The Thief - Herschel Burke Gilbert Viva Zapata! - Alex North
1953
* Lili - Bronislau Kaper Above and Beyond - Hugo Friedhofer From Here to Eternity - Morris Stoloff, George Duning Julius Caesar - Miklós Rózsa This is Cinerama - Louis Forbes
1954
* The High and the Mighty - Dimitri Tiomkin The Caine Mutiny - Max Steiner Genevieve - Larry Adler (Front: Muir Mathieson) On the Waterfront - Leonard Bernstein The Silver Chalice - Franz Waxman
1955
* Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing - Alfred Newman Battle Cry - Max Steiner The Man with the Golden Arm - Elmer Bernstein Picnic - George Duning The Rose Tattoo - Alex North
1956
* Around the World in Eighty Days - Victor Young Anastasia - Alfred Newman Between Heaven and Hell - Hugo Friedhofer Giant - Dimitri Tiomkin The Rainmaker - Alex North
1957
* The Bridge on the River Kwai - Malcolm Arnold An Affair to Remember - Hugo Friedhofer Boy on a Dolphin - Hugo Friedhofer Perri - Paul Smith Raintree County - Johnny Green
1958
* The Old Man and the Sea - Dimitri Tiomkin The Big Country - Jerome Moross Separate Tables - David Raksin White Wilderness - Oliver Wallace The Young Lions - Hugo Friedhofer
1959
* Ben-Hur - Miklós Rózsa The Diary of Anne Frank - Alfred Newman The Nun's Story - Franz Waxman On the Beach - Ernest Gold Pillow Talk - Frank DeVol
That list of 50's Oscar nominees is depressing. Not one Bernard Herrmann score in there.
None of the Hitchcock scores, etc.
Sad.
James
Well, not to defend the past members of the Academy, but you have to understand their mentality. Suspense films were never considered to be that Oscar worthy. That said, Hitch was still nominated five times for Best Director and all were for suspense films. Oh, I guess "Rebecca" would be considered more of a romantic movie. It was the only Hitchcock directed film to win Best Picture.
On the other hand, by the 1950s, Herrmann had alienated so many people by his antics that I'm sure few wanted to hand him another Oscar. When he did win one it was long before members of the Academy really got to know him.
Could someone receiving the set today or tomorrow post a picture or two? I'm very interested to see how this is packaged.
Mine just arrived. I just opened the cardboard box. It's a regular-sized box set, red and black...looks like two clamshells with the book...very similar to, say, the FSM Superman box...closed on one end and open on the other. I'll take some pix in a sec and get it up.
Okay, I've opened it up. There are four audio discs in one clamshell box...that's the score. Then there's a two disc set, with packaging a la Intrada's two-disc sets. There's a single, regular CD sized case with the DVD. And the book...which I thumbed through very quickly...is magnificent. A very nice mix of text, photos and handsomely designed. Pix coming.
Okay, I've opened it up. There are four audio discs in one clamshell box...that's the score. Then there's a two disc set, with packaging a la Intrada's two-disc sets. There's a single, regular CD sized case with the DVD. And the book...which I thumbed through very quickly...is magnificent. A very nice mix of text, photos and handsomely designed. Pix coming.
With the score discs in their own package, it might suggest this can very easily be released on its own (at significantly lower cost of course) after the "full" package has run its course.
