Bernstein must have soon found that he had latched on to a controversial project. When Production Code officials read a draft of the proposed film in February 1950, they viewed the film as subversive. One official, E. G. Dougherty, wrote to Columbia head Harry Cohn on 3 March 1950 that the story "is one of shame-faced class distinction--one that milks and exploits that theme to its fullest extent. The story is thoroughly un-American--in fact, anti-American. This is a vicious kind of story, particularly because it is very well written."
Additional controversy concerning the film occurred when pickets in Los Angeles charged that screenwriters Sidney Buchman and Millard Lampell and actor Alexander Knox were Communists. According to news stories, Buchman admitted in a 1951 hearing of the House Committee on Un-American Activities that he once had been a Communist. Columbia issued a statement that at the time the film was made, none of those mentioned were members of the Communist Party, and Harry Cohn threatened legal action against the group picketing after Knox stated that he had never been a member. Buchman was found guilty of contempt of Congress in 1953 when he refused to name Communists or former Communists. He received a suspended sentence and was fined $150, according to the New York Times . Both Buchman and Lampell were blacklisted by the industry.
! was able, finally, to see this rather obscure feature on the new cable movie channel get.tv. To quote Pearl Bernstein Gardner from THE MAGNIFICENT ELMER (her memoir), the score is "romantic, melodramatic, fantastical, colorful, comic, tragic and melodic." All I can add is that it is a rich and varied score, with all the trademarks of Elmer's style. Look for it!
Wow! For my money this beats the first ones of Goldsmith, Williams, and Morricone. Another nice find Zooba!
Really? I love me some Elmer, and I like this excerpt, but I'd have to hear the rest of the score for it to have a chance of competing with this sublime music, also helpfully excerpted by our friend Zoob:
