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Posted: |
Mar 12, 2012 - 12:10 PM
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By: |
Zooba
(Member)
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*****SPOILER ALERT******For those who may have not seen QB VII!!! Just purchased the DVD of QB VII and watched after so many years. I had the Original 3 VHS Set and just upgraded to the DVD. Here are random thoughts on the production and it's music. Please share yours. ***WARNING**** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS for those who haven't viewed the production. Sorry I don't know how to black out the stuff for spoilers. Random thoughts on QB VII: Sad to think Gazzara, Remick, Goldsmith and director Tom Gries are no longer with us. The actor that plays Seminski was General Veers in STAR WARS and the bad guy in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Yes, Julian Glover. Joseph Wiseman who played Gazzara's father the elder Cady's old age make-up is atrocious. It looks like make-up done for a HIgh School Production where a 15 year old is playing an old person. The aging of most characters looks pretty bad. Clown White is very apparent in hair and beards. Not to harp on the bad makeup but the Arab scenes in the desert don't look right either. The Sheik and his son are obviously anglo actors with Dark Egyptian Ben Nye stage make up applied and not well at all. Very blotchy and you can see their white skin under. I'm not an expert but watching on my IMAC computer, it just looked very bad. The print of the film on DVD was not bad and very clear, but the sound, especially in the courtroom scenes often sounds very muffled. For me, the best part of the movie is the final hour in the courtroom. Actors Hopkins, Caron and Remick's blue eyes are wonderfully photographed and stand out beautifully. For those who know Jewish customs and such, What did it mean or signify when one Jewish man who was present at Cady's father's death, goes up to Cady (Gazzara) and rips his jacket lapel pocket and leaves it hanging there? Anthony Quayle gives a stunning performance. Quayle also appears in MASADA, giving another superb performance. Hopkins is always riveting and Leslie Caron was superb in her rich portrayal. The young actor playing the younger version of Hopkin's son, Michael-James Wixted was also seen as the young brother of Francie in the TV Movie A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN also broadcast in 1974 and beautifully scored by Jerry Goldsmith. He turns up yet again as George C. Scott's youngest son in ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, once again scored by our beloved Maestro. Wow, that little cute kid is now 50 years old: http://www.moviekids.tv/code/talent/display.php?id=757 Interesting that 2 years after QB VII Remick would star in THE OMEN also scored by Goldsmith and 2 years after that Hopkins would star in the Goldsmith scored MAGIC. Wonder what they thought of the maestro and his music? Hopkins later recorded CHRISTUS APOLLO with Goldsmith and starred in yet another Goldsmith scored film, THE EDGE. Gazzara would later appear in INCHON, containing yet another great Goldsmith score. BLOOPER - There's an aerial shot of London or another foreign location in the film where the title card says the location and the date like 1946. But looking at the vehicles below, it is obviously more like 1973 when the film was shot as the trucks and buses scene are of the 70's period. Actor Milo O'shea who plays the other doctor who worked with Hopkin's Kelno character in the camps looks like the uncredited actor who played "Hans" the creepy Mannequin who comes to life in "THE WEIRD TAILOR" episode of the THRILLER TV-Series which was so effectively scored by Jerry Goldsmith. That's got to be him. Goldsmith's music really complements the production and his Kelno Theme is heartbreaking. By working in the desert and in the slums of England with people who really needed help, was Kelno paying mankind back, in his mind, for the atrocities he unwittingly committed in the camps, and for not having the strength to refuse the Nazi's in their demands of him. If someone tells you, you can not use anesthetics on the Jews and if you refuse you will be gassed, what would you do? We don't all have the personal strength to be heros. We are human and we survive. Do you sympathize at all with Kelno? I do. What would Cady have done if he was in Kelno's shoes? Cady was kind of an asshole. How can anyone throw Juliet Mills out of their bed? My greatest memory of watching this as a High School kid on it's initial TV Showing was when they would go to commercial and come back. Those bumpers. I just loved the graphic of the Novel QB VII rising up and coming towards the screen with that Great Goldsmith music playing so dramatically and thinking to myself how great that 15 or 20 seconds of music was. Such powerful stuff! And it stuck in my head. As pointed out at IMDB, the artwork on the DVD box is not right, as there are no gavels used in a British courtroom. Please share any thoughts you have on this remarkable Mini-Series and its' superb score. Thanks, Zoob
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Posted: |
Mar 12, 2012 - 2:04 PM
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By: |
filmusicnow
(Member)
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Just purchased the DVD of QB VII and watched after so many years. I had the Original 3 VHS Set and just upgraded to the DVD. Here are random thoughts on the production and it's music. Please share yours. ***WARNING**** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS for those who haven't viewed the production. Sorry I don't know how to black out the stuff for spoilers. Random thoughts on QB VII: Sad to think Gazzara, Remick, Goldsmith and director Tom Gries are no longer with us. The actor that plays Seminski was General Veers in STAR WARS and the bad guy in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Yes, Julian Glover. Joseph Wiseman who played Gazzara's father the elder Cady's old age make-up is atrocious. It looks like make-up done for a HIgh School Production where a 15 year old is playing an old person. The aging of most characters looks pretty bad. Clown White is very apparent in hair and beards. Not to harp on the bad makeup but the Arab scenes in the desert don't look right either. The Sheik and his son are obviously anglo actors with Dark Egyptian Ben Nye stage make up applied and not well at all. Very blotchy and you can see their white skin under. I'm not an expert but watching on my IMAC computer, it just looked very bad. The print of the film on DVD was not bad and very clear, but the sound, especially in the courtroom scenes often sounds very muffled. For me, the best part of the movie is the final hour in the courtroom. Actors Hopkins, Caron and Remick's blue eyes are wonderfully photographed and stand out beautifully. For those who know Jewish customs and such, What did it mean or signify when one Jewish man who was present at Cady's father's death, goes up to Cady (Gazzara) and rips his jacket lapel pocket and leaves it hanging there? Anthony Quayle gives a stunning performance. Quayle also appears in MASADA, giving another superb performance. Hopkins is always riveting and Leslie Caron was superb in her rich portrayal. The young actor playing the younger version of Hopkin's son, Michael-James Wixted was also seen as the young brother of Francie in the TV Movie A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN also broadcast in 1974 and beautifully scored by Jerry Goldsmith. He turns up yet again as George C. Scott's youngest son in ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, once again scored by our beloved Maestro. Wow, that little cute kid is now 50 years old: http://www.moviekids.tv/code/talent/display.php?id=757 Interesting that 2 years after QB VII Remick would star in THE OMEN also scored by Goldsmith and 2 years after that Hopkins would star in the Goldsmith scored MAGIC. Wonder what they thought of the maestro and his music? Hopkins later recorded CHRISTUS APOLLO with Goldsmith and starred in yet another Goldsmith scored film, THE EDGE. Gazzara would later appear in INCHON, containing yet another great Goldsmith score. BLOOPER - There's an aerial shot of London or another foreign location in the film where the title card says the location and the date like 1946. But looking at the vehicles below, it is obviously more like 1973 when the film was shot as the trucks and buses scene are of the 70's period. Actor Milo O'shea who plays the other doctor who worked with Hopkin's Kelno character in the camps looks like the uncredited actor who played "Hans" the creepy Mannequin who comes to life in "THE WEIRD TAILOR" episode of the THRILLER TV-Series which was so effectively scored by Jerry Goldsmith. That's got to be him. Goldsmith's music really complements the production and his Kelno Theme is heartbreaking. By working in the desert and in the slums of England with people who really needed help, was Kelno paying mankind back, in his mind, for the atrocities he unwittingly committed in the camps, and for not having the strength to refuse the Nazi's in their demands of him. If someone tells you, you can not use anesthetics on the Jews and if you refuse you will be gassed, what would you do? We don't all have the personal strength to be heros. We are human and we survive. Do you sympathize at all with Kelno? I do. What would Cady have done if he was in Kelno's shoes? Cady was kind of an asshole. How can anyone throw Juliet Mills out of their bed? My greatest memory of watching this as a High School kid on it's initial TV Showing was when they would go to commercial and come back. Those bumpers. I just loved the graphic of the Novel QB VII rising up and coming towards the screen with that Great Goldsmith music playing so dramatically and thinking to myself how great that 15 or 20 seconds of music was. Such powerful stuff! And it stuck in my head. As pointed out at IMDB, the artwork on the DVD box is not right, as there are no gavels used in a British courtroom. Please share any thoughts you have on this remarkable Mini-Series and its' superb score. Thanks, Zoob Sorry to correct you Zooba, but Gregoire Aslan (the sheik whose family Kelno tends to when he's in Kuwait) was Armenian. Also, a minute and 54 seconds are missing in the D.V.D. where Kelno talks with the sheik (it was in the original V.H.S. version). Interestingly, the narration was done by Mark Lenard (yes, Spock's father in "Star Trek"). There also seems to be some controversy who dubbed Jack Hawkins' (the judge) voice in the courtroom scenes. Some say it was Charles Gray (Blofeld in "Diamonds Are Forever"), but according to Ben Gazzara's autobiography, it was Hopkins (a master of impersonation). Hawkins died shortly the miniseries ended production. Also, Quayle, Robert Stephens, Joseph Wiseman, Dan O'Herilhy, Vladek Sheybal, Alan Napier (who appears in the cocktail scene in Pt. 2 where Cady meets Lady Margaret), Sam Jaffe, and Michael Gough, all of whom had supporting or small roles in the miniseries, are deceased as well. I remember the previews for the miniseries that showed Anthony Hopkins at the stand, but unfortunately are not on the D.V.D. set. By the way, Kristofer Tabori (Ben Cady) is the son of Don Siegel.
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Here is a video I made several years ago using screencaps from a DVD of QB VII and the Goldsmith CD from Intrada. Spoiler Alert ! : Close your eyes at 5:20 if you don't want to see how the trial ends! https://vimeo.com/200450800
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