 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jul 19, 2013 - 7:40 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Joe Caps
(Member)
|
Just watching this film on dvd. I haven't seen it in a long time.
the score is one of Tiomkins best.
The original lp, is I think, the actual soundtrack, with all vocal tracks, (Pat Boone for Main and End titles, and chorus used as background) taken off the tracks.
I would love to have the entire score.
I do no know if more exists in the Tiomkin archive, however, there is a mono mag, with separate music, dialogue and effects, that could be used for the up and down music tracks.
Anyone interested?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Jul 19, 2013 - 10:53 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
manderley
(Member)
|
Absolutely, without question!
But I wonder if Warners can actually put their hands on the D-M-E tracks any more at this late date. It's likely been 25 years since you've actually investigated this hasn't it, Joe Caps?
And who would do it as a CD release?
Lukas Kendall still seems to have an ongoing, strong, and probably exclusive relationship with Turner/Warner/Rhino---at least as a middle-man executive producer-type---but also seems to have abandoned accessing any of the Warner pre-1960s (MGM, WB, Allied Artists/Monogram, RKO Radio) library since the demise of FSM as a soundtrack releasing company.
Has ANY record company released ANY original recording from this pre-1960 overall Warner library since FSM ended their release program including this material???
As someone who lived through the 1950s and remembers it all quite well, I continue to be surprised at how little FRIENDLY PERSUASION is remembered today. It is a fine, fine production, beautifully directed by Wyler and beautifully and sensitively cast and performed.
Though it was once important enough to be one of the five Oscar nominees for Best Production of the Year in 1956, I guess what doesn't work in its favor today is that it is a quiet, thoughtful piece, with no action to speak of (other than a carriage race and a mini-Civil War episode) and simply moves along in a bucolic way, telling a lovely story of the life of a family at a moment in time.
Unfortunately, we don't make movies like that today and Hollywood is far poorer for the omission.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Jul 20, 2013 - 6:19 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Regie
(Member)
|
As someone who lived through the 1950s and remembers it all quite well, I continue to be surprised at how little FRIENDLY PERSUASION is remembered today. It is a fine, fine production, beautifully directed by Wyler and beautifully and sensitively cast and performed.
Though it was once important enough to be one of the five Oscar nominees for Best Production of the Year in 1956, I guess what doesn't work in its favor today is that it is a quiet, thoughtful piece, with no action to speak of (other than a carriage race and a mini-Civil War episode) and simply moves along in a bucolic way, telling a lovely story of the life of a family at a moment in time.
Unfortunately, we don't make movies like that today and Hollywood is far poorer for the omission.
I couldn't agree more with these comments. Only recently I saw this glorious film again and "Coop", McGuire and Perkins were absolutely superb. Wyler was his usual sensitive best directing this kind of character study. The theme music tears at my heart as it is so associated with the beauty of the film. The gentle humour when McGuire decides to sleep in the barn and Cooper tries to keep it from his neighbour and friend is very special indeed. The sight gags of the straw on Coopers clothing and the laughter from his friend (who actually dies in the film) is typical of the very best in subtle film-making. And the alarming fact that no music was allowed in that home!! It does tell a lovely story, as you rightly suggest.
You lament the passing of time and the degrading of cinema as I do. I guess we sound like 'old fogeys' to the modern generation (and there are, of course, many wonderful modern films), but you'd have to know and love these films as we do to share in the celebration of them.
I have a theory about the ribald, violent and non-subtle quality of much modern cinema. When the Hays Office and Breen lifted their feet off the neck of American film studios and loosened censorship restrictions it was like the end of "prohibition". The response was to be more brazen, more violent, more offensive, more confronting than cinema ever had been or ever needed to be. It made me realize WHY censorship had been necessary in the first place. And I think the consequent loss of decent role models has had significant social consequences, to be honest.
A gentler time, even after a world war, saw a polite world where films like "Friendly Persuasion" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" could explore community and family relationships. We have lost much indeed and quite a lot of cinema appeals to the brutalism in humanity rather than the kind or existential.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jul 20, 2013 - 2:15 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
PFK
(Member)
|
As someone who lived through the 1950s and remembers it all quite well, I continue to be surprised at how little FRIENDLY PERSUASION is remembered today. It is a fine, fine production, beautifully directed by Wyler and beautifully and sensitively cast and performed.
Though it was once important enough to be one of the five Oscar nominees for Best Production of the Year in 1956, I guess what doesn't work in its favor today is that it is a quiet, thoughtful piece, with no action to speak of (other than a carriage race and a mini-Civil War episode) and simply moves along in a bucolic way, telling a lovely story of the life of a family at a moment in time.
Unfortunately, we don't make movies like that today and Hollywood is far poorer for the omission.
I couldn't agree more with these comments. Only recently I saw this glorious film again and "Coop", McGuire and Perkins were absolutely superb. Wyler was his usual sensitive best directing this kind of character study. The theme music tears at my heart as it is so associated with the beauty of the film. The gentle humour when McGuire decides to sleep in the barn and Cooper tries to keep it from his neighbour and friend is very special indeed. The sight gags of the straw on Coopers clothing and the laughter from his friend (who actually dies in the film) is typical of the very best in subtle film-making. And the alarming fact that no music was allowed in that home!! It does tell a lovely story, as you rightly suggest.
You lament the passing of time and the degrading of cinema as I do. I guess we sound like 'old fogeys' to the modern generation (and there are, of course, many wonderful modern films), but you'd have to know and love these films as we do to share in the celebration of them.
I have a theory about the ribald, violent and non-subtle quality of much modern cinema. When the Hays Office and Breen lifted their feet off the neck of American film studios and loosened censorship restrictions it was like the end of "prohibition". The response was to be more brazen, more violent, more offensive, more confronting than cinema ever had been or ever needed to be. It made me realize WHY censorship had been necessary in the first place. And I think the consequent loss of decent role models has had significant social consequences, to be honest.
A gentler time, even after a world war, saw a polite world where films like "Friendly Persuasion" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" could explore community and family relationships. We have lost much indeed and quite a lot of cinema appeals to the brutalism in humanity rather than the kind or existential.
Regie and Manderley, I agree with your comments 100%.
I first saw the film when it came out in 1956, I was 10. I loved it. How many 10 year olds today would make it through the first 10 minutes? The score is beautiful. The song sung by Pat Boone played a lot on the Boston radio stations. That would never happen today. My older brother Joe bought some LPs that had the FP song as well as others. A different time to be sure. I quit going to movies in 1983. Been 30 years, don't want to see what's playing now. Thank God for dvds!
I saw FP again on tv in the 70s. Only a few months ago my local library got in the dvd, so I took it home. Still ...... a lovely and sensitive film. A fantastic Tiomkin score, sure would like a cd of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Jul 20, 2013 - 5:01 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Regie
(Member)
|
I think most of us from the older generation (cough) have been lucky with regard to cinema. Sure, there were some turkeys (sorry, not The Duck!) and B-pictures (mostly westerns) in the cinema. You'd get two films when you went to your local cinema, until epic films finally ate into the whole session. But, even then, you'd get a magazine at the cinema all about the making of the film. I should have collected these!! Fortunately, I had a mother who loved both classical music (she played the piano) and film and she showed me the way - we would sit together and watch black and white films on television in regional Australia (and half the time the reception wasn't adequate enough to properly see these). I remember we'd sit and laugh about the fact that crims and thugs in crime pictures all fought in suits and with their hats on. This was always a source of great hilarity.
Then came "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn"!! That masterpiece changed EVERYTHING and I've been a Kazan fan ever since. Who will ever forget James Dunn sitting at the piano in the family apartment singing "Annie Laurie"? What a testament to loss and love that moment was. A gentle film, like FP, which appealed to our better angels. Made at war's end, it was psychologically on a par with IMO the greatest American film ever made, "The Best Years of Our Lives". Another life-changing experience for me. Grace, style, dignity, humanity, the timeless values of love and trust - this film had it all. And Hoagy Carmichael's throw-away line, "when the next one (war) comes we won't have to worry because we'll all be blown to bits". (You don't have to scream and shout and swear at people to get that message across - simply sit at a piano and tell it to a man who has prosthetic hands.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Jul 20, 2013 - 9:34 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
PFK
(Member)
|
I think most of us from the older generation (cough) have been lucky with regard to cinema. Sure, there were some turkeys (sorry, not The Duck!) and B-pictures (mostly westerns) in the cinema. You'd get two films when you went to your local cinema, until epic films finally ate into the whole session. But, even then, you'd get a magazine at the cinema all about the making of the film. I should have collected these!! Fortunately, I had a mother who loved both classical music (she played the piano) and film and she showed me the way - we would sit together and watch black and white films on television in regional Australia (and half the time the reception wasn't adequate enough to properly see these). I remember we'd sit and laugh about the fact that crims and thugs in crime pictures all fought in suits and with their hats on. This was always a source of great hilarity.
Then came "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn"!! That masterpiece changed EVERYTHING and I've been a Kazan fan ever since. Who will ever forget James Dunn sitting at the piano in the family apartment singing "Annie Laurie"? What a testament to loss and love that moment was. A gentle film, like FP, which appealed to our better angels. Made at war's end, it was psychologically on a par with IMO the greatest American film ever made, "The Best Years of Our Lives". Another life-changing experience for me. Grace, style, dignity, humanity, the timeless values of love and trust - this film had it all. And Hoagy Carmichael's throw-away line, "when the next one (war) comes we won't have to worry because we'll all be blown to bits". (You don't have to scream and shout and swear at people to get that message across - simply sit at a piano and tell it to a man who has prosthetic hands.)
Nice post Regie. As for your comment about criminals wearing suits, I was always under the impression that some USA gangsters in the 30s, 40s, and 50s wore suits. Am I wrong?
In the 60s I often went into the city of Boston to see movies. It was sad of course, but Boston had many winos (alcoholics) roaming the streets asking for money to buy wine ............ in sport coats!
I don't think we will ever see a period of films like the 40s, 50s and 60s again. Ditto for golden age films scores too. In the late 60s a lot of things changed, not all for the better. Such is the times. We are lucky to have cds and dvds from this period to enjoy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Jul 20, 2013 - 10:46 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Regie
(Member)
|
PFK, the films I'm thinking of were C grade movies and cop shows on TV where you'd see the detectives and the criminals in the back alleys fighting and they're hats didn't even fall off. Everyone wore suits in public, if you are to 'believe these' films!! You didn't see a Cagney type in overalls or jeans, for example, as he wore in the movie where he yells, "Top of the world, Ma!" ("White Heat").
I would actually like a soundtrack from "Yankee Doodle Dandy" because that eponymous production number is just marvellous - dancing and orchestration providing a heady cocktail.
Speaking of FP, whatever happened to Pat Boone? I think this was an unusual choice to sing the title song for a film set during the Civil War. Boone's voice gave it a modernity which I didn't think quite fitted the era, but the melody itself is to-die-for.
Anecdote: when Hawks was shooting "Hatari" in the early 60's he wanted Tiomkin to score the picture. He instructed the composer to use African rhythms and music in his title music, but the composer responded that it "cannot be done". Hawks instantly sacked him from the picture and replaced him with Mancini and we all remember that marvellous bit of film scoring!! Hawks was a ruthless "son of a sea-cook" because Tiomkin, up until that point, been a friend of his.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
