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Posted: |
Sep 8, 2007 - 12:52 AM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....Owners of the FSM CD will recognize that lobby card from MILLIONAIRE. Looking at it again, one can plainly see that the actors are all singing. But what? There's no group sing in the final cut of that last scene. Anybody have a copy of the script who can tell us what they're all warbling? Too bad that track never turned up when Lukas and company were preparing the wonderful CD. I mean, we've got the few seconds of the prospective customer noodling on the piano, but not that missing song. So, the disc turns out to be ALMOST but not quite exactly complete.....
Seeing that HTMAM still and reading your comment is very interesting Preston.
I've seen the film quite a number of times, and have ALWAYS been bothered by the expression on Bacall's face at one moment during this scene. It has always struck me that she reacts nonsensically to several lines of dialog and I've never figured out what her expression means in the whole scheme of things.
If the cutting actually eliminated a momentary song, that might explain it---she's reacting to what's being sung, not said. I see that she's the only one NOT singing in the still. Hmmmm....I'll have to go back and study that cutting again.
(Though it's a Warner's tune, I wonder if they're singing, "We're In The Money".....)
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Posted: |
Sep 8, 2007 - 6:18 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....Glad you liked the FOH stills Recordwracked....I have a full set of 8 for "The Robe", and 4 from "Millionaire".....
They're beautiful! Post 'em here, CH-CD---we'd love to see them---and we can hum "Marcellus and Diana's theme" and "New York, New York" as we look at them.
You can post one per day and we can look forward to 11 more days of photos!!!
Curiously, the ones you have are true, full-color 8x10 glossy photos like MGM used to produce on nearly all their '50s color films for the US and Britain.
But Fox produced, for the US exhibitors market (with a few exceptions in the mid-50s), only B&W stills, or occasionally what we call "Color-Glo" stills---B&W stills stencilled (often poorly) in 2 or 3 color inks---to advertise their films.
The English color stills for Fox films are much prized, and I have a few from LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING, THE LEFT HAND OF GOD, INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS, and THE REMARKABLE MR. PENNYPACKER.
One of the rarer advertising materials in the early 1950s is the "Deluxe Color Stills" sets of 10, primarily from MGM. They are 11x14 sized---like lobby cards---but actually printed color stills. Nearly everyone went to 11x14 color stills lobby cards in the late '60s and beyond, but these older ones are spectacular and come primarily from the 1951-1953 period. I have a 16-card set from QUO VADIS, and complete 12 card sets from SCARAMOUCHE, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, and IVANHOE, with scattered cards from PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE, THE MERRY WIDOW, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, LILI, BECAUSE YOU'RE MINE, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, THE NAKED SPUR, etc. They are wonderful and very hard to find anymore at a price you want to pay.
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Posted: |
Sep 10, 2007 - 5:31 PM
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By: |
CH-CD
(Member)
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.....Glad you liked the FOH stills Recordwracked....I have a full set of 8 for "The Robe", and 4 from "Millionaire".....
They're beautiful! Post 'em here, CH-CD---we'd love to see them---and we can hum "Marcellus and Diana's theme" and "New York, New York" as we look at them.
You can post one per day and we can look forward to 11 more days of photos!!!
Curiously, the ones you have are true, full-color 8x10 glossy photos like MGM used to produce on nearly all their '50s color films for the US and Britain.
But Fox produced, for the US exhibitors market (with a few exceptions in the mid-50s), only B&W stills, or occasionally what we call "Color-Glo" stills---B&W stills stencilled (often poorly) in 2 or 3 color inks---to advertise their films.
The English color stills for Fox films are much prized, and I have a few from LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING, THE LEFT HAND OF GOD, INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS, and THE REMARKABLE MR. PENNYPACKER.
One of the rarer advertising materials in the early 1950s is the "Deluxe Color Stills" sets of 10, primarily from MGM. They are 11x14 sized---like lobby cards---but actually printed color stills. Nearly everyone went to 11x14 color stills lobby cards in the late '60s and beyond, but these older ones are spectacular and come primarily from the 1951-1953 period. I have a 16-card set from QUO VADIS, and complete 12 card sets from SCARAMOUCHE, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, and IVANHOE, with scattered cards from PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE, THE MERRY WIDOW, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, LILI, BECAUSE YOU'RE MINE, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, THE NAKED SPUR, etc. They are wonderful and very hard to find anymore at a price you want to pay.
I'll be glad to post them for you M , and the first one is attached below. Enjoy!
The FOH stills for these first two CinemaScope movies were produced for Rank distribution. After that deal fell apart (see earlier in this thread), Fox's English FOH stills were hit and miss, regarding full colour.
"Beneath the 12-Mile Reef" are the hand coloured B/W still type,as are "Night People","Hell & High Water", "Prince Valiant",etc.
However, "King of the Khyber Rifles", "Demetrius & the Gladiators", "The Egyptian", "The Virgin Queen" and many others are in full colour. I have full, and part sets for all of these (and many others).
I have some US full colour 10 x 8 sets,which are great, but I have never seen the 11 x 14 ones you mention.
Any chance you could post some of these ???
Ok....here's today's "show and tell" !.....
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Curiously, the ones you have are true, full-color 8x10 glossy photos like MGM used to produce on nearly all their '50s color films for the US and Britain.
These MGM stills ARE gorgeous. The last ones I obtained were from INTERRUPTED MELODY, some of the operatic scenes.
I have a bunch, the ones from NORTH BY NORTHWEST are among the most beautiful, really capturing the look of the film.
But they make even the most banal MGM film from the late period look gorgeous! (Guess that was the idea).
Thanks for all the 'Scope comments and esp. the photos. I'm trying to get a graphic on myself.
Currently I'm working on a chapter on CinemaScope scores and composers. Using BOY ON A DOLPHIN as the main prototype. Just wish I could somehow see it in CinemaScope.
(Also wish I could also actually TALK to some of you guys who REALLY know the territory about it. I'm always impressed with your knowledge).
But I'm glad the thead has gravitated to a discussion of stills and lobbies, one of my great fascinations. (Even the grotesquely color-styled lobbies from the '40s and early 50s.
I remember in the Disney ALICE lobby set Alice was in a red dress!
I think PETER PAN may have been the first Disney set in the "true color" series, which looked almost like Kodachromes. Later all the Disney films had lobbies in this format.
RC
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Posted: |
Sep 10, 2007 - 7:48 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....But they make even the most banal MGM film from the late period look gorgeous! (Guess that was the idea).....
Are you even suggesting that CATTLE KING, WATUSI, and FOLLOW THE BOYS were banal? 
Fox Movie Channel has occasionally run BOY ON A DOLPHIN in scope and stereo---though I don't think I've seen it much lately. That's often a good sign it's being worked on for a DVD release, hopefully.
These old fifties Fox, MGM, and Warners films in true CinemaScope (at 2.55 or 2.35-1), in good prints, on a big screen, "in the wonder of 4-Track High-Fidelity Magnetic Stereophonic Sound" were truly spectacular---and made even the lesser films a real show. The younger people out there need to see these things that way to know what we're talking about and why we go over the deep-end in discussing them like 60-year-old fanboys!!!.
I miss those formative wide-screen years so much.
I was just reminded of something I hadn't thought about in years. In those days the film carried 4 mag tracks, 3 for Left-Center-Right speakers behind the screen, and one for the auditorium surrounds. Because the mag- track coating carried a surface noise itself, the rear channel, which was not always in use, was switched off when there was no surround signal so the speakers wouldn't broadcast white noise. In those days, my hearing was much better, and I could hear high-frequencies very, very well. Although it was annoying---it was also exciting to "hear" the high-frequency code signal which cued the surround channel a few seconds before the sound entered. I knew I'd have to sit up in my seat and really take it all in. It was so thrilling in those days to be surrounded by Alfred Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Hugo Friedhofer, Bernard Herrmann, Bronislau Kaper.....and all the others---and is very hard to describe the experience successfully any more.
By the way, CH-CD, thanks so much for posting those stills, they are wonderful and I'm sure all of us (don't tell Thor what we're doing here!) enjoy them.
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Posted: |
Sep 11, 2007 - 5:21 AM
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By: |
thx99
(Member)
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Posted on behalf of recordwracked (Ross Care):
Graphic from the article, “TWILIGHT”S LAST GLEAMING – The Americanization of Hollywood Film Music, 1950-1965” (Ross Care), from the book “Performing Arts – Motion Pictures”
This page illustrates the work of the team of composers, Lionel Newman and Cyril Mockridge, and lyricist/vocal director Ken Darby on some of the early CinemaScope films of 20th Century-Fox.
Upper is an American lobby card (11x14), which emphasizes the famous CinemaScope logo and “the wonder of high-fidelity directional-stereophonic sound.”
Lower are two sheet music covers for songs by Lionel Newman (music) and Ken Darby (lyrics). The team wrote four songs for RIVER OF NO RETURN, two of which were released as an RCA Victor 45 rpm single at the time of the film’s release. They can also be heard on several Marilyn Monroe compilation CDs.
For MILLIONAIRE Mockridge is credited with “incidental music” meaning the background score. Mockridge composed the same for RIVER, his score augmented by Darby’s wonderful wordless choral obligatos and partially developed from the melodies of Newman’s songs.
All illustrations from the collections of the Motion Picture and Music Divisions of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
RC
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Posted on behalf of recordwracked (Ross Care):
Many thanks for your cyber expertise, Doug. (I seem yet to master the start/end quote thing!)
I first saw MILLIONAIRE at the Senate theater in Harrisburg, Pa. The studio system was already shifting and the Senate, which mainly screened UI and RKO, occasionally began screening MGM and Fox.
Unfortunately, though I loved this theater, it was not really large enough to house CinemaScope, and I was always disappointed when a 'Scope film hit the Senate instead of the State which was the largest theater in Harrisburg.
The State used to actually have stage shows in the '30s and '40s and THE ROBE effectively premiered there in 1953. (I remember being started by the huge blast of sound from the back of the State when Christ passed by in the Palm Sunday sequence in THE ROBE!)
But I was disappointed when the Senate showed PRINCE VALIANT which is a great 'Scope picture, image and sound-wise.
As a kind of sidebar, here is a link to my photo of the electric eye doors at the Senate.
I took a series of photos shortly before the theater was razed (0ne of the more traumatic events in my life. I mention this in my BLOG entry on THE INVASION).
http://rosscompose.blogspot.com/2007/09/electric-eyes-are-watching-you.html
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Posted: |
Sep 11, 2007 - 5:33 PM
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By: |
CH-CD
(Member)
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I have the full-color British stills set, too.
Additionally, I have what I take to be a press book...each of the color stills is represented on one of the book's pages, plus there's a full-page color rendition of the poster art. And there are pressbook-type articles throughout the book, as well.
A friend of mine told me about that pressbook for "The Robe" Ron, but i've never actually seen it. I only have the US press book.
What size is it, and is there any chance you could post a copy of the front page ???
I can pull it out this evening. The best I can do is scan into .jpg format. I don't have a website on which to store photos to link to. If someone here would do the honors, I'd e-mail the scans to him. Given a bit of time, I could also do some digital photos of the book cover and offer a sample of the inside pages.
I'd be glad to post them for you Ron.
You can get me on: Jettco48@Hotmail.com
Look forward to seeing them.
In the meantime......M, here is today's entry in the ongoing Robe/Millionaire FOH stakes.......
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CINEMASCOPE LIVES!
t least on the small screen. Among recent interesting releases and their scores: NOTE: contains SPOILERS.
Joan Collins in ‘Scope
A movie I’ve never seen, and one of the relatively unseen early Fox CinemaScopes is THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING (1955), a period piece in which Joan plays a NYC showgirl caught up in a lurid 1906 scandal when she becomes involved with a mentally unstable millionaire. This one has a Leigh Harline score even I don’t know. Part of a Joan Collins DVD compilation.
LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955) – You may love and/or hate both the film and score of this camp classic in which Joan, in highest dudgeon, plays an Egyptian Maleficent who (SPOILER) comes to a delightfully horrendous and well-deserved bad end.
William Faulkner scripted this mess, and Tiomkin produced one of the most bizarre epic scores ever, but one that nevertheless resulted in one of Dimi’s signature title tunes.
Sample lyric:
“Come, love, to the LAND OF PHARAOHS.
Let’s recapture all the rapture that the ancients have know….”
This tune did not exactly match the Hit Parade success of “High Noon.” It’s not actually sung in the film (at least in English) but a singer and I once performed it on a concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster, Pa. And they loved it.
It’s a short magic carpet ride from the LAND OF THE PHARAOHS to the sands of Arabia and THE ADVENTURES OF HAJJI BABA (1954). This is another CinemaScope sand-and-sandal epic with yet another Tiomkin exotica score and another title tune. More lyrics:
“Hajji, Hajji, Hajji, Hajji
Hajji Baba, Hajji Baba,
He was always in love,
Always in love.”
Nat King Cole actually recorded it for Capitol. Lyrics also include the line “Come to my tent, OH my beloved, bring me your lips, warm as the sun…….)
Please note HAJJI is NOT on DVD yet. That I know of. I will stand corrected if it is (and I hope I will be).
MGM’s THE PRODIGAL (1955), is another camp classic, but with (as those of you who may have the Film Score Monthly soundtrack CD already know) a really great Kaper orchestral score. Though it does have a great melody (for Lana Turner’s evil pagan priestess) there was no title song. (But there could have been, and Leroy Holmes recorded the lyrical main theme on an MGM LP of movie themes).
Dancer James Mitchell (THE BANDWAGON) appears in a dramatic role as key ‘ScoperStar Edmund (THE STUDENT PRINCE, THE EGYPTIAN) Purdom’s best buddy, a mute slave. (Consider those possibilities…..) LES GIRL Taina Elg is also in the cast. SPOILER: Lana also comes to a spectacular bad end in this one. (Note: Available with LAND OF THE PHARAOHS in Camp Classics #4 - Epics compilation).
Last, but definitely not least is the new 2-disc set of the 1960 remake of THE LOST WORLD. (Yes, they were still filming in durable CinemaScope in 1960).
I have not seen this film since it was first released but who could ever forget Jill (Tiffany Case) St. John screaming through the jungle in hot pink Capri pants with rather repulsively realistic dinosaurs (i.e., real lizards blown up for ‘Scope a la JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH) in hot pursuit.
Again thanks to the FSM CD I was pleased to discover what a great symphonic score Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter created for VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, and they’ve no doubt done the same for LOST WORLD, another Irwin Allen epic. At any rate, it should sound great in stereo.
(There’s no title tune. That I know of).
The original 1925 silent version is included in this Special Edition DVD set. (You can put on the soundtrack to LAND OF PHARAOHS if you happen to have Elmer Bernstein’s recording).
The CinemaScope LOST WORLD would be great on the big screen. Are you listening American Cinematheque???? And what the heck, just show these all while you’re at it.
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CINEMASCOPE LIVES!
t least on the small screen. Among recent interesting releases and their scores: NOTE: contains SPOILERS.
Joan Collins in ‘Scope
A movie I’ve never seen, and one of the relatively unseen early Fox CinemaScopes is THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING (1955), a period piece in which Joan plays a NYC showgirl caught up in a lurid 1906 scandal when she becomes involved with a mentally unstable millionaire. This one has a Leigh Harline score even I don’t know. Part of a Joan Collins DVD compilation.
LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955) – You may love and/or hate both the film and score of this camp classic in which Joan, in highest dudgeon, plays an Egyptian Maleficent who (SPOILER) comes to a delightfully horrendous and well-deserved bad end.
William Faulkner scripted this mess, and Tiomkin produced one of the most bizarre epic scores ever, but one that nevertheless resulted in one of Dimi’s signature title tunes.
Sample lyric:
“Come, love, to the LAND OF PHARAOHS.
Let’s recapture all the rapture that the ancients have know….”
This tune did not exactly match the Hit Parade success of “High Noon.” It’s not actually sung in the film (at least in English) but a singer and I once performed it on a concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster, Pa. And they loved it.
It’s a short magic carpet ride from the LAND OF THE PHARAOHS to the sands of Arabia and THE ADVENTURES OF HAJJI BABA (1954). This is another CinemaScope sand-and-sandal epic with yet another Tiomkin exotica score and another title tune. More lyrics:
“Hajji, Hajji, Hajji, Hajji
Hajji Baba, Hajji Baba,
He was always in love,
Always in love.”
Nat King Cole actually recorded it for Capitol. Lyrics also include the line “Come to my tent, OH my beloved, bring me your lips, warm as the sun…….)
Please note HAJJI is NOT on DVD yet. That I know of. I will stand corrected if it is (and I hope I will be).
MGM’s THE PRODIGAL (1955), is another camp classic, but with (as those of you who may have the Film Score Monthly soundtrack CD already know) a really great Kaper orchestral score. Though it does have a great melody (for Lana Turner’s evil pagan priestess) there was no title song. (But there could have been, and Leroy Holmes recorded the lyrical main theme on an MGM LP of movie themes).
Dancer James Mitchell (THE BANDWAGON) appears in a dramatic role as key ‘ScoperStar Edmund (THE STUDENT PRINCE, THE EGYPTIAN) Purdom’s best buddy, a mute slave. (Consider those possibilities…..) LES GIRL Taina Elg is also in the cast. SPOILER: Lana also comes to a spectacular bad end in this one. (Note: Available with LAND OF THE PHARAOHS in Camp Classics #4 - Epics compilation).
Last, but definitely not least is the new 2-disc set of the 1960 remake of THE LOST WORLD. (Yes, they were still filming in durable CinemaScope in 1960).
I have not seen this film since it was first released but who could ever forget Jill (Tiffany Case) St. John screaming through the jungle in hot pink Capri pants with rather repulsively realistic dinosaurs (i.e., real lizards blown up for ‘Scope a la JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH) in hot pursuit.
Again thanks to the FSM CD I was pleased to discover what a great symphonic score Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter created for VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, and they’ve no doubt done the same for LOST WORLD, another Irwin Allen epic. At any rate, it should sound great in stereo.
(There’s no title tune. That I know of).
The original 1925 silent version is included in this Special Edition DVD set. (You can put on the soundtrack to LAND OF PHARAOHS if you happen to have Elmer Bernstein’s recording).
The CinemaScope LOST WORLD would be great on the big screen. Are you listening American Cinematheque???? And what the heck, just show these all while you’re at it.
INTRADA released Sawtell's score for THE LOST WORLD early last year and it's still available. It's really very good. I saw THE LOST WORLD when I was in first grade on NBC Monday Night at the Movies in 1963 when it had it's network premiere. I was a dinosaur and monster crazy brat and didn't care that they were iguanas!
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Posted: |
Sep 12, 2007 - 5:36 PM
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By: |
CH-CD
(Member)
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.....In the meantime......M, here is today's entry in the ongoing Robe/Millionaire FOH stakes.......
I bid 10,000 sesterces for the slave, Demetrius!!!
Bring him over to my place in North Hollywood!
Strabo will make the dog sing for his supper!
(Hope he likes macaroni and cheese!)
(Great shots, CH-CD!.....after these, move on to DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS. I wanna see Vic mess with Messalina!)
"Sold.....to the gentleman in the mini lame' tunic ! I'll have him stripped, washed and sent to your tent master".
If you want to see the photos of Vic and Messalina, leave 20,000 sesterces (in used coins!) under the third bench along, on the right hand side of the Forum.
I'll be watching!
Meanwhile,back in the lobby........
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I have Nat's recording of Haji Baba and, of course, it's wonderful. I also have a schmaltzy instrumental version Tiomkin recorded of his Pharaoahs theme song, but I never knew it WAS a song until today, Stevenj. Did ANYONE ever record it with the lyrics? How did you find them for your performance?
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