TOM'S BEST FILM LIST (1964)

I seem to be leaning towards something else.
Tom

I fully appreciate your opinion . I was taken aback that you failed to consider one particular score my friend.
Tom

You know me all too well Tim.
Tom

I also like Charge of The Light Brigade and Mischa Spoliansky's The Man Who Could Work Miracles ( I must watch the film again. )

I don't know the score to Modern Times but I absolutely love the song, a true evergreen and, IMO, one of the greatest songs ever written.

My selection for 1936 is THINGS TO COME. This fine score from Bliss has to be ranked highly in spite of the problems.
http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/t … 1936bliss/

Tom

Awesome, AWESOME score!

-Erik-

Eeeeehhhhhh, the film is an interesting bit of early moralist scifi film making.
It's really not that good (even if I always enjoy Raymond Massey).
To be brutally honest, aside from the (righfully) celebrated march, the score, while good, wasn't a revelation to me either.
As I stated before there are a few films from 1936 I'd put over this one, both cinematographically and musically.

I'm thinking about the next couple of years and I believe I've come up with some worthy choices.
Tom

LOST HORIZON DIMITRI TIOMKIN

I was introduced to this fine score by Charles Gerhardt conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra in a 23 minute suite of material. This recording is still available on RCA #777933. The CD is a perfect introduction to the films of Dimitri Tiomkin and receives my highest recommendation. I also have in my collection the archival BYU restoration #FMA/DT 103. While having inferior quality to the RCA recording it does offer the complete score on their CD. My other two choices for the year were Prince and the Pauper and Snow White. "Someday My Prince Will Come" is a favorite song of mine; I have an excellent verve recording with Oscar Peterson and Nelson Riddle but the rest of the material doesn't measure up to Horizon. Korngold in my opinion has done superior scores to The Prince and the Pauper and will be honored in the upcoming years.

ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD/KORNGOLD (1938)

This work is so good that it can hold its own with the works of Wagner and Strauss. Multiple themes, love music, frantic action, and everything about it makes this a must have score for your collection. FYI I have the Stromberg/Morgan recording as well as some parts of the original soundtrack. I have no experience with the Utah release although I'm told it is quite good.
Tom

The right choice, the ONLY choice IMO

Korngold's Adventures of Robin Hood is a worthy choice for 1938 and should be in everyone's film music collection as it is one of those scores that is a milestone in the history of film scoring. And the Stromberg/Morgan recording allows the significance of this score to be truly heard.

For Gone With The Wind, I think that the inclusion of all the important melodies from the period, although a wonderful signposter for the film and the time in which it is set, detracts enormously for me when it comes to hearing it as a stand-alone listen. Listening to the mammoth 2 CD version was perhaps not the best introduction to me of the music away from the film and perhaps I should take a listen to the Gerhardt selection. It does have an iconic theme though; a theme that has made the transition from the film itself and into the general populous' awareness.

Fair enough. Can't really argue....even if I *would* have picked The Wizard Of Oz.
It's so seminal that I can't really understand why anyone ever made a musical after that.
Why would you *want* to?
It's done!
Zenith reached. Top achieved.

REBECCA/WAXMAN is my choice for 1940.

This was a year when the nominations had expanded and names of Louis Gruenberg, Frank Skinner, Richard Hageman (twice), and Warner Heyman appeared as nominees. The other contender "Our Town" by Aaron Copland has a powerful unforgettable main theme but Rebecca seemed to cover the entire gamut of emotions.
Tom