Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 11, 1945)

July 11, 1945 Canadian FILM WEEKLY Page 13 Music and the Modern Film P TILL the outbreak of World War II, documentary and short films in Britain had attained a consistently higher artistic standard than feature films; largely because owing to the hold of the American film industry upon the distribution of feature films, there were more opportunities in Britain for producers of short~™ films. Initiative, enterprise and experiment had full scope in the pre-war documentary field, and many producers were alive to the vajuable contribution which a good and apt musical score can make to a film. Two of these earlier “documentaries,’” which are now regarded as classics, had important musical scores. “Night Mail,” produced by the Post Office Film Unit, carried a score by Benjamin Britten, now recognized as the best of younger British composers; and “A Song of Ceylon,” directed by Basil Wright, had a very effective and colorful score by Walter Leigh, who was killed in action in North Africa. Both William Alwyn and John Greenwood have tended to specialize in the composition of music for films. A landmark in the development of music in British films was the engagement of Arthur Bliss, in 1935, to compose the musical score for the film version of H. G. Wells’ novel, “The Shape of Things to Come.” This was the first time that a British J. J. FITZGIBBONS President of Famous Players, Which company has donated equipment for a 500-seat 16 mm. theatre for entertainment and education in connection with the planned addition to the Hospital for Sick Children. British Composers, Williams and Bax, Are Sound Track Pioneers of a New and Specialized Art By HUBERT CLIFFORD Professor of Composition, Royal Academy of Music, London, and author of musical scores of documentary films including “Power on the Land”, “The Second Freedom", “Battle of Britain’’, ‘‘Left of the Line”, “Steel” and “Shakespeare’s Country’’. composer of established reputation in the concert world had been persuaded to write filmmusic. A Specialized Art Other distinguished British composers followed his lead. William Walton wrote the music for the film based on Shaw’s “Major Barbara,’ and recently has devoted himself entirely to film composition. His latest film music is for the film version of Shakespeare’s “King Henry V.” Vaughan Williams and Arnold Bax, two senior British composers, have both written their first film-scores during the war. Bax, born in 1883, who holds the ancient office of Master of the King’s Musick, composed the music of “Malta G.C.,” the film account of the historic siege of Malta. Vaughan Williams, born in 1872, took to the composition of film music in his seventieth year with zest. Vaughan Wil liams’ film scores include ‘The People’s Land,” “Forty Ninth Parallel,” “Coastal Command” and “Flemish Farm.” He advises his pupils to seize whatever opportunities they can for writing for the films: “I believe that film music is becoming, and to a certain extent is, a fine art, but it is an applied art, and a specialized art at that’—so Vaughan Williams wrote in an article on the subject. No account of music in British films would be complete without a tribute to the work of a young Scottish conductor, Muir Mathieson, whose name appears as musical director on the credit titles of eight out of every ten serious British films. It was he who first persuaded film producers in Britain that it was not sufficient for film music to be apt, but that it had to be good as well. It was Mathieson who persuaded Bliss, Walton, Vaughan Williams and Bax to turn their attention to the films, and has also concerned himself with the development of the younger composers, A Novel Idea I remember seeing Mathieson’s policy at work at a music-recording session in March, 1944. The Royal Air Force Film Unit regularly prepares a newsreel for screening at the many R.A.F. stations, both in this country and overseas. As with all newsreels, topicality is the essence of the appeal, and so there is no time for music to be specially composed for any particular issue. Here, thought Mathieson, was an opportunity to experiment and to try out new composers who would be commissioned to write short musical sequences to cover a wide range of situations and incidents, and which would then form a recorded library of newsreel effects music. The R.A.F. Symphony Orchestra, which contains some of the finest young orchestral players in Britain, from time to time recorded this music, under the direction of Muir Mathieson. The particular session which I attended was very successful. Here was newsreel music which possessed musical distinction as well as aptness. I believe that several of these composers were invited ‘to write their first complete film scores as the result of their showing on this occasion. Particularly notable was their sureness of orchestration. Wise Policy Has Prevailed If the R.A.F. Newsreel has been the nursery of British film music, the various documentary and instructional films sponsored by such Official bodies as the Ministry of Information and the British Council have provided many other opportunities for composers to demonstrate their skill and artistry. The wise policy of commissioning a_ specially composed score, as against fitting up slabs of inappropriate and badly-fitting ready-made recorded music, has prevailed. Composers have not been slow to grasp their opportunities. As well as those previously mentioned, Constant Lambert and Gordon Jacob, both of whom have a number of major works to their credit, have produced interesting scores. Lambert’s music for “Merchant Seamen” is, apart from any other considerations, outstandingly fine as music. On the lighter side are Richard Addinsell and Clifton Parker, although both have made excursions into the more serious type of music. Both are very experi enced film composers. Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, from the film “Dangerous Moonlight,” is a prototype of all the piano concertos ever written and is enormously popular. Clifton Parker’s most important score to date is the one for “Western Approaches”’— one of the finest films, in my opinion, produced in Britain during the war. ; Lennox Berkeley, Lord Berners, Francis Chagrin, Christian Darnton, David Moule Evans, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, Leighton Lucas and Jan Whyte are some of the other composers whose names are well known to the British musical public and who have been composing for films in recent years. British Technicians Visit NY, Hollywood Fergus McDonell, cutter for British pictures made by the J. Arthur Rank studios, has arrived in New York, while Chief Cutter Jack Harris has returned to London after an extensive visit to New York and Hollywood. Both men were sent over to make a study of American production practices. Each will have surveyed the cutting methods of New York and Hollywood technicians and acquainted himself with technical equipment used in HolIywood on the set. McDonell’s stay in this continent is indefinite. R. W. BOLSTAD Vice-president of Famous Players, who is assisting in the raising of funds for the planned addition to the Hospital for Sick Children.