Hollywood Spectator (1938)

Hollywood Spectator Page Twenty-three Current Trend in Screen Music By Bruno David Ussher ORE than at any other time in the history of the cinema, dramatically vital music before long will be made in Hollywood to accompany film plays of every type. A survey based on interviews, or in some cases, based only on necessarily brief inquiries, leaves no doubt in my mind regarding the above statement. No survey of this nature can be complete. I must plead limitation of time. Some studios have asked grace of time to formulate a reply; two important spokesmen have pleaded rush of work and may be quoted later. But sufficient and thoughtful response, given with honesty of hope and purpose, assures me that music in Hollywood pictures is going ahead. The type of picture based on the vicissitudes and vic¬ tories of a prima donna or would-be prima donna has been made to the point of saturation. The piling up of songs in the musical or extravaganza may con¬ tinue now and again. It is not good for music and not sure as a money-maker. One or the other studio may revamp old-fashioned opera, but that takes cour¬ age and voices. Lack of singers, of great singers who look well and can act, of young singers who have great vocal appeal, is bemoaned. The more artistic directors have become more music-conscious. Cinema value of really fine background is being recognized. Studio music department heads are thinking in those terms more than at any time. They would not do so, unless this trend had backing from the “front office” and from the public. Record-Breaking Line-Up . . . RECORD-BREAKING list of names of com¬ posers can be culled from studio lists with hardly touching upon their song-writing colleagues. A few of the studios rely on the combination of names of singers and well-rounded music staffs, such as Warner Brothers and MGM. Director Forbstein has Max Steiner and Erich Korngold as his ace com¬ posers. Finston of MGM has Stothart, Ward and half a dozen others, while his roster of singers in¬ cludes Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones, Ilona Massey to mention but a few. Goldwyn will go into a huddle with Jascha Heifetz within a fortnight. Louis Silvers has a versatile staff at Cen¬ tury, including the distinguished Ernest Toch. Wal¬ ter Wanger has enlisted Werner Janssen of General Died At Dawn score fame. Disney is ready to un¬ leash the spell of Stokowski in Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Pinocchio. For that matter, Universal’s music department under the sensitive and showmanshipwise Charles Previn has claim on Stokowski for a second picture. Paramount has signed Kurt Weill for a second film. The same studio has bespoken Serge Prokofieff through Boris Morros, who has also Dmitri Tiomkin, working with Director Henry Hathaway on Spawn of the North. Jerome Kern has just finished a score for RKO where a splendid staff under Dave Dreyer includes the pre-eminent Russell Bennett. And Morris Stoloff of Columbia tells of plans for a Chopin picture which should make screen music history. Require New Formula . . . HAT is needed is a new formula , in the opinion of Dave Dreyer. The RKO music department head has the situation analyzed well. One of his chief obections to the music-dramatic procedure followed heretofore, is that very often only one person in the cast is a singer of real solo quality. The result is lack of balance, lack of convincing qualities. The great handicap in making singing pictures is the lack of vocally fully developed singers. “We can show them the technique of picture making and recording. But we are not here to teach voice and interpretation. Too many singers believe that all they need for suc¬ cess is to have a natural voice. They should go to small radio stations and gain experience. Who can make good musicals without good music personali¬ ties? The film vogue for using operatic excerpts is nearing the end of what one might call a cycle. The operetta type of musical will continue, provided we have the material. I think we have it in a produc¬ tion such as Irving Berlin’s Carefree. Dreyer expects high success from Joy of Living, the Irene Dunne feature for which Jerome Kern wrote the songs, Rus¬ sell Bennet the score. A musical comedy, Fiddlestick, featuring Mitzi Green, music by Lou Brown and Ray Henderson, too, should register strong. Big Background Scores . . . HERE is the general cry for new cinema operettas. As Dave Dreyer contends, a dramatically relatively weak affair may succeed on Broadway because of footlight appeal of personalities in the cast. The best singer or player cannot save a film if the film play lacks dramatic potency. RKO may make new versions of Irene and of Rio Rita. “I am convinced, however, that we are headed for a big cycle of films in which background music will prove highly im¬ portant.” Mr. Dreyer said. “There a composer can start from the very core of the story. The great diffi¬ culty still is that much of the music cannot be writ¬ ten until the film is shot completely and cut. That puts a time pressure on the music department. It is a condition prevailing in every studio. The success of a score then depends on fast work and great skill, and I am lucky to have such musicians working with me. What is more, there is an ‘esprit de corps’ at RKO for which I am very happy. I have found it necessary to divide writing and scoring of a picture among five members of my staff, and yet a well uni¬ fied background music has been achieved. Release dates do not wait, and the music department is ex¬ pected to make up for time lost elsewhere.” Deanna Durbin Still Leads . . . NE does not have to talk very long about music to Charles Previn at Universal, to realize that Deanna Durbin continues to lead. In other words.