rec.arts.movies.past-films

> From: three-eyed freak < @ >
> Organization:
> Newsgroups: ,
> Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:42:07 -0700
> Subject: Re: Adding Music to Silent Films
>
> On Sep 7, 9:41 am, Dave in Toronto wrote:

>>
>> My very first job as a 14yr old was a dream come true for a movie
>> buff. I worked in the projection booth of a movie house. The movies
>> weren't silent (I'm not that old) but doing the intermissions we would
>> play music to keep the audience entertained. We had twin turntables
>> and a selection of 78rmp records. It was one of my jobs to select the
>> records. I was supposed to match the mood of the main feature with
>> appropiate music, as our selection (especially of classics) was
>> limited the audience usually got "In a monastery garden" if the film
>> was "serious" in nature.
>>
>> Dave in Toronto- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> The worst "replacement score" I ever heard was for Abel Gance's
> Napoleon when it was restored and released on VHS. I loved the movie,
> but that score by Carmen Coppola was awful. Why not just rerecord the
> Arthur Honegger original? I got so sick of hearing the same tacky
> theme repeated ad nauseum that I would mute the volume.

The Carmine Coppola score really is dreck, and it sounded awful even when I
heard it played by a live symphony orchestra in a 2500-seat theatre,
accompanying the restored "Napoleon" on its initial rerelease in 1982
(fantastic visual impact, though). However, the Coppola score is only
attached to the film in North America, and only because Francis Ford
Coppola, the Dark Prince of Nepotism, acquired the North American rights to
"Napoleon" and took the opportunity to scare up some work for his old man.
The original UK rerelease had a far superior score which was commisioned by
the film's restorer, Kevin Brownlow, and written by the esteemed
American/British composer Carl Davis, who's done much film and television
work in both the US and the UK. Unfortunately, you'll never get to hear it
on this side of the Atlantic unless you get a UK print.
GMW