* From what I've read, director Michel Hazanavicius always intended to use
Herrmann's score from "Vertigo," presuming he could obtain licensing rights for
it. (He did.) But I don't want to paint a rosy picture about this because
indeed, there are people steaming mad at the music's appearance in "The
Artist." The angriest of them all is none other than actress Kim Novak
herself, who has spent the last 30 years protecting what she considers her
greatest legacy on film; e.g., a film and a musical score that's all about her
character and James Stewart's longing for her.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/not-everyone-loves-the-artist-kim-novak-feels-violated-by-use-of-vertigo-score/
* Watching "The Artist" a second time, the whole thing still strikes me as a
charming black-and-white love letter to American cinema, covering the end of
the silent era - to the beginning of the Astaire-Rogers' dance pairings during
the early 1930s. If you can get past the plotting devices that are
oh-so-familiar - it's a treat. It's been a long time since a novelty film with
a predictable ending that's unashamedly pulled straight out of old Hollywood
clichés - has become an awards favorite. The downside is "The Artist" has been
ignored by most audiences. The only people I know who've seen it are crazy
film buffs. With no big stars or high concept ideas or spectacular action
sequences, it's been as big a flop in the U.S. as Spielberg's "The Adventures
of Tintin" (another picture I thought was dynamite). An Oscar for Best Picture
in two weeks for "The Artist" will confirm mainstream audiences' worst fears
about an industry that gets behind films that none of their neighbors has heard
of or cares about.
-d.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:52:07 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
To: [email protected]
I haven't seen The Artist yet, but will take a bet that it was not the
director's original intention to use the Herrmann, but that he fell in love
with his temp track and then wouldn't replace it with scored music. The most
famous example of this, of course, is Kubrick scrapping poor Alex North's
perfectly serviceable score for 2001 in favour of the rather better known tunes
he already had on LP....
From: David Kusumoto <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2012, 4:09
Subject: [MOPO] OT: Bernard Herrmann, "Vertigo" and "The Artist"
Note: The links below have been tested and are safe.
* I went to see "The Artist" a second time to confirm my initial positive
feelings about it. If you've seen "Vertigo" (1958) - then you already know its
score by
master composer Bernard Herrmann is a classic. It's so effective at
bringing out feelings of tragedy - or inexplicable longing for something
unattainable
- that the musical passage below was brought back for "The Artist" - and is
heard in the film in its entirety:
http://bit.ly/waRJoP
* Some film buffs found the Herrmann music inappropriate in "The Artist." But
I thought it enhanced the picture despite being applied to a story that has an
old-fashioned ending. And I bet most audiences today cannot reference the
music back to "Vertigo."
* And for those who can't get enough of Herrmann -- here's the chilling theme
that runs over the opening credits of "Vertigo." (The theme below is NOT heard
in "The Artist").
http://bit.ly/xovThM
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