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Hollywood’s Greatest Year

Hollywood’s Greatest Year . 1939. 1939 AFI. 5 Films from 1989 made the AFI’s list of 100 greatest films: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Stagecoach Wuthering Heights The Wizard of Oz Gone With the Wind

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Hollywood’s Greatest Year

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  1. Hollywood’s Greatest Year 1939

  2. 1939 AFI • 5 Films from 1989 made the AFI’s list of 100 greatest films: • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington • Stagecoach • Wuthering Heights • The Wizard of Oz • Gone With the Wind • This is the largest number of films from any year, and only one less than the entire decade of the 80’s.

  3. The classical Film Score • Defined by Steiner, Korngold, and Waxman. • Key element in many of the films from this year. • The “Classical Score” has become synonomous with the term “The Hollywood Sound” • In 1938 2 categories were created for best score: Best Score and Best Original and

  4. Adapted Scores: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington • Has a meager amount of music when compared to Gone With the Wind • 3 reasons for this: • Related to a comedy, traditionally comedies tend to have minimal underscoring • Populist film: ordinary person pitted against the rich, politics, etc. • Film takes place in the Senate.

  5. Mr. Smith cont… • Most music in the film is source music • Only one scene in the Senate contains underscoring, near the end of Mr. Smith’s fillabuster. • Underscoring is largely based on well-known patriotic or American folk melodies, and hardly any original music.

  6. Stagecoach • First Great Western • Won the Oscar for best Score in 1939 • Energetic score by Richard Hageman based on American folk and cowboy tunes • Uses several devices that later become traditions: • Fast paced accompaniment with broad lyric tune • Combination of music and beautiful landscapes

  7. Original Scores • Competition for Best Original Score in 1939 was fierce. • 12 films by a number of Hollywood’s finest composers competed. • Among them were: • Alfred Newman Wuthering Heights • Herbert Stothart’sWizard of Oz • Max Steiner’s Gone With the Wind

  8. Wuthering Heights • One of Hollywood’s greates love stories • Based on Emily Brontë’s novel • Title is derived from the name of the manor house located high on the English moors • “Wuthering” is the local word for the fierce winds that blow during storms in the region • Score is predominantly set for strings

  9. Alfred Newman 1901-1070 • Began working in vaudeville at age 13 • By 17 he was conducting Broadway Shows • Soon developed a rep. as Hollywood’s finest conductor and became general music director of 10th century Fox • Scored around 225 films • Received 45 Academy nominations • Earned 9 Oscars

  10. The Wizard of Oz • Greatest film musical of the 1930’s • 2 creative forces: • Harold Arlen: wrote the original songs • Won academy award for “Somewhere over the Rainbow” • Herbert Stothart: adapted the songs and composed the underscoring • Won academy award for Best Original Score • Producers almost cut “Somewhere…” because they thought it slowed the film.

  11. Wizard of Oz…. • Most songs are brief tunes within larger musical scenes. • Ex: Follow the “Yellow brick Road,” “We’re off to see the Wizard” • While the tunes may not be fully developed, they are catchy enough to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. • Relies heavily on borrowed material. • More extensive than other films and contains more original material

  12. Herbert Stothart (1885-1949) • Began composing at the Univ. of Wisc. • Wrote for Broadway in the 20’s • Leading musical figure at MGM for 20 years. • Composed music for many highly acclaimed films and won 12 Academy nominations and 1 Oscar.

  13. Gone With the Wind • Epic based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel • Shot in lavish 3-part Technicolor • Won 9 Academy Awards, a record only surpassed by the 11 won by Ben-Hur, Titanic, andThe Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. • Scored by Max Steiner • Contains one of the most extensive musical scores ever created in Hollywood.

  14. GWTW…. • Steiner composed the 2:54 score in 4 weeks while supervising 2 films and working on another project. • Source music and quotations of familiar melodies are common. • Steiner creates a number of full length melodies to support characters and themes. • The Tara theme is the most popular leitmotif.

  15. Hays Code • In the 20’s the concern as to the impact of violence, evil deeds and immoral romances was un known. It was similar to the concerns about the internet today. • 1922 Hollywood created the MPPDA • Will Hays, a lawyer, helped the organization create a list of “Don’ts” and “Be carefuls” • In 1968 a rating system took its place.

  16. Trailer • Gone With the Wind with it’s epic story, colorful cinemetography, and lush musical score, will always be seen as the pinnacle of the opulent Hollywood style of filmmaking from the late 1930’s.

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