![]() Soldier of Fortune (1955) is a Hong Kong-based adventure starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward for which Friedhofer wrote one of his most unforgettable melodies: a smoky, nostalgic love theme representing everything one would expect from a Hollywood hero. Additionally, the score includes a sublime, bittersweet love theme for the main character's flashbacks to his pre-war life. For his main theme Friedhofer drew on the Dies Irae, the traditional chant of the dead, adapting it into an oppressive march for the main title and a furious action cue-one of the genre's all-time best-for the movie's finale. Friedhofer eschewed typical Hollywood heroics in favor of a brooding, atmospheric take on the ambiguities of war, full of texture and blocky chords coalescing into a memorable listening experience. ![]() ![]() Featured for the first time ever are an acclaimed war score in complete form and a long-sought-after "exotic" score in the best representation possible.Ä«etween Heaven and Hell (1956) is a tough-minded story of a affluent young soldier (Robert Wagner) who finds courage and his own humanity on a South Pacific island in WWII. Most of his best scores were written in the 1950s for Twentieth Century-Fox, and FSM is beginning the important process of restoring them with this new doubleheader. Sadly, very little of Friedhofer's work is available on CD. Although chronologically of the Golden Age he pioneered orchestrations and approaches which set the stage for subsequent composers from Leonard Rosenman and Elmer Bernstein to John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. He began his Hollywood career as an orchestrator and co-composer, often working for Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner, but once established as a composer wrote completely in his own style, favoring transparent orchestrations, progressive harmonies and a sense of subtlety consistent with his own self-effacing personality. Hugo Friedhofer is the original underappreciated film composer: innovative, dramatically astute, and endlessly interesting. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |