{"id":1392,"date":"2010-11-15T11:48:28","date_gmt":"2010-11-15T16:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1392"},"modified":"2010-12-20T21:39:19","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T02:39:19","slug":"book-bernard-herrmanns-the-ghost-and-mrs-muir-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1392","title":{"rendered":"Book: Bernard Herrmann’s The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (2005)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Book Reviews<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Publisher: Scarecrow Press\/ ISBN: 0-8108-5679-4\/ Format: Trade Paperback\u00a0\/\u00a0Date: 2005<\/p>\n

Author: David Cooper<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Unlike prior volumes in the Scarecrow Press Film Series, Vol. 5 approaches its subject from a highly theoretical stance, and while a lot of musical terminology and theory will have average film music fans scratching their heads, David Cooper\u2019s approach \u2013 tightly organized like an intro film theory class \u2013 will instill, certainly in some, new methods of appreciating film music.<\/p>\n

Bernard Herrmann\u2019s themes, motifs, and theme variations are organized into several formal groups, from which Cooper deconstructs the technical machinations that Herrmann utilized to perfectly capture subtextual elements, discreet character traits, and emotional conflicts that weren\u2019t overtly conveyed by the film\u2019s actors, nor from director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who edited down and rewrote a substantive amount of Philip Dunne\u2019s screenplay, and shortened the film\u2019s length from a pre-release 110 min. edit.<\/p>\n

Like prior volumes in the series, the book\u2019s first section gives us an excellent portrait of the events that led the cast, crew, and composer towards the film project, and Cooper draws from the Dunne and Mankiewicz scripts, the original novel, and historical documents and theoretical observations, including those discussed in the two commentary track on Twentieth Century-Fox\u2019 stellar DVD.<\/p>\n

This is the first volume that draws from the extras in a DVD release, and it illustrates how important DVDs have become as fully accessible reference points for film fans; an added benefit is being able to compare the original score notations from a surviving cue holograph score (basically a photocopy of the printed score) with the actual film, and not the soundtrack albums (namely the Elmer Bernstein re-recording, and the European CD of original cues) that often differ from the final edited and mixed versions. This is an crucial point, because Cooper\u2019s examination deals with the music\u2019s function alongside the other audio and visual elements, which the score was designed to support.<\/p>\n

In case after case, Cooper makes it clear that Herrmann\u2019s compositions, while tied to his own personal style and quirks, were crafted to seamlessly blend with the film\u2019s other elements, and the author is quite right in using\u00a0Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/strong> as an example of why Herrmann was so perfectly suited for the film medium.<\/p>\n

While his concert work stands well on its own, Herrmann\u2019s ability to meet the demands of a film and those of the director & producer after writing film scores for a mere 6 years proves why he remained a top artisan within the factory studio system. The mix of art and functionality are clearly drawn out in Cooper\u2019s analyses, and even without formal music training, one\u2019s familiarity with the score \u2013 or cuing up the DVD via Cooper\u2019s precise time stamps \u2013 will aid the average fan in comprehending some, but not all, of the technical workings.<\/p>\n

Equally intriguing are comparisons between revised cues, descriptions of unused and unrecorded cues that were dropped from the final score, and material that later showed up in Herrmann\u2019s opera,\u00a0Wuthering<\/strong> Heights<\/strong>. There\u2019s some cheeky delight one receives from reading quotes of Herrmann\u2019s rabid dismissal of being accused of re-using themes and scores, when he clearly\u00a0did<\/em> (but quite beneficially for his opera).<\/p>\n

Reads one extract from a conversation between Leslie Zador, Gregory Rose, and Herrmann: \u201c\u2026there\u2019s a couple of phrases that I\u2019m very fond of might sound alike, but so what? Who the hell cares? What\u2019s that got to do, one or the other?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper also digs back into Herrmann\u2019s radio days and cites early ideas and concepts later explored and refined in later films and in the\u00a0Muir<\/strong> score, and the author stresses some of Herrmann\u2019s main stylistic traits that became his signature sound during his prolific period during the fifties. Cooper\u2019s technical and theoretical breakdowns will be of particular interest to composers, while the average film fan will find some useful historical facts not present in the DVD\u2019s commentary tracks.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt this book is the result of a long and detailed effort to craft an important educational reference, and hopefully the process was sufficiently rewarding for the author, as the next gem in Herrmann\u2019s canon deserving such sobering scrutiny is\u00a0Psycho<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Other volumes in the Scarecrow Film Score Series include Vol. 1:\u00a0Gabriel Yared’s The English Patient<\/strong>, Vol. 2:\u00a0Danny Elfman’s Batman<\/strong>, Vol. 3:\u00a0Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly<\/strong>, Vol. 4:\u00a0Louis and Bebe Barron’s Forbidden Planet<\/strong>, Vol. 5:\u00a0Bernard Herrmann’s The Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/strong>, Vol. 6:\u00a0Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s The Adventures of Robin Hood<\/strong>, Vol. 7:Mychael Danna’s The Ice Storm<\/strong>, and Vol. 8:\u00a0Alex North’s A Streetcar Named Desire.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a9 2007 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Book Reviews: \u00a0Vol. 2<\/strong>:\u00a0Danny Elfman’s Batman<\/a> — Vol. 3<\/strong>:\u00a0Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly<\/a> —<\/strong> Vol. 4<\/strong>:\u00a0Louis and Bebe Barron’s Forbidden Planet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE):<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Ghost & Mrs. Muir<\/a><\/strong> (1947)<\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Book Reviews<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Book Reviews . Rating: Excellent Publisher: Scarecrow Press\/ ISBN: 0-8108-5679-4\/ Format: Trade Paperback\u00a0\/\u00a0Date: 2005 Author: David Cooper . . Review: Unlike prior volumes in the Scarecrow Press Film Series, Vol. 5 approaches its subject from a highly theoretical stance, and while a lot of musical terminology and theory will have average film music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[125],"tags":[97,130,129],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-ms","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}