photos by Styrous®
Until I started working on this particular entry, it never occurred to me that my mother took me to some pretty weird movies when I was a kid. They were strange in some way, Snakepit with Olivia de Havilland is a good example (link below), but never sexy in any way, as with The Outlaw (link below)
On March 7, 1946, Joan Crawford, Ray Milland and Miklós Rózsa won an Academy Award; Crawford, Best Actress went to Crawford for her incredible role in the film Mildred Pierce. Milland won Best Actor for his stunning portrayal of an alcoholic in The Lost Weekend. Best Film Score went to Rózsa for his electrifying, pun intended, score for the soundtrack of Weekend. The film and director Billy Wilder received awards as well.
The Lost Weekend movie poster
It
is one of the rare times I've totally concurred with the choice of a
winner and have always treasured the score for the soundtrack of the
film on this limited edition vinyl LP I have.
One of the scenes I will never forget is when the character, Don Birnam (Milland), is in the depths of having the DT's and sees a bat fly through the window to the wall across from him where a rat is crawling through a crack in it. The bat pounces on the rat and blood runs down the wall.
One of the scenes I will never forget is when the character, Don Birnam (Milland), is in the depths of having the DT's and sees a bat fly through the window to the wall across from him where a rat is crawling through a crack in it. The bat pounces on the rat and blood runs down the wall.
It is a good thing the film is in black and white. As it is, it really makes your skin crawl! The only film to ever match up to Weekend on the subject of alcoholism and its destruction of lives is Days of Wine and Roses, which starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, directed by Blake Edwards. Although both films end on a positive note, they are very depressing.
For
its time, it was ground breaking and it was the first of what I think of as
the "Modern-day" film scores, if for nothing else, for the use, for the
first time, of the theremin.
I still get shivers up and down my spine when I listen to it! It was the first time I'd heard the instrument; I was captivated and wanted to know more about it, what it was, how the sound was made. As it was decades before the Internet, it was years before I found anything about it.
Rózsa used the theremin for two other film scores: later that year for Spellbound, which starred Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, then in 1947 for The Red House, starring Edward G. Robinson and Judith Anderson, with Julie London in a minor role. It was directed by Delmer Daves.
OH, MA GOSH!
I still get shivers up and down my spine when I listen to it! It was the first time I'd heard the instrument; I was captivated and wanted to know more about it, what it was, how the sound was made. As it was decades before the Internet, it was years before I found anything about it.
Rózsa used the theremin for two other film scores: later that year for Spellbound, which starred Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, then in 1947 for The Red House, starring Edward G. Robinson and Judith Anderson, with Julie London in a minor role. It was directed by Delmer Daves.
vinyl LP back cover
image: film still
photo of album cover by Styrous®
image: film still
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Marty Manning & His Orchestra does a VERY strange lounge cover of the main theme from Weekend (link below).
Miklós Rózsa was born on April 18, 1907, in Budapest, and was introduced to classical and folk music by his mother, Regina Berkovits, a pianist who had studied with pupils of Franz Liszt, and his father, Gyula, a well-to-do industrialist and landowner who loved Hungarian folk music.
Ray Milland was born on January 3, 1905, in Neath, Wales, in the UK. Beside the film, The Lost Weekend, his other major films were Reap the Wild Wind, Dial M for Murder, in which he plays a villainous husband out to kill wife Grace Kelly. I found this film not in the slightest bit believable as who in the would would want to kill Grace? Then there was Love Story in which once again he is up to no good.
Ray Milland died of lung cancer at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, California,
on March 10, 1986. He was 79 years old. In line with his instructions,
no funeral was held. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered
into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Redondo Beach, California.
Miklós Rózsa died on July 27, 1995, of myasthenia gravis, a nerve and muscle disorder, and is buried at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.
Miklós Rózsa died on July 27, 1995, of myasthenia gravis, a nerve and muscle disorder, and is buried at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.
vinyl LP labels
photo details by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1: The Lost Weekend (Part One) 16:32
Side 2: The Lost Weekend (Part Two) 16:28
Credits:
Conductor, Composed By – Miklós Rózsa
Liner Notes, Producer – Tony Thomas (5)
Notes:
This is a limited edition recording, produced for the promotional purposes of the composer and is not licensed for public sale. The music was transferred to tape from the original acetate masters.
A custom product of Tony Thomas Production, P.O. Box 1662, Burbank, CA 91507
One of the first film scores to feature a theremin.
Side 1: The Lost Weekend (Part One) 16:32
Side 2: The Lost Weekend (Part Two) 16:28
Credits:
Conductor, Composed By – Miklós Rózsa
Liner Notes, Producer – Tony Thomas (5)
Notes:
This is a limited edition recording, produced for the promotional purposes of the composer and is not licensed for public sale. The music was transferred to tape from the original acetate masters.
A custom product of Tony Thomas Production, P.O. Box 1662, Burbank, CA 91507
One of the first film scores to feature a theremin.
Miklós Rózsa – The Lost Weekend (The Classic Film Score)
Label: Tony Thomas Productions – TT-MR-2
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Electronic, Classical, Stage & Screen
Style: Score, Soundtrack
Label: Tony Thomas Productions – TT-MR-2
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released:
Genre: Electronic, Classical, Stage & Screen
Style: Score, Soundtrack
Viewfinder links:
Alfred Hitchcock
YouTube links:
The Lost Weekend (original trailer)
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