mentions:
Bernard Herrmann ~ Psycho
Twilight Zone ~ The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine
date & photographer unknown
Showing posts with label Psycho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psycho. Show all posts
February 4, 2024
Martin Balsam articles/mentions
mentions:
Bernard Herrmann ~ Psycho
Twilight Zone ~ The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine
November 10, 2023
Happy Birthday, Ennio Morricone
~ date & photographer unknown
Today, November 10, is the birthday of Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist, Ennio Morricone, whose music has added chills, both horrific and romantic, to countless dozens of memorable films. His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is regarded as one of the most recognizable and influential soundtracks in history and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (link to his compositions below).
I have many references to him on my blog with tons of information, so, I won't repeat any of it here (links below). I used much of his music for fashion shows I produced for Obiko and used one in the Tracing Passions fashion show at the Gray Loft Gallery that featured Obiko fashion designer, Carol Lee Shanks (link below).
Ennio Morricone was honored in 2012 when the very liberal President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, presented the Per Artem Ad Deum medal to him in Kielce, Poland. Ravasi advocated evolution is equal to Creationism and championed Women's Rights.
photographer unknown
Polish composer and conductor, Krzysztof Penderecki received the medal three years later in 2015 and the following year, Arvo Pärt, won the medal.
On 6 July 2020, Morricone died at the Università Campus Bio-Medico in Rome, aged 91, as a result of injuries sustained to his femur during a fall.
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
YouTube links: July 5, 2022
Anthony Perkins articles/mentions
December 17, 2021
Shirley MacLaine articles/mentions
May 17, 2019
Alfred Hitchcock articles/mentions
mentions:
Michael Rennie ~ Klaatu barada nikto!
Miklós Rózsa ~
The Lost Weekend
Spellbound
With a Song In My Heart & 10"
Miklós Rózsa ~
The Lost Weekend
Spellbound
With a Song In My Heart & 10"
Alfred Hitchcock - 1973
photo by Albert Watson
February 11, 2019
January 26, 2018
January 9, 2018
20,000 Vinyl LPs 123: Edward Hopper ~ The House by the Railroad in film
~The House by the Railroad - 1925
Art has always had a major influence on film; possibly the most famous example has been The House by the Railroad, by Edward Hopper. It is a fanciful portrait of the Second Empire Victorian home at 18 Conger Avenue in Haverstraw, New York.
The House by the Railroad has been cited as being an influence on the home in the Terrence Malick 1978 film Days of Heaven. It featured Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. The photograpy is stunning and the film won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
The score for Days of Heaven was written by Ennio Morricone who received his first Academy Award nomination in his soundtrack composing career for his work on this film. It astounds me that this is his first nomination (think Spaghetti Western or Dollars Trilogy) and that he has never received an award, period (link below).
In 1910, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend and little sister to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer. It has been translated in many languages.
Days of Heaven french & spanish posters
Alfred Hitchcock & the Bates house set
photographer unknown
Psycho has been translated into almost every language on Earth and there is a soundtrack recording of the film (link below).
Psycho original movie poster
The House by the Railroad is now at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Geek.com ~ Psycho house on a New York City roof
MoMA ~ Edward Hopper, The House by the Railroad - 1925
YouTube links:
Happiness ~ Days of Heaven soundtrack
Harvest ~ Days of Heaven soundtrack
Understanding Psycho: The Uncanny (12 min, 17 sec.)
Psycho - How Music Tells The Story (7 min, 6 sec.)
Harvest ~ Days of Heaven soundtrack
Understanding Psycho: The Uncanny (12 min, 17 sec.)
Psycho - How Music Tells The Story (7 min, 6 sec.)
Styrous© ~ Tuesday, January 9, 2018
September 9, 2017
Janet Leigh articles/mentions
~
mentions:
Bernard Herrmann ~ Psycho
Edward Hopper ~ The House by the Railroad
Chuy Reyes ~ Rumba de Cuba
Janet Leigh
date & photographer unknown
June 30, 2017
Bernard Herrmann articles/mentions
~
June 29, 2017
20,000 Vinyl LPs 94: Bernard Herrmann ~ Psycho
front cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Today, June 29th, is the birthday of Bernard Herrmann, an American composer best known for his work in composing scores for motion pictures. And he is one of the greats! The list of films he has scored contains one exceptional film after the other (link below). To me, his score for Psycho is tied with that of The Day the Earth Stood Still. As a Sci-Fi nerd, I tend more to Day but I can't decide which one is the greatest. I decided to leave Day for another blog.
There can be no argument that Psycho is one of the great psychological horror films of all time. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the tension and suspense generated by camera work, lighting and innuendo are brilliant. The score by Bernard Herrmann utilized only a string orchestra, unusual at the time; it completed the final project and insured it got there. Herrmann & Hitchcock teamed on other films to achieve terrific results but for me, this film is at the top!
There can be no argument that Psycho is one of the great psychological horror films of all time. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the tension and suspense generated by camera work, lighting and innuendo are brilliant. The score by Bernard Herrmann utilized only a string orchestra, unusual at the time; it completed the final project and insured it got there. Herrmann & Hitchcock teamed on other films to achieve terrific results but for me, this film is at the top!
front cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Psycho vinyl LP record
front cover
cover design ~ Philip Warr
photo by Styrous®
The
shower scene has to be one of the most shrewdly filmed sequences in
movie history. The screeching violins are like finger nails on a black
board that make the hair on the back of your neck and arms stand on end.
Hitchcock originally intended to have no music for the sequence
but Herrmann insisted he try his composition. Afterward, Hitchcock
agreed it vastly intensified the scene, and nearly doubled Herrmann's
salary.
Any one who has ever seen the film and this scene in particular will never forget it. And the remarkable thing about it is, it's all innuendo; nothing graphic is depicted. The quick cuts and music say it all (link below). I think if Hitchcock had shown the real thing (well, it is a film) it would not have had as much impact.
Any one who has ever seen the film and this scene in particular will never forget it. And the remarkable thing about it is, it's all innuendo; nothing graphic is depicted. The quick cuts and music say it all (link below). I think if Hitchcock had shown the real thing (well, it is a film) it would not have had as much impact.
back cover
photo by Styrous®
But that is not the only scene that is adroitly scored. Marion's (Janet Leigh) drive from the city to the final destination, the Bates Motel, is a sterling model of tension building. As her car plows through the pummeling rain at night, the events leading up to the drive are played through her mind and backed up by staccato strings overlaid by swirling ones. It is a study in churning waves of confusion! Brilliant! (link below)
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
The opening of the film (I know I'm going in reverse) doesn't give you a chance to prepare for what you are about to see. The orchestra immediately bursts into the theater auditorium with a determined, jagged-paced orchestra overlaid by sweeping strings and wipes of credit graphics accentuating them (link below).
Psycho movie poster
The trailer for the film is actually hilarious; Hitchcock plays it for laughs and makes it look like it might be a comedy. The music by Herrmann is dorky and silly which reinforces the effect. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is six and a half minutes long and worth taking the time to watch every minute of it (link below).
Theatre poster providing notification
of "no late admission" policy
The poster reads:
The manager of this theatre has been instructed at the risk of his life, not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts.
Any spurious attempts to enter by side doors, fire escapes or ventilating shafts will be met by force.
The entire objective of this extraordinary policy, of course, is to help you enjoy PSYCHO more.
Until
I started researching for this blog, I didn't realize that the film is
based on real-life events. It was based on the book of
the same name, written by Robert Bloch, which, in turn, was loosely
based on the true story of serial killer Ed Gein. Gein was known as The Butcher of Plainfield, an American murderer and body snatcher. His crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered that Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin. His story also inspired The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974 and The Silence of the Lamb in 1991.
Ed Gein, circa 1958
police crime photo
The
Bates Motel is based on a painting, House by the Railroad (1925), by
Edward Hopper. House depicts an isolated Victorian
wood mansion, partly obscured by the raised embankment of a railroad.
Lloyd Goodrich praised the work as
"one of the most poignant and desolating pieces of realism." There is other art work that inspired the film with more
info on Alfred Hitchcock Geeks (link below).
Anthony Perkins was uncanny and properly creepy as Norman Bates, the owner of the Bates Motel. It was the best role of his life. The success of Psycho jump-started his career, but he suffered from typecasting.
However, when Perkins was asked whether he would have still taken the
role knowing that he would be typecast afterwards, he replied with a
definite "yes".
Perkins made his film debut in The Actress (1953). He received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his second film, Friendly Persuasion (1956). Perkins portrayed the Boston Red Sox baseball player Jimmy Piersall in the 1957 biopic Fear Strikes Out. Perkins reprised the role of Norman Bates in three sequels to Psycho.
He performed in the Frank Loesser musical Greenwillow (1960), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical,
He performed in the Frank Loesser musical Greenwillow (1960), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical,
Perkins released three pop music albums in 1957 and 1958 on Epic and RCA Victor as "Tony Perkins". His single Moon-Light Swim was a hit in the United States, peaking at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957. He showcased his musical talents in The Matchmaker (1958) with Shirley Booth and Shirley MacLaine.
movie still
Janet Leigh was perfectly cast as Marion Crane, the heroine (briefly) of Psycho, as was John Gavin, her amazingly handsome boyfriend, Sam Loomis.
Until her death, Leigh continued to receive strange and sometimes
threatening calls, letters, and even tapes detailing what they would
like to do to Marion Crane. One letter was so "grotesque" that she
passed it along to the FBI,
two of whose agents visited Leigh and told her the culprits had been
located and that she should notify the FBI if she received any more
letters of that type.
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Psycho, independently produced and financed by Hitchcock, was filmed at Revue Studios, the same location as his television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
It had a budget of $807,000. Nearly the whole film was shot
with 50 mm lenses on 35 mm cameras. This
trick closely mimicked normal human vision, which helped to further
involve the audience. There are videos about and of how Psycho was made on YouTube (links below).
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Before his collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock, Herrmann
had written several scores for radio and film. His music was also heard on
dozens of television programs, including The Twilight Zone. He died in
1975, just after completing the score to Taxi Driver. His
most enduring and best-known work was done with Hitchcock, and his score for Psycho has come to epitomize suspense and
terror.
photo by Styrous®
photo by Styrous®
Amazingly, Psycho did not get good reviews when it was released. It is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars. Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, and is widely considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre.
In 1992, the US Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Bernard Herrmann – Psycho
Label: Unicorn Records (3) – UN1-75001
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1975
Genre: Classical, Stage & Screen
Style: Contemporary, Neo-Classical, Score, Soundtrack
Credits:
Artwork – Philip Warr
Conductor – Bernard Herrmann
Engineer [Recording] – Bob Auger
Orchestra – The National Philharmonic Orchestra*
Producer – Christopher Palmer
Notes:
Recorded at Barking Assembly Hall on 2nd October 1975.
Newly Recorded
Label: Unicorn Records (3) – UN1-75001
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1975
Genre: Classical, Stage & Screen
Style: Contemporary, Neo-Classical, Score, Soundtrack
Credits:
Artwork – Philip Warr
Conductor – Bernard Herrmann
Engineer [Recording] – Bob Auger
Orchestra – The National Philharmonic Orchestra*
Producer – Christopher Palmer
Notes:
Recorded at Barking Assembly Hall on 2nd October 1975.
Newly Recorded
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Bernard Herrmann film scores
NPR ~ Bernard Herrmann's Score to 'Psycho'
Psycho ~ Full Cast & Crew
Psycho ~ Synopsis
The Lineup ~
Was Ed Gein the Most Misunderstood Killer in American History?
House of Horrors ~ American Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock Geeks ~ Hitchcock's Most Hopperesque Film: "Psycho"
Psycho (1960) links on YouTube:
Styrous® ~ Thursday, June 29, 2017
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