This week I will start the next course toward my Language of Film Certificate through the University of Chicago’s Graham School. My anticipation and excitement grows with each class I take (having already taken the Language of Film and History of Film classes, which were both great). This fall I’ll be taking a “Point of View” course taught by Chicago Tribune film critic, Michael Phillips entitled “Great Music, Great Films.” When I read the course offering for the fall term, this course immediately leapt out at me!Over ten weeks, we’ll explore an integral part of movies that is rarely analyzed or discussed: the relationship between films and music. During the first five weeks, we will focus on music, examining famous uses of music in films, including Bernard Herrmann’s collaborations with Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, Nino Rota’s indelible Fellini scores, and the symphonic raptures of Eric Korngold.
In the last five weeks of class, Mr. Phillips will showcase films that use music in extraordinary ways, including full screenings of Laura, King’s Row, Spartacus and Vertigo.
During the 10 weeks, we’ll explore and discuss such master film composers and films (in addition to those mentioned above) as Elmer Bernstein and The Magnificent Seven; Miklós Rózsa and Ben-Hur; Ennio Morricone and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Maurice Jarre and Lawrence of Arabia; and John Williams and Jaws.
One of the more interesting classes on the syllabus will have us delving into the uneasy times many film composers faced in the 1960s, when scores by Bernard Herrmann (for Torn Curtain), Alex North (for 2001: A Space Odyssey) and William Walton (for Battle of Britain) were largely or out rightly rejected and replaced. The class will listen to the original scores and the music the films ended up using, and make our own comparisons.
I find this course and its topic so appealing, because a movie’s music can enhance the tone of the film, the emotional impact of the audience and greatly affect the overall movie experience, as with the shrieking violins in Psycho or the mystifying theremin in The Lost Weekend. Through this course I hope to gain a greater perspective and appreciation for film scores and a better understanding or their relation to what is seen, as well as the influences of film music on viewers’ responses to cinematic situations.
The film geek inside me is just shrieking with anticipation!
Who are some of your favorite film composers or your favorite pieces of film music?
