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James Bond enthusiasts are being treated to a definitive release of one of the franchise’s most iconic scores.LA-La Land Records will release a deluxe vinyl edition of ‘Goldfinger’ on 1 June, featuring the most complete version to date of John Barry’s score for the third 007 movie, released in 1964 and starring Sean Connery as the spy.As the label unveiled its ambitious plans to reissue classic Bond soundtracks on both vinyl and CD, a representative for the company said in a statement about the Goldfinger release: “We want fans to have something to look forward to every six weeks or so.”The label, which has built a strong reputation for restoring and reissuing film and television soundtracks, confirmed this will be the first time all known cues from the 1964 film have been compiled on a single vinyl record. The release is timed to coincide with renewed interest in Bond music,...

Every James Bond movie has separate iconic songs to get listed, but the James Bond Theme has become synonymous with the franchise name. It has been the signature music since Dr. No in 1962. Before Daniel Craig took the legacy baton forward in 2006, every Eon-produced James Bond movie featured Monty Norman’s created theme song. Although Monty Norman wrote several songs for other musical stage plays, including Pinocchio, Stand, and Deliver, he will forever be remembered for composing the iconic James Bond music.

A snippet from Dr. No | Credits: United Artists

Despite his illustrious career, Norman’s association with the “Dum di-di dum dum” guitar que arranged by the John Barry Orchestra will always be iconic. Vic Flick, who used to work with John Barry as a guitarist is popularly known for playing that particular guitar riff, has died. To honor his legacy, let’s look at a few unknown facts about the theme music.

Vic Flick, the famed British session guitarist who picked out the twangy riff for the James Bond theme song introduced to moviegoers on Dr. No, has died. He was 87.

His death on Thursday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease was announced by his family on Facebook.

Flick also played on No. 1 hits for Peter and Gordon (“A World Without Love”) and Petula Clark (“Downtown”); performed on Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” and “Ringo’s Theme” (This Boy) for A Hard Day’s Night (1964); and collaborated with the likes of Jimmy Page, George Martin, Herman’s Hermits, Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton, Dusty Springfield and Engelbert Humperdinck.

“He was a musician’s musician,” Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues wrote in the foreword to Flick’s 2008 memoir, Vic Flick Guitarman: From James Bond to The Beatles and Beyond.

“He always stood up to play! Yes, I know it sounds obvious — but you...

A new book explains how the iconic Friends intro helped save TV theme songs. Although the Friends cast wasn't especially fond of their show's opening sequence, partly because it wasn't much fun to film, the "I'll Be There for You" song by The Rembrandts helped set the tone for a sitcom that has gone on to have a huge legacy. But far from just helping to shape the NBC series throughout its ten seasons, the song played a role in changing how executives approached other series.

The legacy of Friends' opening sequence is discussed in Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring, a new book by writer Jon Burlingame. In the chapter on sitcoms, it's mentioned that there was a push to move away from themes and extended openings in both the comedy and drama space. In an excerpt from Variety, Michael Skloff, who composed...

Variety writer Jon Burlingame’s new book, “Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring,” is published today. The product of 35 years of research and more than 450 interviews, it tells the backstory of every great TV theme dating back to 1949. What follows is an excerpt from the sitcom chapter.

In the summer of 1994, ABC Entertainment president Ted Harbert (in response to a question from this writer at a network press conference) admitted that he was asking his producers to eliminate the traditional main-title sequence – and with it, the musical theme – from all new shows.

“I think it’s an antiquated practice,” he said. “It gives the audience an opportunity to take the little remote and zap around. We really have to find ways to stop them from doing that. The 60-second, or in some cases 90-second, main title that they see week after week, given all the choices they have,...

Disney unveiled a new look at “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” during the Super Bowl, giving franchise viewers a closer look at the flashbacks of a young Harrison Ford, and Jones’ relationship with his goddaughter Helena, played by “Fleabag” star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The latest addition to the “Indiana Jones” series takes place in 1969 during the U.S.-Soviet Space Race as Indy and Helena go head-to-head with villainous Nazis for one last adventure. Franchise newcomers Mads Mikkelsen and Boyd Holbrook will play villains Jürgen Voller and Klaber, respectively.

Antonio Banderas, Shaunette Renée Wilson and Toby Jones are also new additions to the cast. John Rhys-Davies will reprise his role of Sallah from 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

Lucasfilm’s first trailer for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was an action-packed celebration of the archaeologist’s return to the screen. Though Indy avows his days of recklessness are behind him,...

John Williams is retiring after he finishes the score for the forthcoming Indiana Jones movie — right? Well, Steven Spielberg certainly thinks so. Or thought so. He was corrected on that notion at the very end of a 90-minute conversation between the two film giants Thursday night.

At the event, sponsored by the American Cinematheque and held at the Writers Guild Theater, moderator (and Variety film music writer) Jon Burlingame addressed the elephant that was gingerly lingering around the edges of the room: “A final question for each of you. John, are you really retiring from films? Are this” — “The Fabelmans,” the last film to come up for discussion — “and the Indiana Jones film to come your last work for the medium?”

“Well, Steven is a lot of things,” replied the composer. “He’s a director, he’s a producer, he’s a studio head, he’s a writer, he’s a philanthropist,...

There have been many rumors flying around recently that composer John Williams, age 90, is hanging up his piano after his most recent project scoring Steven Spielberg‘s semi-autographical Oscar contender “The Fabelmans.” As it turns out, the iconic movie maestro still has a decade left of work to look forward to. (Collective reaction: Yay!)

Thursday night at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, Williams and Spielberg met up for a 50-year in-depth retrospective of their careers scoring and directing some of the biggest movies of all time. And Williams had this to say when asked point-blank from moderator Jon Burlingame (Variety) about whether he was retiring:

“Well, um, Steven is a lot of things. He’s a director, he’s a producer, he’s a studio head, he’s a writer, he’s a philanthropist, he’s an educator … one thing he isn’t, is a man you can say ‘no’ to.

Grown adults were grinning like awestruck children as the legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams discussed their unparalleled 50-year collaboration during an American Cinematheque celebration of the duo at the Writers Guild of America Theater in Beverly Hills on Thursday night — and that was before Williams, 90, thrilled the crowd, and surprised Spielberg, by rescinding his prior declaration that he would retire from film scoring after his latest project with Spielberg, The Fabelmans and then one more Indiana Jones film.

“Steven is a lot of things,” Williams said in response to a question from veteran music journalist Jon Burlingame about packing it in. “He’s a director, he’s a producer, he’s a studio head, he’s a writer, he’s a philanthropist, he’s an educator. One thing he isn’t is a man you can say ‘no’ to.” After an eruption of applause from the audience,...

The James Bond franchise is the gold standard for long-running film series. Sixty years of 007 have not only come with new takes on the secret agent himself but what the franchise should be for each generation of the character. This has meant consistent alterations to every aspect of the movies, as one star takes over for another, from ditching the overt sexism on Bonds past when Daniel Craig took over the role to embracing the absurd in the early years, namely the later Sean Connery films and the majority of the Roger Moore era.

Even the music has changed with each theatrical adventure. From absolute classics, such as Matt Monro’s “From Russia With Love” and Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger,” to more modern hits like Adele’s “Skyfall,” each new Bond song is as big an event as the movie itself. But not all Bond songs are equal, and...

Variety film music writer Jon Burlingame has been named among the winners of the 2021 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards, awarded by a jury of experts for outstanding coverage of music in the forms of print, broadcast, liner notes or new media.

Burlingame won the ASCAP Foundation Paul Williams “Loved the Liner Notes” Award for his 4,000-word essay that was included on a recent expanded reissue of the “Midnight Cowboy” film soundtrack on Quartet Records. Burlingame — also the host of the “Disney for Scores” podcast and a prolific liner notes writer, as well as journalist and professor — is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on movie music.

Among other recipients, New York Times writer Daphne A. Brooks won the award for an article in the pop field for “100 Years Ago, ‘Crazy Blues’ Sparked a Revolution for Black Women Fans.”

Another award for a New York...

In the latest episode of the Disney’s “For Scores” podcast, Egot-certified composer Alan Menken looks back at his history with the studio, for whom he composed songs and scores for “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.” He also reveals there will be at least four new songs composed and written for the live-action version of “The Little Mermaid.”

Says Menken: “At first, Lin-Manuel Miranda was struggling to do Alan Menken-style songs, and he felt like, walking in Howard Ashman’s shoes was a daunting prospect. Then we wrote some songs that were in Lin’s wheelhouse and for me, walking in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s shoes was a daunting prospect, but we had a blast.”

In a two-part special, Menken speaks with host — and Variety contributor — Jon Burlingame about meeting fellow composer and songwriter Howard Ashman on an off-Broadway hit (“Little Shop of Horrors”). “Howard had very...

Two-time Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat has created beautiful music for such directors as Stephen Frears, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski and George Clooney. The latter’s latest film, “The Midnight Sky,” marks their fourth collaboration as director and composer; Desplat also composed music for films Clooney produced including the 2013 Oscars Best Picture winner “Argo.”

In the Netflix sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky” Clooney plays a scientist stationed in the Arctic Circle who must venture into the maelstrom to warn a returning spaceship not to land because the Earth has gone through a deadly catastrophe. Desplat’s poignant score just made the academy’s shortlist. He joined Variety’s Jon Burlingame recently to discuss his relationship with Clooney and the effect of Covid on the production.

Desplat enjoys his collaborations with Clooney because he is equally passionate about music. “It’s very deep inside his system...

The Emmy nomination ballots are now closed, but in scouring this year’s entries, I was sad to see that “Succession” composer Nicholas Britell didn’t submit the show’s seminal Season 2 rap, “L to the Og.”

Featured in the “Succession” episode “Dundee,” the song was one of the cringiest, most memorable moments of the last TV season: At a black-tie dinner celebrating mega-mogul Logan Roy’s 50th year running Waystar Royco, his son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) — dressed in a baseball jersey, which had been under his tuxedo — stuns the crowd by rapping about his dad’s career. That embarrassing moment solidified for many viewers why they love to hate and hate to love the deliciously dysfunctional family at the heart of “Succession.”

From that moment on, I’ve been looking forward to the Emmys figuring out a way to recruit Strong to re-create that performance on the telecast. Even...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning and prolific film composer, has died in Rome at age 91 from complications resulting from a fall that had left him with a fractured hip. In the course of his career, Morricone rose from composing music for little-seen Italian films to becoming an icon of the movie industry. He worked virtually non-stop, turning out a head-spinning number of film scores. However, it was his collaborations with director Sergio Leone that brought him to international attention. When United Artists head of production David V. Picker saw Leone's A Fistful of Dollars  and For a Few Dollars More, both of which had been sensations at the European boxoffice, he purchased the distribution rights for the movies for English language territories. He also agreed to finance the third and final film in the series, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The films proved to be sensations...

The Cannes Film Festival’s virtual roll out continues this week with its Marché du Film, which featured composers Alexandre Desplat, a multiple Oscar winner, and John Powell in a keynote conversation on Monday morning. Moderated by Variety‘s Jon Burlingame, the composers discussed a range of topics from how they choose projects to budgets and processes. Among the highlights:

Scoring on Lockdown

Desplat said he had recorded the score to George Clooney’s upcoming science fiction film during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. “The Midnight Sky” is based on the Lily Brooks-Dalton novel about an Arctic scientist trying to stop a group of astronauts from returning home. Speaking about “The French Dispatch,” the highly anticipated Wes Anderson movie that was due to premiere at Cannes but got postponed to an Oct. 16 release, Desplat says: “I tried writing a score of that era with a sense of discontinuity and it has piano solos.

The Cannes Film Festival may be off this year, but its Marché du Film is up and running virtually. Monday’s sessions included a “Meet & Listen” conversation with award-winning composer Mark Isham, who revealed that he scored the music to “Bill & Ted Face the Music” remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Variety‘s Jon Burlingame, Isham explained: “I was fortunate in that the films I was working on wrapped principal photography, and ‘Bill and Ted’ was done remotely using an orchestra in Budapest. It was assembled all with a mix studio.” All resourcefulness aside, Isham said he misses the live experience more than anything — not just in his work. “That’s a big loss, the lack of live music,” he added. “It’s taken a toll on everyone, the musicians and the culture.”

Isham has worked on scores for “Fallen,” “Blade,” “Crash,” “The Black Dahlia,” and, most recently,...

As far as the Academy’s concerned, “Honeyland” is the bee’s knees.

A Macedonian beekeeper’s struggle to sustain an ancient way of life picked up three jury prizes at 2019’s Sundance Film Festival. Now it’s the first-ever dual nominee for documentary feature and international feature.

“Honeyland” thrives on elements traditionally revered in each category. Nature docs have been Academy catnip since 1948, when “Seal Island” kicked off a string of Disney-produced wins for true-life adventures, down to latter-day triumphs of “March of the Penguins” (2005) and “Free Solo” last year. “Honeyland” probes forbidding hillsides outside Skopje at breathtaking distance, then zooms in on a life-and-death battle between rival beekeepers spelling disaster for implacable heroine Hatidze Muratova.

Recipients of what was formerly best foreign-language film are generally strongly humanistic and politically aware, from 1948’s “Shoeshine” to last year’s “Roma.” Praised by Variety’s Guy Lodge for its “unexpectedly rich seam of moral tension,...

Hildur Guðnadóttir won the Golden Globe for best original film score for her work on “Joker” — the first woman to do so as a solo composer in the history of the Globes.

The only woman to share in the honor previously was Lisa Gerrard, a co-winner with Hans Zimmer in 2000 for “Gladiator.” The last woman to be nominated was Karen O, who shared a nod with Carter Burwell in 2009 for “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Guðnadóttir is breaking the logjams in scoring awards and nominations at other awards shows in a big way, too. She recently won an Emmy for scoring “Chernobyl,” a TV assignment that currently has her up for a Grammy as well. She’s expected to be a shoo-in for at least a nomination for “Joker” at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Guðnadóttir is nominated for “Joker” and “Chernobyl” at the Society of Composers and Lyricists’ awards, happening...

For movies that take place in ye grand olde 20th century, or earlier, directors often go for period-specificity for everything that appears on screen. When it comes to the music coming through the speakers, though, that can be another matter, as filmmakers tend to be fine with anachronisms in scoring and sometimes even songs. Here’s how six recent period films handled that soundtrack question.

1917

Thomas Newman’s score for Sam Mendes’ war film ignores the period entirely. “It’s a very visceral experience, and a very modern movie,” he says, referring to Mendes’ much-discussed conceit of making a two-hour movie appear to be one long shot.

Newman’s 95-minute score ranges from ambient, involving electronically created and processed sounds, to symphonic, with an 87-piece orchestra recorded at London’s Abbey Road. Mendes wanted the score to remain “in present tense,” accompanying the film’s two British soldiers without commenting on their desperate mission.

Among the many speakers and panelists at Variety’s 2019 Music for Screens Summit, the composer for “Joker” spoke about how her score inspired Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, Robbie Robertson talked up Martin Scorsese, Cameron Crowe talked stage musicals, branding experts spoke about how synchs and Shazam increasingly work in sync, and music supervisors fought for their right to parity.

In a breakout session during the second annual summit Tuesday, Emmy-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, known for scoring HBO’s “Chernobyl,” sat down with Variety‘s Jon Burlingame and discussed her path to scoring Todd Phillips’ “Joker.” Guðnadóttir revealed that Phillips discovered her music in “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and sought her out for “Joker” while he was writing the script.

Guðnadóttir said, “I told him, if you’re looking for someone to do an action movie, I’m not really sure if I’m the right person. He told me...

Halloween is only days away, and what better way to celebrate than with a classic monster movie that’s been fully restored and whose original score has, 84 years later, finally been issued as a soundtrack album?

Universal screened its 1935 “Bride of Frankenstein” Monday night to an appreciative audience on the studio lot, following a reception to celebrate the first release of the movie’s Franz Waxman score, part of the Universal Pictures Heritage Collection series.

“Bride” was the first original score composed in Hollywood by Waxman, a later Oscar winner for the music of “Sunset Boulevard” and “A Place in the Sun.” Its release as an album on La-La Land Records is part of the studio’s drive to restore many of its classic musical assets, making them available commercially as well as for licensing.

Alexia Baum, director of music publishing for the studio, explained that the Heritage Collection began...

Disney Music Group, in association with Treefort Media, will debut “For Scores,” a new podcast series featuring interviews with film and television composers from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox.

Set to launch this week, the podcast is hosted by Variety contributor Jon Burlingame and “will give voice to award-winning visionary composers, exploring the challenges and emotional journeys of these musical storytellers,” reads an announcement by Dmg.

Burlingame, who has written about film music for Variety since 1997, is the author of four books on the subject (including the best-selling “The Music of James Bond”), teaches film-music history at USC, and has produced and hosted a series of movie-music specials for Classical Kusc in Los Angeles.

Composers featured in the first four episodes include:

— Alan Silvestri. Silvestri talks about his work on four Marvel movies, including “Avengers: Endgame.” He reveals the emotional process he goes through, how it has...

The title of the just-completed documentary “Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time” reflects the subject’s lament that there aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the year for all the music that needs to be made. That desire to stretch the clock might seem hyperbolic coming from other musicians, but not for someone whose hats have included film and TV scorer, concert performer, producer and jazz label mogul, often all at once.

At a post-screening Q&A in Santa Monica this week, the great jazz bassist Marcus Miller spoke about being a youthful protege and watching Grusin casually change hats mid-day… and assuming that was normal.

“I started playing with Dave Grusin when I was 17, 18 — I don’t know how old, but I know I had braces,” Marcus laughed. “To see him run a session, and then know that he’s going to score a movie that night after the session…...

Siddhartha Khosla, one of the busiest composers in TV with ongoing assignments for “This Is Us,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “Marvel’s Runaways,” has made the move to Ascap, the performing-rights organization announced Wednesday.

For all of his steady television gigs, “This is Us” remains by far the most prominent, partly because he provides prominent acoustic scoring for so many emotional moments— or, as NPR put it, “Siddhartha Khosla has tiptoed into the tear ducts of millions of Americans.”

But “This is Us” also stands out because Khosla is able to exercise his songwriting chops there, too, in addition to scoring. Mandy Moore sang “Invisible Ink” on the show this season. Another original song written for the series, “We Can Always Come Back to This,” topped the blues chart and recently picked up a nomination from the Guild of Music Supervisors for best song/recording for television.

“Siddhartha is...

The film, television and gaming music communities got the confab they’ve long deserved Tuesday as Variety hosted the inaugural Music for Screens Summit. Guests including Annie Lennox (pictured above with H. Scott Salinas), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Linda Perry, Terence Blanchard and Ramin Djawadi came to Neuehouse in Hollywood for a day of interviews and panels celebrating the art, craft and business of composing and music supervision, capped by a preview screening of Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The day kicked off with a panel sponsored by Pepsi on the use of music in commercial advertising and featuring five unique case studies. Linda Perry, representing her company We Are Hear, detailed how a Quickbooks spot featuring singer Willa Amai’s cover of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” created an instant audience for the teen newcomer. Others represented on the panel included Portugal. The Man manager Rich Holtzman...

Annie Lennox has been added to Variety’s inaugural Music for Screens Summit and will take part in a keynote conversation with composer Scott Salinas. The event will be held at Neuehouse in Hollywood, Calif. on Oct. 30

Lennox, who rose to fame during the 1980s as singer and co-songwriter of Eurythmics, has released six studio albums and won three Grammys. Her latest album, “Nostalgia,” was released in 2014.

Other new additions to the event include a keynote conversation with the team behind Netflix’s “Westside,” and speakers include executive producer Kevin Bartel and executive music producer James Diener from the upcoming reality music series. Shirley Halperin, Variety’s executive editor of music will moderate.

Also, Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie Xl (“Alita: Battle Angel”) has joined the Composer Roundtable presented by Ascap. Variety contributor Jon Burlingame will moderate the conversation about how best to craft music for film and TV in the digital age.

One of the best Hollywood historical epics takes Technicolor to Mexico for a Production Code version of La conquista: the Inquisition is still bad, but the Church is exonerated. Likewise with the invasion — Cesar Romero embodies a marvelous Hernán Cortés, substantially less murderous than the one we now know from accurate history books. Tyrone Power is the heartthrob hero and newcomer Jean Peters the lowborn girl who loves him. The magnificent scenery is matched by the music score of Alfred Newman.

Captain from Castile

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1947 / Color / 137 Academy / 141 min. / Street Date October 17, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, Cesar Romero, Lee J. Cobb, John Sutton, Antonio Moreno, Thomas Gomez, Alan Mowbray, Barbara Lawrence, George Zucco, Roy Roberts, Marc Lawrence, Reed Hadley, Robert Karnes, Estela Inda, Chris-Pin Martin, Jay Silverheels, Gilberto González.

Cinematography: Arthur Arling, Charles G. Clarke, Joseph Lashelle

Film Editor: Barbara McLean...

The chase is on: a mix of icy ruthlessness and warm romanticism enliven Ken Follett's novel of pre-invasion esponage intrigue. Kate Nelligan heats up the screen with Donald Sutherland, the 'seventies most unlikely sex star. Plus a lush and wondrous music score by Miklos Rozsa. Eye of the Needle Blu-ray Twilight Time 1981 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date September 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store29.95 Starring Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan, Christopher Cazenove, Ian Bannen, Philip Martin Brown, Bill Nighy, Stephen MacKenna, Sam Kydd. Cinematography Alan Hume Original Music Miklos Rozsa Written by Stanley Mann based on the novel by Ken Follett Produced by Stephen Friedman Directed by Richard Marquand

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

We're all familiar with this kind of thriller -- over shots of fresh-faced troops moving off to war, a portentous scrolling text tells us about the desperate situation of London -- and the Free World -- as Hitler's Luftwaffe threatens.

That scarlet woman Ingrid is back from exile, and hypocritical Hollywood is not complaining -- Anatole Litvak and Arthur Laurents make an intriguing romantic-psychological mystery of a bogus Romanoff Duchess who surfaces in 1928 Paris to claim the crown fortune. Good roles for Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes as well. It's a strange intersection of scandal, history and swindlers that may have found the real item... and maybe not. Anastasia Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Ship Date March 15, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes, Akim Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, Felix Aylmer, Sacha Pitoeff, Ivan Desny, Natalie Schafer, Karel Stepanek Cinematography Jack Hildyard Art Direction Andrej Andrejew, Bill Andrews Film Editor Bert Bates Original Music Alfred Newman Written by Arthur Laurents from a play by Marcelle Maurette Produced by Buddy Adler Directed by Anatole Litvak

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The cleverly written and...

Do you love movies about cute animals? The original pet-lion-in-Africa romp is actually a well balanced nature film about the separation between wild animals and those raised by humans. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers winningly play the Adamsons, game wardens that dedicate themselves to the well-being of Elsa, the lioness they raise from infancy. Born Free Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 96 min. / Ship Date December 8, 2015 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Lukoye, Omar Chambati Cinematography Kenneth Talbot Film Editor Don Decon Original Music John Barry Written by Lester Cole from the novel by Joy Adamson Produced by Sam Jaffe, Paul B. Radin Directed by James Hill

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Savant normally becomes sullen and anti-social around overly committed animal lovers, I suppose because I think the world gets a little out of balance when people seriously consider their domestic...

I took a break from Fantastic Fest on Sunday to visit MondoCon at the Marchesa Theater. The crowds had thinned out a bit from Saturday's opening day, but the impact of the overwhelming response to the first-ever MondoCon was evident from the sold-out Mondo Beer and food-truck menu items.

I was quite impressed with the use of space for the event: two rooms full of artists and dealers, a pleasantly diverse assortment of food trucks, a special tent with Mondo posters and vinyl available for purchase, and a Shaun of the Dead record-tossing game booth, as seen above. I gave it a try and won a beer-colored variant of the Shaun of the Dead score.

The theater auditorium itself held panels and screenings throughout the weekend. I was sorry to miss local film composer Brian Satterwhite's Saturday panel "2001: A Lost Score", which featured a live presentation of several...

After a decade of low-budget cheesy special effects science fiction films, the early 1960s was particularly quiet, ceding to television series such as Star Trek and The Time Tunnel. But, also released in 1966 was an eye-opening spectacular that had a plausible premise, strong cast, and the next generation in film special effects. Fantastic Voyage may be remembered today for Raquel Welch in a tight outfit, it is also a step forward in cinematic Sf. Thankfully, it preceded 2001: A Space Odyssey by two years.

At a time when miniaturization was making home technology smaller and more sophisticated, the idea of inserting a tiny sub full of humans into the body of an ill scientist seemed the next logical step. The body in question was the victim of an assassination attempt and his knowledge and life had to be saved so a daring experiment was to be undertaken. Forget that the...

I’m always looking for some new sci-fi goodness to check out, and usually that means checking out something just released. But I’m always more than thrilled to stumble upon something beautifully classic like the 1966 Fantastic Voyage, which I’ve never seen before but am really looking forward to checking out on Blu-ray when it’s released in October. Check out the details below.

Synopsis:

Prepare to journey into the deepest reaches of space…inner space! Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasence, and Raquel Welch in her feature-film debut, star in “one of the most ingenious, inventive, imaginative, science fiction films Hollywood has ever produced” (Citizen-News).

Special Features:

● Commentary by Film & Music Historian Jeff Bond

● Isolated Score Track with Commentary by Film & Music Historians Jeff Bond, Jon Burlingame and Nick Redman

● Lava Lamps & Celluloid: A Tribute to the Visual Effects of Fantastic Voyage

● Storyboard-to-Scene Comparison: Whirlpool Scene

● Original Theatrical Trailer...

Visit the 20th Century Fox Studio Classics Facebook page for more information about upcoming releases from the studio archive. Fantastic Voyage Prepare to journey into the deepest reaches of space...inner space! Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasence, and Raquel Welch in her feature-film debut, star in “one of the most ingenious, inventive, imaginative, science fiction films Hollywood has ever produced” (Citizen-News). Special Features: ● Commentary by Film & Music Historian Jeff Bond ● Isolated Score Track with Commentary by Film & Music Historians Jeff Bond, Jon Burlingame and Nick Redman ● Lava Lamps & Celluloid: A Tribute to the Visual Effects of Fantastic Voyage ● Storyboard-to-Scene Comparison: Whirlpool Scene ● Original Theatrical Trailer Fantastic Voyage Blu-ray...

As part of the global 50th anniversary celebration of James Bond, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present “The Music of Bond: The First 50 Years,” on Friday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Held 50 years to the day after the U.K. opening of the first Bond film, “Dr. No,” the evening pays homage to the memorable title songs and indelible scores that have become as celebrated as the films themselves.

Check out Vanity Fair’s latest Bond spread Here.

Hosted by music historian and writer Jon Burlingame, the program will feature many of the people who made the music, including composer Bill Conti (“For Your Eyes Only”), songwriter Carole Bayer Sager (“Nobody Does It Better” from “The Spy Who Loved Me”), lyricist Don Black (title songs for “Thunderball,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” “The Man with the Golden Gun” and “The World Is Not Enough...

Academy To Celebrate The Music Of James Bond

Beverly Hills, CA – As part of the global 50th anniversary celebration of James Bond, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present "The Music of Bond: The First 50 Years," on Friday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Held 50 years to the day after the U.K. opening of the first Bond film, "Dr. No," the evening pays homage to the memorable title songs and indelible scores that have become as celebrated as the films themselves.

Hosted by music historian and writer Jon Burlingame, the program will feature many of the people who made the music, including composer Bill Conti ("For Your Eyes Only"), songwriter Carole Bayer Sager ("Nobody Does It Better" from "The Spy Who Loved Me"), lyricist Don Black (title songs for "Thunderball," "Diamonds Are Forever," "The Man with the Golden Gun...

The Elfman Project, a three-year exploration of the work of composer Danny Elfman by the American Youth Symphony, is set to launch May 6 with a free symposium and concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Westwood. The hourlong symposium starts at 4 p.m. with a discussion of Elfman’s work and includes a live performance featuring music from the 2008 documentary Standard Operating Procedure. Los Angeles Times music critic Jon Burlingame will moderate the discussion, and composer and American Youth Symphony guest conductor David Newman will participate. The concert begins at 7 p.m. with relevant music from Stravinsky

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Hitchcock directing Novak in Vertigo

By Lee Pfeiffer

Kim Novak has a bone to pick with Michael Hazanavicius, the director of the acclaimed film The Artist, which is a tribute to the silent film era. Hazanavicius employed a key love theme by Bernard Herrmann from Alfred Hitchcock's classic Vertigo in a sequence in his film. This lead to Vertigo star Kim Novak to come out of self-imposed hibernation and take out a full page ad in Variety saying that she felt  her work had been "raped" by the appropriation of Herrmann's score that is so associated with the Hitchcock movie. Predictably, Hazanavicius does not agree and has said that he used the musical piece as an 'homage' to one of his favorite composers. This is not the first time that 'homages' have been accused of being rip-offs. Some years ago legendary artist and designer Saul Bass sued filmmaker Spike Lee...

The music branch lowers the boom on "Black Swan" and "True Grit," and "The Social Network" lowers the boom – just a little bit – on "The King's Speech." As I cautioned a couple of weeks ago, a few of the year's highest-profile films scores were always on shaky ground with the Academy's music branch, which disqualifies scores that feature too many songs or are "diluted" by the use of pre-existing music. Jon Burlingame now reports that Clint Mansell's "Black Swan" and Carter Burwell's "True Grit" have indeed been disqualified, according...

Variety's Jon Burlingame is reporting the Academy has nixed the eligibility of four potential original scores for this upcoming awards season. The scores deemed ineligible include Clint Mansell's score for Black Swan, Michael Brook's score for The Fighter and Carter Burwell's scores for True Grit and The Kids are All Right.

I actually got in a discussion about this very thing this morning with some Oscar bloggers over email, surprised when the Chicago film critics named Mansell's Black Swan the best original score of the year, primarily because it seemed like more of an adaptation of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and that turns out to be the very reason it was disqualified. Burwell's score for True Grit was axed because it was mostly based on 19th-century hymns, which are apparently not sufficiently "original."

The scores for Fighter and Kids were reportedly given the heave-ho because "both films are filled with songs,...

It took them a year, but the Society of Composers and Lyricists has come out in support of the proposed Composers Union, spearheaded by the Association of Music Composers and Lyricists (Amcl) and the Teamsters Union Local 399.

As Jon Burlingame first reported in Variety, the decision came down when the Scl board recently voted to endorse the effort.

The Amcl is expected to formally announce the Scl’s endorsement at their next organizing meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, at the Writers Guild Theater.

Since last April’s addition of several Amcl steering committee members (including composers Mike Post, Sean Callery, Rick Marvin, Richard Gibbs, and others), the Scl is the most recent organization to come out in support of the Amcl’s retooled campaign for a “benefits only” union for composers. Earlier this year, organizations including WGA, SAG, AFTRA, Afm, and the Recording Musicians Assn. (Rma) formally endorsed the effort by the Amcl.

I thought you Danny Elfman/Tim Burton fans might like this. For $500 you can pre-order a limited edition collector's set of all 13 scores that Elfman compased for Burton's movies. But this is a pretty kick ass package that you're getting for $500.It's a 16 cd set packaged with artwork by Tim Burton, with over 19 hours of music, which include 7 hours of previously un-released masters, demos, work tapes and rarities.It comes with a ton of stuff, so I'll list it here for you from the official site.A Collectible Zoetrope Box A collection of music as unique as Danny Elfman’s for the film of Tim Burton needed to be housed in something equally special, wondrous, and whimsical. Designed to evoke a treasure chest found in a mysterious attic, The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box is a work of art in itself. Grammy-winning designer Matt Taylor has transformed...

A Centennial Salute to Composer Alex North

Beverly Hills, CA: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will celebrate the career of Alex North (1910-1991), the 15-time Oscar®-nominated composer, with a centennial salute featuring a screening of The Misfits (1961) on Friday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The event also will include film clips and an onstage discussion hosted by journalist and film-music historian Jon Burlingame, with Oscar-nominated composer Laurence Rosenthal, producer Steven North (Alex’s son), and North’s biographer Sanya Henderson.

Between 1951 and 1984, North received 14 Academy Award® nominations for Original Score and 1 for Song. He finally took home an Oscar statuette in 1985 when he was presented with an Honorary Award “in recognition of his brilliant artistry in the creation of memorable music for a host of distinguished motion pictures.”

David Newman conducts “Main Title” from Alex North’s 1963 score Cleopatra.

HollywoodNews.com: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will celebrate the career of Alex North (1910–1991), the 15-time Oscar®-nominated composer, with a centennial salute featuring a screening of “The Misfits” (1961) on Friday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The event also will include film clips and an onstage discussion hosted by journalist and film-music historian Jon Burlingame, with Oscar-nominated composer Laurence Rosenthal, producer Steven North (Alex’s son), and North’s biographer Sanya Henderson.

Between 1951 and 1984, North received 14 Academy Award® nominations for Original Score and 1 for Song. He finally took home an Oscar statuette in 1985 when he was presented with an Honorary Award “in recognition of his brilliant artistry in the creation of memorable music for a host of distinguished motion pictures.”

North’s “brilliant artistry” included his work for “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), which was the first major...

It’s a WWII-fest, with five films starring the legendary Errol Flynn. These adventures from 1942-1945 are a solid showcase of not only the star, but era itself, and the DVD set adds to the effect with some great bonuses. With vintage newsreels, classic cartoons, and more, you can relive the experience of these films like never before.

From a unique period in film history, putting out war adventures with a unique derring-do perspective, and starring the unique screen charm of Flynn, this is a collection with a surprisingly varied appeal. Mostly directed by another legend, Raoul Walsh (White Heat, The Tall Men), the set also manages to deliver an effort of style, with Walsh generally aiming at some manner of art in his semi-pseudo-propaganda vehicles.

Taking a look at the Nazi menace from every angle imaginable, whether as an American pilot, Canadian mountie, or Norwegian villager, Flynn gets a...

Oh, Image Entertainment. How quickly we're growing to love thee. The official specs and artwork for both "The Twilight Zone" Season 2 on Blu-ray and "The Twilight Zone" Fan Favorites DVD Collection have come our way along with the artwork so without further ado ...

From the Press Releases

"Genies, malevolent machines, Santa Claus and The Devil himself. Get ready for more excursions into the fantastic when Image Entertainment releases The Twilight Zone: Season 2 on Blu-ray November 16th. All 29 episodes from the legendary series’ second season have been remastered and will be presented in pristine 1080p high-definition and uncompressed Pcm audio. In addition, the 4-disc set also includes many of the bonus features from the Definitive Collection DVD release, along with hours of new bonus features, specially created for this Blu-ray™ release. Spr is $99.98, and pre-book is October 19th.

Season Two Episodes

King Nine Will Not Return, The Man in the Bottle,...

No doubt many prefer the swashbuckling stuff but Errol Flynn distinguished himself just fine in his less popular war films. There are so many special features here I'm just listing them straight from the site but no fan of classic cinema history or Flynn needs to be told to pick this up. 

Buy It Now 

Desperate Journey (1942)

Warner Night at the Movies 1942 Short Subjects Gallery: Vintage newsreel, Oscar-nominated patriotic short The Tanks Are Coming, musical shorts Borrah Minnevitch and His Harmonica School and The United States Army Air Force Band, classic cartoon The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall, trailers of Desperate Journey and 1942's Murder in the Big House

Northern Pursuit (1943)

Warner Night at the Movies 1943 Short Subjects Gallery: Vintage newsreel, wartime short The Rear Gunner, musical short All-Star Melody Masters, drama short Over the Wall, classic cartoon Hop and Go, trailers of Northern Pursuit...

Karloff's classic horror television series "Thriller" is finally making its way to DVD courtesy of Image Entertainment and we couldn't be happier. All 67 episodes will be transferred to a 14 DVD box set due out August 3rd...

Below is the press release and DVD box artwork for the series.

For two seasons and over sixty episodes, horror icon Boris Karloff invited television audiences to enjoy captivating tales of suspense, murder, and relentless terror as host of the 1960s anthology series “Thriller.” Featuring stories from such master storytellers as Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Bloch, Cornell Woolrich and starring a galaxy of classic television stars from the 1960s and 1970s, “Thriller” was dubbed by Stephen King as “the best horror series ever put on TV.”

Now, Image Entertainment proudly announces a tribute to a television legend with the August 31st release of “Thriller: The Complete Series” 14-dvd Deluxe Box Set. All 67 unforgettable episodes have been remastered,...

Now this is the way we love to end a Friday. Fans of Boris Karloff and classic horror television shows have long sought after the series "Thriller". It was available on VHS way back when and of course almost every bootlegger has peddled a copy online at one point or another, but now thanks to Image Entertainment the wait and the search are officially over!

From the Press Release

For two seasons and over sixty episodes, horror icon Boris Karloff invited television audiences to enjoy captivating tales of suspense, murder, and relentless terror as host of the 1960s anthology series “Thriller.” Featuring stories from such master storytellers as Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Bloch, Cornell Woolrich and starring a galaxy of classic television stars from the 1960s and 1970s, “Thriller” was dubbed by Stephen King as “the best horror series ever put on TV.”

Now, Image Entertainment proudly announces a tribute...