Musical Numbers Then and Now II
Here are two or three more musical numbers I’d like to share with my readers, which I post this time for the sheer joy and bemusement of the music, without any social or political commentary. Enjoy.
Girl Hunt from The Bandwagon(1953).
What particularly amuses me about this Jazz Ballet is the bold attempt to capture the mood and atmosphere of a Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler whodunnit, without actually having any plot or dialog.
Swing, Swing, Swing by John Williams
from 1941 (1979)
directed by Steven Spielberg
This is a period piece made forty years after the year it portrays. The comedic film makes the odd decision to belittle the American war-fears and patriotism on the brink of WWII, hardly a theme likely to find favor with an American audience. Nonetheless, most of the homage of the period piece is well-meant: in this arrangement John Williams expertly mimics the sound and mood of “Sing, Sing, Sing” (1936) by Louis Prima, unarguably the greatest Big Bang song of all time.
John Williams here shows his flexibility and talent, for he is not shy about following in the footsteps of older composers: the ‘Planet Krypton’ theme from SUPERMAN (1978) for example, borrows from Respighi’s PINES OF ROME, or ‘the Imperial March’ from EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) perhaps takes a hint from Prokofiev’s ROMEO & JULIET ballet (the ‘Montagues and Capulets’ theme). Many leitmotifs from STAR WARS (1977) remind one of Holst’s THE PLANETS suite.
For sake of comparison, here is a similar period piece, this time playing the original.
Swing, Swing, Swing
from Swing Kids (1993)
The alert viewer may spot a young Christian Bale in the scene.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
