Bernard Herrmann in the context of "Torn Curtain"

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⭐ Core Definition: Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest film composers. Alex Ross writes that "Over four decades, he revolutionized movie scoring by abandoning the illustrative musical techniques that dominated Hollywood in the 1930s and imposing his own peculiar harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary."

An Academy Award-winner for The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), Herrmann worked in radio drama, composing for Orson Welles's The Mercury Theater on the Air, and his first film score was for Welles's film debut, Citizen Kane (1941). He is known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, notably The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) (where he makes a cameo as the conductor at Royal Albert Hall), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963) (as "sound consultant") and Marnie (1964) . His other credits include Jane Eyre (1943), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Cape Fear (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and Twisted Nerve (1968). Herrmann scored films that were inspired by Hitchcock, like François Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black (1968) and Brian De Palma's Sisters (1972) and Obsession (1976). He composed the scores for several fantasy films by Ray Harryhausen, and composed for television, including Have Gun – Will Travel and Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone. His last score, recorded shortly before his death, was for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976).

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👉 Bernard Herrmann in the context of Torn Curtain

Torn Curtain is a 1966 American spy political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. Written by Brian Moore, the film is set in the Cold War and concerns an American scientist who appears to defect behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany. While Hitchcock's long-time collaborator Bernard Herrmann composed a score for the film, it was ultimately rejected, marking the end of their working relationship which had spanned eight films. The film's final score was composed by John Addison.

Torn Curtain premiered in the United States on 14 July 1966. Upon its release, the film was not well received by critics, who derided the plot and the pacing. The film was a financial success though, grossing $13 million worldwide over its $3 million budget.

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Bernard Herrmann in the context of Marnie (film)

Marnie is a 1964 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a screenplay by Jay Presson Allen, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery.

Marnie became a milestone for several reasons. It was the last time a "Hitchcock blonde" would have a central role in one of his films. It also marked the end of Hitchcock's collaborations with cinematographer Robert Burks, who died in 1968; editor George Tomasini, who died soon after Marnie's release; and composer Bernard Herrmann, who was fired during Hitchcock's next film, Torn Curtain (1966), when Hitchcock and Universal studio executives wanted a pop-and-jazz-influenced score for the film.

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Bernard Herrmann in the context of The Bride Wore Black

The Bride Wore Black (French: La mariée était en noir, lit.'The Bride Was in Black') is a 1968 psychological thriller film directed by François Truffaut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jean-Louis Richard, based on the 1940 novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Brialy, Charles Denner, Claude Rich, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Boulanger and Alexandra Stewart. Truffaut, a Hitchcock admirer, enlisted Bernard Herrmann to score the film. The film's costumes were designed by Pierre Cardin.

The plot follows a widow who seeks revenge on the five men who killed her husband on their wedding day. Throughout the film, she wears only white, black or a combination of the two.

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Bernard Herrmann in the context of Max Steiner

Maximilian Raoul Steiner (10 May 1888 – 28 December 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and became one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers.

Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, proficient at composing, arranging, and conducting, by the time he was fifteen. Threatened with internment in England during World War I, he fled to Broadway; and in 1929 he moved to Hollywood, where he became one of the first composers to write music scores for films. He is often referred to as "the father of film music", as Steiner played a major part in creating the tradition of writing music for films, along with composers Dimitri Tiomkin, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, and Miklós Rózsa.

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Bernard Herrmann in the context of Jane Eyre (1943 film)

Jane Eyre is a 1943 American film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name, released by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by the uncredited Kenneth Macgowan and Orson Welles; Welles also stars in the film as Edward Rochester, with Joan Fontaine playing the title character.

The screenplay was written by John Houseman, Aldous Huxley, and director Robert Stevenson. The musical score was composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann, and the cinematography was by George Barnes.

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