Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henry Levin, 1959) is a fantasy film noteworthy more for its score by the legendary composer, Bernard Herrmann than for anything else. The special effects are limited but have their charm. The acting is routine; only James Mason as Professor Lindenbrook gives some conviction to his part.
Oddly, though the only reputable actor in the cast, Mason received second billing, below pop sensation of the time, Pat Boone. Boone emerged through the door opened by Elvis Presley and was considered a safe role model for teenagers, compared to Elvis, who suggested sex and rebellion.
Boone was a devout Christian and lived a family life with a wife and several children. Though he covered Rock songs he sang in a more traditional crooning style popularized by Bing Crosby earlier in the century. Most of his biggest hits were sweet ballads, such as "Love Letters in the Sand," "April Love," "Thee I Love," etc. Ironically, though most Rock critics dismissed him, Elvis can be heard on a home recording saying what a beautiful voice Boone had!
Hollywood, of course, saw dollar signs in Boone and quickly cast him in several films, including April Love, Bernardine, State Fair, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, appealing to the teenage market. Of course Boone then had to sing songs or his fans would be disappointed.
But it's difficult to sing songs with a contemporary sound if the movie is set in 1880 Scotland, as was Journey, so the options were limited. Though 4 songs were written for Boone by the Oscar-winning song team of Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, and they were listed in the credits, only one complete song made the final cut. The other songs can be heard as underscore or whistled by Boone in the film.
The film is to this extent an interesting study in Hollywood's star system. Movies are bankrolled based on stars and their market value (star=dollars box office=dollars investment). Born on the Fourth of July was delayed for many years until Tom Cruise agreed to star, then the banks had insurance. In some cases, such as Disney, Hitchcock, or Spielberg, directors have box-office too. But even today, in this auteur conscious age, most people pay to see stars.
Such commercial pressures are not new to Hollywood. Classical artists had to paint popes, nephews of kings or wives of patrons if they received commissions from the church or nobility. Shakespeare wrote plays for known actors. Mozart wrote arias to suit singers' abilities. Vivaldi wrote music that could be played by his students and for instruments available to him. Concertos are written for specific soloists, some of whom commission (pay for) the concerto. Frederick Loewe tailored his tunes in My Fair Lady for Rex Harrison, who couldn't sing. The result was a new kind of spoken melody that has been imitated on Broadway ever since.
So however inadequate Boone may look in the film, the film probably would not have been bankrolled without him. Mason, though a far better actor, would not have been sufficient insurance (hence Mason's second billing). Thus the movie is an interesting study on that level alone.
But our focus will be on the music underscore by Bernard Herrmann. In the 1950s Herrmann found himself in a Hollywood that no longer appreciated the traditional symphonic score and required pop tunes to sell a movie. A quick glance at movies made in the 1950s shows that many of them had title songs that were hits, including Love Is a Many Splendid Thing, Three Coins in the Fountain, etc. not to mention the western, High Noon, whose famous theme song ("Do Not Forsake Me") convinced producers that pop songs helped sell a movie.
But Herrmann's strength was not melody. He could write gorgeous lyrical passages, such as in Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958), but his strength was in orchestral colors and timbres. His scores are built on sequential patterns, that is, phrases that grow by phrasal variations of pitch rather than real development.
Strictly speaking Herrmann tended to write motifs (short phrases) rather than themes. That's the main reason he was fired from Torn Curtain, because Hitchcock wanted a pop tune to sell his next film. Instead Herrmann submitted a richly textured, almost tuneless, score and was fired.
A study of Herrmann's scoring in Journey requires some concentration because there are no themes (unlike, say, Titanic, which has obvious themes, including a pop hit). The only themes are based on the Van Heusen-Cahn songs written for the movie (though most were omitted from the final edit), which Herrmann orchestrated as underscore for the romantic scenes in Scotland. A march (based on the deleted song, "Twice As Tall") was also adapted by Herrmann.
Herrmann also wittily quotes the famous church chant, the "Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath") twice in the movie; once when the underground river is seen and another time when the pet goose is presumed dead.
To familiarize yourselves with Pat Boone's star image as a pop singer, listen to "Don't Forbid Me," "April Love", "Words," and "Love Letters in the Sand."
Oddly, though the only reputable actor in the cast, Mason received second billing, below pop sensation of the time, Pat Boone. Boone emerged through the door opened by Elvis Presley and was considered a safe role model for teenagers, compared to Elvis, who suggested sex and rebellion.
Boone was a devout Christian and lived a family life with a wife and several children. Though he covered Rock songs he sang in a more traditional crooning style popularized by Bing Crosby earlier in the century. Most of his biggest hits were sweet ballads, such as "Love Letters in the Sand," "April Love," "Thee I Love," etc. Ironically, though most Rock critics dismissed him, Elvis can be heard on a home recording saying what a beautiful voice Boone had!
Hollywood, of course, saw dollar signs in Boone and quickly cast him in several films, including April Love, Bernardine, State Fair, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, appealing to the teenage market. Of course Boone then had to sing songs or his fans would be disappointed.
But it's difficult to sing songs with a contemporary sound if the movie is set in 1880 Scotland, as was Journey, so the options were limited. Though 4 songs were written for Boone by the Oscar-winning song team of Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, and they were listed in the credits, only one complete song made the final cut. The other songs can be heard as underscore or whistled by Boone in the film.
The film is to this extent an interesting study in Hollywood's star system. Movies are bankrolled based on stars and their market value (star=dollars box office=dollars investment). Born on the Fourth of July was delayed for many years until Tom Cruise agreed to star, then the banks had insurance. In some cases, such as Disney, Hitchcock, or Spielberg, directors have box-office too. But even today, in this auteur conscious age, most people pay to see stars.
Such commercial pressures are not new to Hollywood. Classical artists had to paint popes, nephews of kings or wives of patrons if they received commissions from the church or nobility. Shakespeare wrote plays for known actors. Mozart wrote arias to suit singers' abilities. Vivaldi wrote music that could be played by his students and for instruments available to him. Concertos are written for specific soloists, some of whom commission (pay for) the concerto. Frederick Loewe tailored his tunes in My Fair Lady for Rex Harrison, who couldn't sing. The result was a new kind of spoken melody that has been imitated on Broadway ever since.
So however inadequate Boone may look in the film, the film probably would not have been bankrolled without him. Mason, though a far better actor, would not have been sufficient insurance (hence Mason's second billing). Thus the movie is an interesting study on that level alone.
But our focus will be on the music underscore by Bernard Herrmann. In the 1950s Herrmann found himself in a Hollywood that no longer appreciated the traditional symphonic score and required pop tunes to sell a movie. A quick glance at movies made in the 1950s shows that many of them had title songs that were hits, including Love Is a Many Splendid Thing, Three Coins in the Fountain, etc. not to mention the western, High Noon, whose famous theme song ("Do Not Forsake Me") convinced producers that pop songs helped sell a movie.
But Herrmann's strength was not melody. He could write gorgeous lyrical passages, such as in Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958), but his strength was in orchestral colors and timbres. His scores are built on sequential patterns, that is, phrases that grow by phrasal variations of pitch rather than real development.
Strictly speaking Herrmann tended to write motifs (short phrases) rather than themes. That's the main reason he was fired from Torn Curtain, because Hitchcock wanted a pop tune to sell his next film. Instead Herrmann submitted a richly textured, almost tuneless, score and was fired.
A study of Herrmann's scoring in Journey requires some concentration because there are no themes (unlike, say, Titanic, which has obvious themes, including a pop hit). The only themes are based on the Van Heusen-Cahn songs written for the movie (though most were omitted from the final edit), which Herrmann orchestrated as underscore for the romantic scenes in Scotland. A march (based on the deleted song, "Twice As Tall") was also adapted by Herrmann.
Herrmann also wittily quotes the famous church chant, the "Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath") twice in the movie; once when the underground river is seen and another time when the pet goose is presumed dead.
To familiarize yourselves with Pat Boone's star image as a pop singer, listen to "Don't Forbid Me," "April Love", "Words," and "Love Letters in the Sand."
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