Victor Young at the Movies, Part 1

The composer-conductor Victor Young made a long series of recordings, both of instrumental music and with the best singers of the day. He also scored a great number of films, finally winning an Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days in 1957. The award was posthumous - he had died in late 1956.

In the 1950s Young recorded several LPs that collected theme music from lesser-known films, including his own work. In general, these short pieces came out first as singles, then were gathered into album form.

Perhaps the biggest hit from this group was Dimitri Tiomkin's famous theme from 1954's The High and the Mighty. Young's recording features the otherworldly whistling of Muzzy Marcellino. The latter was a former big band singer - I believe he had worked with Young when Victor was writing arrangements for Ted Fio Rito. 

The High and the Mighty can be found in two previous posts - this tribute to Tiomkin and in the LP Night Music, which is largely film themes, similar to today's main attraction. Night Music is newly remastered; more about it and ȧ link below.

Below you'll find the film collection Hollywood Rhapsodies, along with several LPs of Young's film music in newly refurbished editions.

Hollywood Rhapsodies

The Hollywood Rhapsodies recordings come from October 1953 and January 1954 sessions.

Most of the films represented - with a few notable exceptions - are not well remembered, which to me makes this collection even more interesting.

Much of the music represents almost the last gasp of the sweeping romantic style that had been in vogue since the 1930s.

Here is a rundown of the works and the composers involved.

The album begins with one of the well-remembered films: The Robe. It's a Biblical epic based on a Lloyd Douglas novel that focuses on a Roman military unit responsible for Jesus's crucifixion. The 20th Century-Fox film was the first released in the widescreen process CinemaScope. The memorable music is by Alfred Newman.

Another Hollywood legend - Max Steiner - was responsible for the score of So Big, based on an Edna Ferber novel about the life of an immigrant schoolteacher. Steiner's "Selena's Theme" is named for the main character.

The title Gog sounds like it should involve a monster eating Cleveland, and it actually is a horror film, but one that involves robots trying to destroy a nuclear facility. Machines running wild, huh? Hard to believe.

The music is by Harry Sukman. His "Nightfall" turns out to be a late-in-the-day "Warsaw Concerto" type piece, with the composer as pianist. The theme is a kissing cousin of Charles Williams' "Dream of Olwen."

Gog was made in the 3-D process, back when that was a thing.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Theme Romantique" does not appear to be from a film. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know. The piece may be here due to Korngold's eminence among Hollywood composers. The music is a prime example of his plush style. Anatole Kaminsky is the violin soloist.

Young himself makes the first of three appearances with his "Jubilee Trail" from the film of the same name. This is one of several on this disk from the B-picture factory Republic Pictures. Star Vera Hruba Ralston, a former figure skater, was married to Republic honcho Herbert Yates. The film's a Western with a labyrinthine plot, but Victor's music is a pleasingly simple rustic tune.

The Moonlighter is another 3-D film and another Western, with Hollywood cowpokes Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. The music is by Heinz Roemheld, a prolific composer who had recently had a pop hit with "Ruby" from the film Ruby Gentry.

One of the best-known numbers in this collection is the theme from The Glenn Miller Story, which is also called "Too Little Time," although not here. It was Henry Mancini's breakout as a film composer.

We go back to Republic, Westerns and Vera Hruba Ralston for Belle Le Grand, which involves the adventures of Ralston as a gambler and casino owner, with the usual rivalries and complications, some of which are garishly depicted at left. Leo Shuken, who worked on many of Young's films, was the composer. He is perhaps best known for his orchestrations of the Magnificent Seven films. Harry Sukman returns for the piano part both in this number and the next.

Another well known orchestrator was Eddie Powell, who Young has included here with his "Theme for Cynthia," which does not seem to be from a film.

The label doesn't mention it (there are no cover notes), but Young's "Geraldine" was actually used in a film of that name. It was another Republic picture, but not a Western. It has something to do with the music industry, involving John Carroll as a professor and Mala Powers as a co-ed, while also involving Jim Backus and Stan Freberg. No Vera Hruba Ralston, though. I vaguely remember a 1930s film with a similar plot.

Agnes Moorhead, who got all the glamorous parts, plays a 105-year-old woman who holds the key to the film noir The Lost Moment, also starring Robert Cummings, Susan Hayward and a spooky old house. The excellent Daniele Amfitheatrof provides the score. (His music from The Mountain can be found below.)

We end the LP with more of Young's music, this time "Bon Soir" from A Perilous Journey, yet another Vera Hruba Ralston flick involving her trying to find the man who done her wrong. Meanwhile Scott Brady steers the ship with his shirt off.

The cover at top seems to be an unsigned Alex Steinweiss creation. He apparently thinks the music is Liszt/Brahms style Hungarian rhapsodies, what with a miniature gypsy fiddling on the screen siren's knee.

LINK to Hollywood Rhapsodies

Victor Young Remasters

Five earlier Victor Young posts have now been redone with better sound and complete scans. The composers Daniele Amfitheatrof and Alex North also are represented. 

The links below take you to the downloads.

Night Music. As mentioned, this is mainly a collection of film themes. They include The High and the Mighty (Tiomkin), "Passion Tango" from Passion (Forbes), "Smile" from Modern Times (Chaplin), the theme from Rear Window (Waxman), "The Song from The Caine Mutiny" (McHugh), the theme from Magnificent Obsession (Skinner), "Glamour Waltz" from Lady in the Dark (Dolan) and the theme from Female on the Beach (Burke). LINK

For Whom the Bell Tolls; Golden Earrings. This is perhaps the first LP devoted to Victor Young's film scores; it was a repackaging of material that had been recorded for 78s in 1943 (For Whom the Bell Tolls) and 1947 (Golden Earrings). Both are fine scores - and the theme from Golden Earrings was a major hit - but the LP sound was miserable. Since first posting the album eons ago, both the technology and my skills have improved, and now it all sounds surprisingly good. LINK

Omar Khayyam; The Mountain. This album splits the composing credits between Young (Omar Khayyam) and Amfitheatrof (The Mountain). The former is Hollywood's idea of what the legendary poet-statesman was all about; the latter is about mountain climbing and brotherly love. The supposed siblings were Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner, who were 30 years apart in age. Good music throughout. LINK

The Brave One. This one is the tale of a young boy and his bull. It's set in Mexico, although Young's music sounds more Spanish to me. (But what do I know about it.) The record contains excerpts from the original soundtrack, as performed by the Munich Symphony Orchestra. While today there is such a body, back then it was usually called the Graunke Symphony after its founder and conductor, Kurt Graunke. The band specialized in soundtrack recordings, making hundreds of them. As with many scores of this time, the sound was dry, perhaps because it was designed to be played on big ol' Voice of the Theater speakers in the big ol' movie houses of the day. I've opened out the sonics. LINK

Written on the Wind; Four Girls in Town. Young plays a relatively minor role in this LP. He provided the theme for Written on the Wind, as sung here by the Four Aces, whom I just don't like. I owned the single 70 years ago and didn't like it even then. (I also couldn't figure out what "written on the wind" meant; figurative language not being my strength when I was seven.) The rest of the score is by Frank Skinner. Alex North's Four Girls in Town is terrific film jazz, here presented as the "Rhapsody for Four Girls in Town" with soloists André Previn on piano and Ray Linn on trumpet. What could be better? LINK