Franz Waxman: Music for the Cinema
December 16, 2006–January 17, 2007

Composer Franz Waxman (1906–1967) began his musical career in Europe before escaping from the Nazis to become one of the most influential and honored artists in the age of classic Hollywood film scoring. This centenary retrospective features works from Germany and France (Scampolo, ein Kind der Strasse [1932], Liliom [1934]), as well as a selection of his landmark Hollywood genre scores, including The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Sunset Blvd. (1950). The exhibition includes the New York premiere of the short film Waxman Prelude.

Organized by Ron Magliozzi, Assistant Curator, Research and Collections, Department of Film.

Waxman Prelude. 2006. USA. Produced and directed by John Goberman. From Franz Wachsmann to Franz Waxman. 4 min. New York premiere.
Liliom. 1934. France. Directed by Fritz Lang. Screenplay by Robert Liebmann, Bernard Zimmer, Lang. With Charles Boyer, Madeleine Ozeray. Based on Ferenc Molnár’s dramatic fantasy, this score caught the ear of Frankenstein (1931) director James Whale. In French, English subtitles. 118 min.
Saturday, December 16, 3:00. T1. Monday, January 8, 8:30 (without Waxman Prelude). T2

The Bride of Frankenstein. 1935. USA. Directed by James Whale. Screenplay by John L. Balderston, William Hurlbut. With Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester. Waxman’s first American score instantly set an enduring standard for the horror genre. 75 min.
Saturday, December 16, 5:30. T1. Wednesday, January 17, 8:00 (preceded by Waxman Prelude [see above]). T2

Peyton Place. 1957. USA. Directed by Mark Robson. Screenplay by John Michael Hayes, based on the novel by Grace Metalious. With Lana Turner, Hope Lange. Waxman’s lyrical, Aaron Copland–inspired score gives this adaptation of the notorious bestseller the unexpected resonance of authentic Americana. 157 min.
Saturday, December 16, 7:15. T1. Thursday, January 11, 8:30. T2

Scampolo, ein Kind der Strasse. 1932. Austria/Germany. Directed by Hans Steinhoff. Screenplay by Max Kolbe, Felix Salter, Billy Wilder, based on a play by Dario Niccodemi. With Dolly Haas, Karl Ludwig Diehl. Haas plays a homeless waif suffering through the inflation and poverty of pre-Nazi Germany whose fortunes change when she meets a British businessman. In German, English-language synopsis provided. 88 min.
Sunday, December 17, 1:30. T1. Wednesday, January 3, 6:15 (January 3 screening only, introduced by Louise Hirschfeld, widow of cartoonist Al Hirschfeld) T2.

Waxman Prelude. (See above)
Musical Event: A Franz Waxman Cabaret. A concert of works from the Waxman songbook and film scores, featuring famed German performer Ute Lemper. Hosted by Franz Waxman’s son, John Waxman. Approx. 45 min.

Sunday, December 17, 5:00. T1

The Spirit of St. Louis. 1957. USA. Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Charles Lederer, Wendall Mayes, Wilder. With James Stewart. As Charles Lindburgh, Stewart crosses the Atlantic in the company of Waxman’s intimate and inspirational score. 138 min.
Thursday, December 21, 7:45. T1. Friday, January 5, 5:45. T2

The Two Mrs. Carrolls. 1947. USA. Directed by Peter Godfrey. Screenplay by Thomas Job, based on the play by Martin Vale. With Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck. Featuring Bogart as a psychopathic, wife-murdering artist, this film allowed Waxman to explore the theme of obsessive madness. 99 min.
Saturday, December 23, 4:00; Thursday, January 11, 6:30 (preceded by Waxman Prelude [see above]). T2

Mr. Skeffington. 1944. USA. Directed by Vincent Sherman. Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, based on the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. With Bette Davis, Claude Rains. Waxman’s homage to Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier follows Davis in one of her career-defining performances as a vain society woman in this epic melodrama of forsaken love. 146 min.
Saturday, December 23, 6:00; Wednesday, January 3, 8:00. T2

The Nun’s Story. 1959. USA. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Screenplay by Robert Anderson, based on the book by Kathryn Hulme. With Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch. The score for this drama of a nun (Hepburn) serving in the Belgian Congo is a subtle yet radiant reflection on religious music. 149 min.
Sunday, December 24, 1:30; Saturday, January 6, 7:00. T2

Sunset Blvd. 1950. USA. Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Wilder, Charles Brackett, D. M. Marshman, Jr. With Gloria Swanson, William Holden. A faded silent film star descends into madness, accompanied by Waxman’s first Oscar winner, one of the finest film noir scores. 110 min.
Sunday, December 24, 4:30; Friday, January 5, 8:30. T2

Fury. 1936. USA. Directed by Fritz Lang. Screenplay by Lang, Bartlett Cormack, based on a story by Norman Krasna. With Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy. An indictment of mob mentality, this landmark social-problem drama and its score were both considered ahead of their time. 94 min.
Wednesday, December 27, 6:00. T1. Thursday, January 4, 6:30. T2

The Furies. 1950. USA. Directed by Anthony Mann. Screenplay by Charles Schnee, based on a novel by Niven Busch. With Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston. A psychological Western about the power struggle between an Oedipal daughter (Stanwyck) and her domineering father (Huston), performed and scored on the scale of Greek tragedy. 109 min.
Wednesday, December 27, 8:00. T1. Wednesday, January 10, 6:00. T2

Waxman Prelude. 2006. USA. Produced and directed by John Goberman. From Franz Wachsmann to Franz Waxman. 4 min.
Taras Bulba. 1962. USA. Directed by J. Lee Thompson. Screenplay by Waldo Salt, Karl Tunberg, based on the novel by Nikolai Gogol. With Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner. This sixteenth-century costume drama of Cossack life and warfare featured Waxman’s last Academy Award–nominated score. “The score of a lifetime” (Bernard Herrmann). 122 min.
Friday, December 29, 8:30. T1

Sayonara. 1957. USA. Directed by Joshua Logan. Screenplay by Paul Osborn, based on the novel by James Michener. With Marlon Brando, Miiko Taka. Mixing Asian and American musical styles and instruments, Waxman bridges the conflicts of race and culture that trouble a Korean War pilot (Brando) in love with a Japanese entertainer (Taka). 147 min.
Saturday, December 30, 6:00. T1. Saturday, January 13, 6:30. T2

Rebecca. 1940. USA. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Joan Harrison, Robert E. Sherwood, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. With Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine. Waxman’s first score for Hitchcock is as sumptuously romantic as this story of a nobleman’s young bride haunted by the memory of her husband’s first wife. 130 min.
Sunday, December 31, 2:00 (introduced by Jack Sullivan, author of Hitchcock’s Music [2006]). T2

Old Acquaintance. 1943. USA. Directed by Vincent Sherman. Screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee. With Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins. Elegant camp with Davis and Hopkins as authors whose lifelong professional and romantic rivalry is underscored with variations on a theme of yearning sentiment. 110 min.
Sunday, December 31, 5:00; Monday, January 15, 8:00. T2

Objective Burma! 1945. USA. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, Lester Cole, based on a story by Alvah Bessie. With Errol Flynn, George Tobias. Waxman created one of the most admired and influential scores of the genre for this WWII paratrooper action film. 142 min.

Thursday, January 4, 8:30; Sunday, January 7, 2:00. T2

Waxman Prelude. (See above)
Crime in the Streets. 1956. USA. Directed by Don Siegel. Screenplay by Reginald Rose, based on his teleplay. With John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo. Waxman composed one of the first complete jazz scores for this “problem picture” of a street gang plotting murder. 91 min.

Saturday, January 6, 2:00; Monday, January 8, 6:30. T2

Edge of Darkness. 1943. USA. Directed by Lewis Milestone. Screenplay by Robert Rossen, based on a story by William Woods. With Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan. This quintessential WWII drama of the underground resistance in Norway finds Waxman scoring the struggle between good and evil. 120 min.

Saturday, January 6, 4:15; Sunday, January 14, 2:30. T2

Mauvaise Graine. 1934. France. Directed by Billy Wilder, Alexander Esway. Screenplay by Max Kolpé, H. G. Lustig, Esway, Wilder. With Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Mingand. Waxman’s first collaboration with Wilder resulted in jazzy, Chaplinesque music for this comedy of a disinherited playboy who takes up with a gang of car thieves. 86 min.

Sunday, January 7, 5:15; Friday, January 12, 6:30. T2

Prince Valiant. 1954. USA. Directed by Henry Hathaway. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols. With James Mason, Janet Leigh. Waxman’s swashbuckling score lends welcome dimension to the medieval adventures of the famed comic strip character. 100 min.

Wednesday, January 10, 8:15; Monday, January 15, 6:00. T2

Taras Bulba. 1962. USA. Directed by J. Lee Thompson. Screen-play by Waldo Salt, Karl Tunberg, based on the novel by Nikolai Gogol. With Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner. This sixteenth-century costume drama of Cossack life and warfare featured Waxman’s last Academy Award–nominated score. “The score of a lifetime” (Bernard Herrmann). 122 min.

Sunday, January 14, 5:00. T2

The Musical Legacy of Franz Waxman: A Roundtable
A discussion of the composer’s career and legacy, moderated by John Mauceri, founding director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, with Royal S. Brown, author of Overtones and Undertones; Jack Sullivan, author of Hitchcock’s Music; and Max Wilk, veteran theater, film, and television writer.

Wednesday, January 17, 6:00. T2

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