Posted on 02/21/2009 6:10:53 AM PST by Congressman Billybob
The greatest single piece of dance music ever written is The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss. It appears at a critical point in three movies, all favorites of mine. In each case it demonstrates the emotional power of the right music at the right time in the plot.
The first movie is an obvious use. Yul Brynner dances with Ingrid Bergman toward the end of Anastasia to this waltz. This occurs at the point where he begins to see that the woman he was grooming to pretend to be the surviving Anastasia, might actually be that surviving member of the assassinated Romanov family.
This movie has been remade twice since 1956, once straight and once as, of all things, a cartoon. Why do any studios, producers and directors persist in remaking classic films that are already the best of type? Nothing good can come of it. Does anyone remember the remake of Hitchcock’s Psycho? I hope not.
Many films of many types use music to build the emotions and increase the meaning of the critical scenes. This is standard procedure in modern films. But Alfred Hitchcock was the first director to fully understand this point and to design the right music for all his films.
In the best use of music it is more than just chewing gum for the ears. Nor is it the cheap theatrics of music recognized as threatening is routinely used when someone is about to be dispatched with a machete, chain saw, or whatever.
The second use of The Blue Danube involves a pair of non-human dancers. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001, a Space Odyssey, was deliberately edited by Kubrick to match the classical music which was his score. The film had minimal dialogue and used music to tell much of the story.
The scene with the waltz appears early in the film, as the Pan Am space shuttle is approaching the great wheel of the space station. As the perspective switches from a fixed point of reference, to inside the shuttle, to inside the space station, and back, The Blue Danube plays in the background. It is clear that this is in fact a dance, and that death is the consequence if the dance is not executed perfectly.
The final example is an obscure film by Baz Luhrmann in 1992, called Strictly Ballroom. This film is, at one time, a documentary about ballroom dancing, a wickedly funny comedy, a touching tragedy, a love story between a young boy and girl, and a story of a father and son reunited. As you might expect, in such a movie, The Blue Danube appears repeatedly.
It appears in a major key when the characters are first introduced, before dancer Scott Hastings, in the middle of a contest routine, breaks away from the traditional forms and begins dancing his “new steps.” At other points in the movie, the Danube appears in a minor key at disastrous turns before the final denouement.
If you have not seen this movie, I recommend that you catch it on the Independent Film Channel, or through your preferred purveyor of small but excellent films on DVD. Do that right away, before you forget.
Of course, most excellent films today use music well and not just as an afterthought. Here are two others in which the music is not merely background but a character in the play. The first is Waking Ned Devine, an Irish film from 1998, in which the breaking of a violin string is a critical turning point of the plot.
Then, there is Say Amen, Somebody, a 1982 documentary about the creation of gospel music singing. When you watch this film and reach the song lyric Jesus Dropped the Charges, I expect you to send an e-mail thanking me for the recommendation of an excellent film.
Well, so much for discussing music with mere words. Next week we go back to talking about politics with mere logic.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced law in the Supreme Court for 33 years. He now lives on the Eastern Continental Divide in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
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John / Billybob
The Blue Danube Waltz is certainly a memorable and recognizable piece. My problem is that I played it at least a million times as a kid on the violin. So for me personally it is “worn out”. But your points are well taken
Music is in the ear of the beholder. Can’t argue with what you say, though. My favorite piece of music is I’ll Be Seeing You, the Billie Holiday version. Both it and the Jimmy Durante version are used in The Notebook, and it still stays with me 3 or 4 years after seeing the film.
Great choice of movies.
John / Billybob
Funny thing about music versus film. Regardless of your taste in music, you can listen to your favorites hundreds, maybe thousands of times and still enjoy it again. Not so with film. There are darn few movies we’re willing to sit thru more than 3 or 4 times. Music 1s a very different experience than film.
I’ve known people that don’t have any source of music in their home. I can’t imagine that.
Speaking of music and politics, here is an interesting bit...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuCIjWKJUEE
The 2006 Irish film Once to me had a similar gestahlt but no Blue Danube. It's a great modern-day musical tale of a down-and-out pop singer who finds a muse in an Eastern European immigrant. Mrs. jimfree and I had to go to an art theater inside DC to see it after reading the Podhoretz review "a chick flick for guys" in The Weekly Standard. It earned every one of the 8 points showing on IMDB.
The docking sequence that starts 2001 is one of the most powerful uses of music in film that I know.
We we saw it in 1968, man had not yet landed on the moon. I doubt if today's young people can even watch that film with the same awe that we did.
Next week we go back to talking about politics with mere logic.
That is exactly what I find myself doing, or at least trying to do.It seems to me that there is a place for that - in court. Not that judges should make political decisions, even logical ones - but judges should make logical decisions on how to avoid making political decisions. As IMHO O'Connor and the liberals failed to do, for example, in McConnell v. FEC.
Hold That Ghost...Joan Davis & Lou Costello...priceless!
"da da dada da
quack quack quack quack..."
John,
I love the waltz. I don’t know if you dance, but Strictly Ballroom and its docunentary antecedent are icons in the ballroom world. If you do not waltz, there are less structured and less expensive ways to learn than Arthur Murray. There are non-profit “mostly waltz” group around the country. Try http://www.waltzadventure.com/?p=3 in northern Georgia or you may be able to find a group in Asheville or knoxville. Watch out, they are filled with wacky Libs. I just avoid political discussion and bite my tongue. Happy dancing!
“Hold That Ghost...Joan Davis & Lou Costello...priceless!”
My favorite part was The Andrew Sisters singing Aurora.
We also will be talking about the Oscar ceremonies where awards for exceptional scores, composition and songs have not been forthcoming for years.
This gives credence to the axiom that Americans today are no longer interested in listening to good music, just orchestrated noise.
Leni
Your observations of “2001” are astute. It took me two or three viewings before I could appreciate what Kubrick was trying to do, to demonstrate the universality of music as transcendent over space and time. And I have to confess that I rapidly grew tired of “Also Spracht Zarathustra” when it became shill music for everything from new cars to panty liners.
IMO the best music ever written.
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