Marian Schedenig 8,215 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 In 1935, Olivia de Havilland starred in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the first film ever to have a score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (adapted from Mendelssohn's stage music), along with Mickey Rooney as Puck. Later that same year, she was in Captain Blood, the first big Hollywood film starring Errol Flynn, and also the first to have an original Korngold score (plus some Liszt). Blood also featured Basil Rathbone was directed by Michael Curtiz, who went on to direct a total of 6 films featuring Korngold scores, including The Adventures of Robin Hood and Anthony Adverse, both also starring de Havilland. Flynn, Rathbone and de Havilland all featured in Robin Hood, along with Claude Raines, who also appeared in Anthony Adverse. Korngold died in 1957. Flynn died in 1959. Curtiz died in 1962. Rains and Rathbone both died in 1967. Rooney died in 2014, at the impressive age of 93. By now, Olivia de Havilland must have survived nearly everyone she's worked with, some of her most famous co-stars from some of her most famous films, which I have just listed, by half a decade. She turned 100 years old today. Pieter Boelen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Captain Blood is on TCM right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck 155 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Back in 2003, her last appearance in the Oscars: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,545 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 John Williams also scored (sort of, since he probably only wrote one track) a film with her, namely THE SCREAMING WOMAN (second time within minutes I'm mentioning that obscure film today). Pieter Boelen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wojo 2,453 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 1 hour ago, Thor said: John Williams also scored...with her. Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,572 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 Happy birthday, Liv! I'll dig out my VHS copy of "The Swarm". Whatever you say about the film, the score is (insert accolades, here). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indianagirl 298 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 She will always be Miss Mellie from Gone with the Wind for me. She had such beautiful eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omen II 1,235 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 It's amazing to think that she was born on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and is still with us. Korngold gave her and Errol Flynn one of the finest love themes in the history of film music. Marian Schedenig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,215 Posted July 2, 2016 Author Share Posted July 2, 2016 Always nice to see a live performance include the duel cue. Must be fiendishly difficult to perform at more or less the original tempo. I heard it in 2007 with Mauceri conducting the Vienna RSO. I attended the rehearsal, too; Mauceri had his laptop with him and used the rehearsal break to show the musicians the duel scene on DVD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck 155 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 9 hours ago, Richard said: Happy birthday, Liv! I'll dig out my VHS copy of "The Swarm". Whatever you say about the film, the score is (insert accolades, here). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt C 455 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 A true screen legend. Love her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilal 569 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 12 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said: Always nice to see a live performance include the duel cue. Must be fiendishly difficult to perform at more or less the original tempo. I heard it in 2007 with Mauceri conducting the Vienna RSO. I attended the rehearsal, too; Mauceri had his laptop with him and used the rehearsal break to show the musicians the duel scene on DVD. Not any more difficult than Goldsmith or Stravinsky, I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,572 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 You want to see a really good OdeH film? Watch "The Snake Pit". Glóin the Dark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,215 Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 3 hours ago, Jilal said: Not any more difficult than Goldsmith or Stravinsky, I reckon. Or quite a lot of Williams stuff. But Korngold's film music often has a unusually fast pace, and his rhythm changes are perhaps (I imagine) more difficult to internalise due to their reliance on the film. I expect they're all tricky enough to perform in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilal 569 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said: Or quite a lot of Williams stuff. But Korngold's film music often has a unusually fast pace, and his rhythm changes are perhaps (I imagine) more difficult to internalise due to their reliance on the film. I expect they're all tricky enough to perform in any case. It's quite interesting to notice Korngold's experimentalism in the fields of rhythm and harmony, particularly here and in his Symphony in F-sharp major. I'm convinced he was a Stravinsky fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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