Saturday Night at the Movies

[Omen II 1,235]

For the last couple of weeks Classic FM has been plugging a new book by Jennifer Nelson entitled Saturday Night at the Movies, exploring famous composer / director partnerships such as Williams & Spielberg and Herrmann & Hitchcock.  I have absolutely no idea if it is any good or not (it is published on 1st March 2018 under the Classic FM umbrella) but as we know, literary works featuring John Williams are few and far between.  I might well pick this up.

 

https://www.waterstones.com/book/saturday-night-at-the-movies/jennifer-nelson/9781783963669

 

The cover is not all that interesting, but who cares what picture it is?

 

In related news, David Mellor's programme between 7 and 9 p.m. on Classic FM this evening is dedicated to John Williams, so will be worth a listen; it is also available online at the Classic FM website.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

I'm sure it'll be an interesting read, but I shouldn't expect to read anything groundbreaking that you don't already know in there (you're bound to know more about JW than the average Classic FM listener).

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

Frankly, everything I need to know about JW, I get from JWfan.

Obviously the book mentions JW/SS. I think it also talks about Hitchcock/Herrmann, and Jackson/Shore. I'm not sure who else it mentions, but Dante/Goldsmith, Brannah/Doyle, Lean/Jarre, Weir/Jarre, Verehoven/Poledouris, Verehoven/Goldsmith, Truffaut/Delerue, Columbus/JW, Altman/JW, and Stone/JW would be interesting.

I listen to SN@TM almost every week, and, although Collins' enthusiasm is not in doubt, he does get his facts wrong, quite often (release dates, recording details, etc.). I'm sure this book will be entertaining, but @bollemanneke is right: don't expect too much (but do expect that SCHINDLER'S LIST story ).

[dtw42 61]

The blurb on the page Omen II linked to said:

 

"Includes:; J.J. Abrams & Michael Giacchino; Kenneth Branagh & Patrick Doyle; Tim Burton & Danny Elfman; James Cameron & James Horner; The Coen Brothers & Carter Burwell; Alfred Hitchcock & Bernard Herrmann; Peter Jackson & Howard Shore; David Lean & Maurice Jarre; Sam Mendes & Thomas Newman; Christopher Nolan & Hans Zimmer; Steven Spielberg & John Williams; Robert Zemeckis & Alan Silvestri".

 

Getting the likes of Goldsmith or Delerue would be more than an aficionado could hope for, really.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

What mostly bothers me about Collins is that he seems to love everything he plays. Like, he's crazy about, say, Star Wars, but also loves Pirates of the Caribbean.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

27 minutes ago, dtw42 said:

The blurb on the page Omen II linked to said:

 

"Includes:; J.J. Abrams & Michael Giacchino; Kenneth Branagh & Patrick Doyle; Tim Burton & Danny Elfman; James Cameron & James Horner; The Coen Brothers & Carter Burwell; Alfred Hitchcock & Bernard Herrmann; Peter Jackson & Howard Shore; David Lean & Maurice Jarre; Sam Mendes & Thomas Newman; Christopher Nolan & Hans Zimmer; Steven Spielberg & John Williams; Robert Zemeckis & Alan Silvestri".

 

Getting the likes of Goldsmith or Delerue would be more than an aficionado could hope for, really.

 

Thanks for that @dtw42. I could not access the information, so, rather like Mr. Sulu, I had to make a "best guess" 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

What mostly bothers me about Collins is that he seems to love everything he plays. Like, he's crazy about, say, Star Wars, but also loves Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

That does grate, doesn't it?

My particular bug-bear is that, quite often, he doesn't play the OSTs, and doesn't say that they're not OSTs!

I know that Matthew Sweet, on THE SOUND OF CINEMA sometimes plays non-OSTs, but it's few and far between.

At least Simon Bates (remember that far back?) played OSTs.

Still, it makes for a nice Saturday afternoon, in between the footie, the Olympics, and the Six Nations 

[dtw42 61]

4 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

What mostly bothers me about Collins is that he seems to love everything he plays. Like, he's crazy about, say, Star Wars, but also loves Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

They do seem to play it safe (i.e. populist) a little bit; but that and the Matthew Sweet programme that precedes it over on R3 are all we get so are much better than nothing. Would be nice though if one week there was no Zimmer or Desplat or Shore (or even Williams) but just something introducing their generalist audience to stuff they might not have even heard of. "This week, we're off to Russia for some Schnittke, Tariverdiev, Ussachevsky and Artemyev" or "This week, we're back to the dawn of film scoring with JS Jamecnik, Joseph Carl Breil and Gottfried Huppertz, after this suite from L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise..."

14 minutes ago, Richard said:

My particular bug-bear is that, quite often, he doesn't play the OSTs, and doesn't say that they're not OSTs!

Oh yes, the bit of that which rankles is when they play Roger Rabbit but it's from some re-recording compilation that goes all weird and freeform improv jazzy in a way that neither the film nor the OST do.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

The one that makes me laugh is either OHMSS, or THE JAMES BOND THEME, both from THEMEOLOGY.

[dtw42 61]

55 minutes ago, Richard said:

(but do expect that SCHINDLER'S LIST story

...O! for somebody at the publisher, during the proofing stage of the book, and fed up with that story, to surreptitiously change its punchline. "Yeah, you're right: shall I phone Hans?"

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

Don't you EVER say his name!!!!!

[Omen II 1,235]

Here is a little bit about the author Jennifer Nelson from the Amazon UK page:

 

Quote

As executive producer at Classic FM, Jennifer Nelson works with presenters including Alexander Armstrong and Bill Turnbull.  She has produced Classic FM's weekly film music programme since 2014, interviewing many of the directors and composers featured in this book.  She has won Gold Sony Radio Academy Awards as producer of music documentaries for BBC 6 Music and Absolute Radio, and was named 'Producer of the Year' at the inaugural Global Awards in 2015.  She is currently studying part-time at Birkbeck University for a Creative Industries Management MSc and when she isn't in the radio studio or university library, can often be found in the cinema.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

The two people quoted couldn't present a cheque, let alone a radio show.

So...this lady is not a journalist, neither is she a film, nor music critic, but she does take the occasional trip to her local multiplex.

Well, that's reassuring.

[leeallen01 2,133]

1 hour ago, dtw42 said:

The blurb on the page Omen II linked to said:

 

"Includes:; J.J. Abrams & Michael Giacchino; Kenneth Branagh & Patrick Doyle; Tim Burton & Danny Elfman; James Cameron & James Horner; The Coen Brothers & Carter Burwell; Alfred Hitchcock & Bernard Herrmann; Peter Jackson & Howard Shore; David Lean & Maurice Jarre; Sam Mendes & Thomas Newman; Christopher Nolan & Hans Zimmer; Steven Spielberg & John Williams; Robert Zemeckis & Alan Silvestri". AND JAMES NEWTON HOWARD AND M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN.

 

Fixed.

[Omen II 1,235]

The radio programme starts now over at http://www.classicfm.com