Williams Interview on the New Dracula DVD

[Lurker 5]

According to FSMs Andy Dursin, the upcoming Dracula DVD has a 40 minute "making of" documentary and John Williams is interviewed in it.

Neil

[stewdog1 50]

I would assume 2 minutes of that would go to JW.

I once again pine for a JW commentary on SW, Indy, Superman, anything!!!! Good grief man, give the fans what they want.

[Trumpeteer 302]

I just watched this DVD last night. Pretty good movie, a nice way of interpreting the Dracula legend.

John Williams' score is quite interesting. Romanic instead of horror. Of course, there really isn't much horror/gore in this film, so it would have to be treated as a love story, which I always thought Dracula to be. Like some of his smaller, less-known films, the main theme is simply repeated over and over with different instrumentations. But that doesn't mean the music is bad. It won't really stand out, though.

The making-of documentary does deal with JW for about three minutes. They all lavish praise on him (as they should) and talk about how surprised they were that he composed a romantic score instead of a typical horror score. And JW made some comments about how the story really called for him to delve into the romantic angle.

If you can get this DVD, it's worth it. I probably won't ever watch it again or actively seek out the CD, but I'm glad I got to hear this score.

Jeff -- who also enjoyed seeing Laurence Olivier

[publicist 4,643]

But that doesn't mean the music is bad. It won't really stand out, though.

It does not? That may apply to 'Accidental Tourist' and the likes, but this score is pretty in-your-face.

[TheRuleOfThirds 0]

No, I'd have to agree with Jeff. Except for the theme, it's pretty dull. "To Scarborough" is a nice piece, though. Works pretty good in the film. Actually, I'll say this. In the film, the music's all right. By itself on the CD, it's a bit of a lackluster.

[Trumpeteer 302]

But that doesn't mean the music is bad. It won't really stand out, though.

It does not? That may apply to 'Accidental Tourist' and the likes, but this score is pretty in-your-face.

By "stand out," I mean "become memorable" or "etched in brain for days."

And the Scarborough cue was great. Talk about making a love theme into an action cue. I suspect that cue was inspiration for the end of "The Clash of Lightsabers" the following year.

[King Mark 3,631]

The interview will be about Williams not remembering scoring that

K.M.

[Adam 1]

I remember JW saying the word "erotic" more times than I ever though I'd hear him say. But there wasn't a lot there in the interviews.

- Adam

[nightscape94 965]

I don't think I ever want to hear JW say the word "erotic", ever.....ever ever. JW rarely gets the proper treatment on DVD Docs. No respect for the composers.

Tim

[Willy 0]

Maybe tracks 4 to 6 repeat the main theme too often, but personally I like the Storm Sequence and Dracula's Death very much. And The Night Visitor is probably one of the shortest and 'simplest' cues JW ever wrote, but there's tremendous power in it, and it always takes my breath away.