
What do Die Hard, Dead Poets Society and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective all have in common? They all feature music from Beethoven's popular Symphony No. 9! It's questions like that you may get answered on KPR's Film Music Friday at 7:06 p.m.
Film Music Friday celebrates the use of classical music in movies, as well as classic symphonic scores created especially for motion pictures. Whether is J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue from Monty Python and the Meaning of Life or Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture from Caddyshack or Bellini's "Casta Diva" from The Bridges of Madison County, classical music and opera has provided the background for movies since the age of silent film. With the advent of sound, pioneering composers like Max Steiner and Erich Korngold created memorable scores for films like King Kong and The Adventures of Robin Hood.
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This week on Film Music Friday, it's the music of Japanese cinema. Japan has one of the largest and oldest film industries in the world - the first Japanese film was made in 1897 - and we'll hear music from Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, High and Low and more.
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The transition from page to screen can often be bumpy, and sometimes produces classic films. On this Film Music Friday, we'll look at films adapted from the printed page, including Ben-Hur, Lost Horizon, Farenheit 451 and She.
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The career of composer Jerome Moross took several different paths - movies, Broadway, dance and the concert hall. On this week's Film Music Friday, host Darrell Brogdon digs into some Jerome Moross film scores, including The Big Country, The Jayhawkers, Captive City, The War Lord and The Valley of Gwangi, plus a rare score for TV's Gunsmoke(!).
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Humphrey Bogart's film career lasted from 1931 to 1957 and includes many cinema classics. On this week's Film Music Friday we're hearing music from a few of Bogie's best known films, including The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra, Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny and more.
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On this week's Film Music Friday, we're exploring the music of some classic fantasy films. You'll hear themes from She, The Thief of Bagdad, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, Hook and lots more.
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On this week's Film Music Friday, we're featuring movies with a newspaper background. We'll hear music from Citizen Kane, The Philadelphia Story, All the President's Men, Spotlight and more.
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Republic Pictures wasn't the biggest movie studio, and they didn't win many awards...but for over 30 years Republic turned out some of the most popular films in Hollywood. Republic specialized in low-budget fare - B-movies, westerns and serials. On this week's Film Music Friday, we'll hear a bit of the music from Republic Pictures, including King of the Royal Mounted, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Fighting Devil Dogs, The Quiet Man and more!
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In our third installment featuring the music of classic film noir, we'll hear themes from The Lost Weekend, Possessed, Pickup on South Street, Chinatown, Body Heat and more.
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We continue our exploration of the music from classic film noir on this week's Film Music Friday. Among the movies featured: Dark City, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, I Want to Live, Chinatown and Murder, My Sweet, among others.
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This week on Film Music Friday, we begin a multi-part exploration of the music from classic film noir thrillers. Although the 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir, we'll feature films made between 1941 and the '90s, including The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Touch of Evil, L.A. Confidential and more.