#SONGS IN THE MOVIE SPY MOVIE#

An almost unknown at the time, he manages to deliver a musical cue thatвЂ™s not remotely military in style, and injects a small boatload of romanticism to both the character of Lawrence and the desert world he inhabited. This David Lean epic is loosely based on the real exploits of TE Lawrence during World War I in the deserts of North Africa, and is a masterclass in both film direction and storytelling.Д«ut itвЂ™s also got an epic, majestic theme that could have only come from the composing pen of Maurice Jarre. A piece of scoring that manages to seem both familiar and imaginative in its presentation throughout the story, itвЂ™s one of my personal favourites.Д«ut be warned, there is a вЂsingalongвЂ™ version with lyrics, which is diabolical, and should be avoided like a German patrol in occupied territory. But itвЂ™s not just me that likes it, because on that disc, they even provide the version of the music thatвЂ™s presented right at the start, but without James Robertson Justice yakking some nonsense about Greek mythology over the top of it.

#SONGS IN THE MOVIE SPY MOVIE#

IвЂ™ve already talked at some length about the exceptional quality of the music in this movie in my review of the Blu-ray, here. I do hope Peter Jackson gets the undercarriage up on his remake soon. And, like that classic photo of St Pauls taken after heavy bombing, it now symbolises British resolve under intense fire. By modern standards, much of the character interaction does seem remarkably stilted, and the true-to-life naming of GibsonвЂ™s dog is appalling, but then, this was a different era.ДЇor all its cinematic faults and cultural insensitivity, there is something about these events, the music and the movie portrayal that sticks in our national psyche so much more than a monochrome war movie made in the 50s really should. The Dam Busters March was written by Eric Coates, who is also well known for a piece called By The Sleepy Lagoon, which is synonymous with the radio show Desert Island Discs.Д®ven if the music is slightly odd to my ears, it seems to fit the movie perfectly. Yet itвЂ™s a firm favourite, and the opening bars of the music always make me want to make me use my fingers to intimate having flying goggles on, and spout inane radio chatter with a public school accent. Which, given the losses taken by 617 Squadron on the 17th of May 1943 during Operation Chastise, seems entirely out of place. What I always find fascinating about the music in this movie is that itвЂ™s split between a very sombre phrasing, followed in quick succession with a rather inappropriately jolly section.

In terms of GoodwinвЂ™s overall contribution to war movie music, this represents his decidedly better quality product. I especially love the more majestic version of the theme thatвЂ™s used over the end tribute to those who died in conflict, which reuses the previously worked score but slows it down dramatically to provide a more fitting salute. ItвЂ™s another Goodwin score, and again he uses the drums to create a false machine-gun syncopation, but thatвЂ™s to ignore some really inventive sections that are dispersed throughout the movie. What I especially like about it is the sequence that starts the theme, where the descending pitch embodies a falling leaf, or in this case a rapidly descending aircraft.ДЄ movie that uses music very effectively, from the opening imperial march, representing the pomp and circumstance of the Luftwaffe, to the more dramatic scoring of the combat sequences.

But along with the sleek and lethal combat aircraft, itвЂ™s also the great Ron Goodwin score that elevates the whole film.

The poor optical composition and some very obvious model work sullies some of the excellent work done by those who shot the small number of remaining Mosquitos the production had access to. Where itвЂ™s quite horrible in my opinion is in the liberal use of back projection, often in sequences where itвЂ™s combined with location shoots where it wasnвЂ™t really necessary. The movie pulls some actual events and some more fanciful ones together into a rather predictable yarn that has a love triangle, plenty of derring-do, and some half decent flying sequences. The notion of hedge hopping across occupied Europe at nearly 400 miles an hour, causing untold mayhem on the Nazis, seemed positively idyllic when I was eight. Sod the Spitfire, when I saw this movie there was only one aircraft I wanted to fly, and it was the de Havilland Mosquito.

Songs in the movie spy