A Centennial Shout-Out (Shriek Out?) To Bernard Hermann

You know what was more shocking than Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) not having a film score? That Hitch' always had Bernard Hermann at the ready and still went without one.

The internet often does a spectacularly bad job of noting important history (it's all future-future-future which an occassional "now") so you wouldn't know that today marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most important film composers who ever lived!

What would the cinema even sound like without Hermann's shrieking violins from Psycho (1960) for instance? Different surely, and lesser though perhaps it would be a relief if people stopped ripping it off and moved on. Supposedly Hitchcock didn't even want them at first.

Some other notable films include Citizen Kane (debut), The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Cape Fear, North by Northwest and Taxi Driver (1976), his last, which he just barely completed before his death on Christmas Eve of 1975.

True to the odd odd form of Oscar's music branch, Hermann was never nominated for his frequent collaborations with Hitchcock, though those scores remain the best remembered work of his career. He received five nominations in total. In a strange twin coincidence his first two nominations (a double dip for 1941) were for his first two films (Citizen Kane and The Devil and Daniel Webster) and his last two nominations (a double dip for 1976 posthumously) were for his two last scores (Taxi Driver and Obsession). He won his only Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) right at the start.

Listen to one of his film scores while you work today! Do you have a favorite?

Related Post: Hit Me With Your Best Shot "PSYCHO"

Yes, No, Maybe So: "War Horse"

I didn't think we'd be getting this trailer so soon but I guess the year is getting on. Wowee - 2011 is half over tomorrow... should we do a "best of"? Herewith, the first trailer for Steven Spielberg's Christmas-time presumed Oscar frontrunner spectacle War Horse. We'll decide how excited we are with our yes, no, maybe so treatment.

Can you imagine flying over a war, and you know you can never look down? You have to look forward or you'll never get home. I ask you: What could be braver than that?

YES If there's any director who excels at capturing the spirit of (boy) wonder, it's Spielberg. The first shot of the lead (Jeremy Irvine as Albert) brings to mind both E.T. and Empire of the Sun in particular as a boy is amazed at the wonderment he beholds ...in this case, a horse rather than an alien or an airplane. The trailer also reminded me of something totally off-topic but that warmed my heart. Do you remember those old ads about indie movie making starring Jesse Eisenberg's little sister Hailee. Remember those? I forget what they were for. She played the world's youngest movie director or something?

My movie is called Horses Are Pretty because horses are pretty.

That they are. Don't think Spielberg won't know how to exploit their innate majesty.

NO "RUN FORREST ALBERT RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN" [trailer and Oscar commentary after the jump]

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Secret Messages: "this dress belongs to you"

secret messages from the movies

I saw your photo from the Vogue shoot. This dress belongs to you! ♥

Can you guess the movie? check your guess after the jump

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Daddy Dearest / Daddy Warbucks

Willow Smith: Daughter of WILL SMITH in case you forgot!You guys... 

I was going to talk about this last week but decided against it under the umbrella "if you don't have anything nice to say..." But now Willow Smith had to go and remind me by wearing her dad when she hit the red carpet for the BET Awards. Just in case you forgot why you should care about her!

It wasn't enough for Will Smith to foist his son upon the world by way of co-starring roles when he was 9 (Pursuit of Happyness) and a leading gig (The Karate Kid) by the time he was 11. Now, he wants his daughter to be equally famous: cue record deals and movie contracts; she's 10. 

You've heard by now -- though some of you may have blocked it out --  that Smith is hiring Emma Thompson to adapt the musical "Annie" for his daughter to whip her hair back and forth in in the starring role.

♫ The fame'll come out tomorrow
Bet Will's billion dollars,
that tomorrow
there'll be fame. ♪

How long before we start hearing disturbing things about this family? His kids just seem awfully young to be pushed so aggressively towards global fame. There are many famous Hollywood dynasties of course -- nothing wrong with following in your parents footsteps -- but how often does the second generation get this big a push this early? 

Okay, maybe I did just spend way too much time watching Ryan O'Neal talk up Tatum O'Crazy the other day. But believe me when I say that if Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie suddenly decided that they needed to produce movies to star each of their children before they hit puberty, I'd worry about that family, too.

Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan in "Annie" (1982)Or maybe I'm just annoyed that one of the great actresses of the past century -- that'd be Emma -- has been relegated to behind the scenes scripting duties for the vanity projects of another star's offspring. Vulture suggested last week that Emma would make an awesome Miss Hannigan (played by Carol Burnett in the last movie version and Kathy Bates in a telefilm) and we concede that if that happened, we'd totally be interested. I hope Will Smith is going to pay Emma very very well but the thing is ...I'm starting to think that we should get compensation pay from someone for every year that we don't have Emma Thompson on our movie screens (sans Nanny McPhee makeup, I mean). 

Hopefully Emma's "Oh" character in next summer's Men in Black III is a fun one.

John Malkovich signs "John Malkovich" on a photo of John Malkovich

"Malkovich! Malkovich! Malkovich!"

Malkovich Career Honors

John Malkovich was just honored at the Munich Film Festival in Germany with a "CineMerit Award" so herewith a very impromptu top 4 performances. I loved him in his Oscar nominated work in Places in the Heart (1984) back when I was a kid but I don't remember the movie at all so I left it out.

Nathaniel's "Best" Malkoviches

1. Being John Malkovich (1999) -far and away his best. The Academy was insane not to nominate him.
2. In the Line of Fire (1993) 
3. Burn After Reading (2008)
   honorable mention: Dangerous Liaisons (1988) maybe he was a walking anachronism but I worship the movie, okay?

 YOUR TURN!