Finally, at last, our brand-new Windows 11 computer is working again. It’s raining outside, PSE&G called to warn us about losing power in a coming storm… and we want to relax.
What with Ray Harryhausen’s special effects and Bernard Herrmann’s music score, Jason and the Argonauts looks like just the ticket for a rainy afternoon. Pure entertainment: it will make no demands on us.Haven’t had much luck with our weekends lately; we hope that is about to change. We’ve got a ton of preparations to make, sailing toward Christmas.
Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s, I’ve got to find time to revisit one of my favorite movies–The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. When it came out in 1958, my parents wouldn’t let me see it: thought it’d be too scary for me.
But this movie provides a rare opportunity to enjoy not one but two geniuses at work. It’s got the music of Bernard Herrmann, one of the all-time greats of movie music, and the special effects of Ray Harryhausen, the greatest monster-maker ever. It took the special effects art 40 years to catch up to him.
Oh, the theme music! To say nothing of that gorgeous music we hear when the Roc flies. Bernard Herrmann said this was among his favorite movie scores, and who can argue with him?
And of course Harryhausen gave us the Cyclops, a dragon, the Roc, and an animated skeleton–what’s not to like?
It’s gonna be so great, to hear that theme again! Oh, look, here it is–
Well, maybe I need some other material. Like Sinbad and the Roc, for instance. I just love the music by Bernard Herrmann, and the stop-motion monster by Ray Harryhausen. The clip is from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, vintage 1958. Heh-heh, this’ll fetch ’em!
This is not part of the movie contest–which is still on, by the way–it’s just my non-negotiable demand that Bernard Herrmann compose and conduct the music score. The above is his introductory music for Jason and the Argonauts (1963), one of my all-time absolute favorite movies. It’s got everything a good movie should have–a homicidal bronze giant, flying harpies, a skeleton hit squad–and whatever was happening on screen, Bernard Herrmann had the perfect music for it.
As for the cast-the-movie contest, we have entries so far from (he pauses to count on his fingers) half a dozen readers. Shoot, I was hoping to at least run out of fingers.
I know, I know: you can’t cast the movie if you haven’t read any of the books. I also know I need more readers. Like, lots more.
Let’s keep the contest running a little longer, in hopes of getting more entries. The winner or winners will get a signed certificate in recognition of their wisdom, perspicacity, and good taste. Let’s face it, with only six entries–albeit quite enthusiastic entries which most of us have enjoyed reading–this is something short of the Irish Sweepstakes. I’m sorry I didn’t let Lord Reesh run the contest, but it’d too late now.
