Great performing dogs


I didn't see the credits so I don't know whether they were named as part of the cast. Considering that Tiomkin was given full credit for the music, which included part of Beethoven's 7th symphony....maybe the dogs weren't even mentioned.(Some of the reviewers here did notice the Beethoven. Things haven't changed that much when it comes to movie use of classical music..sometimes really messed up.

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>...Tiomkin was given full credit for the music, which included part of Beethoven's 7th symphony....

Not quite. Check out the credits here and you'll see they say "Original Music by Dmitri Tiomkin", I believe in the film it just said, "Score". Either way, that means he composed all music original to the film; he and the studio weren't trying to fool people into thinking he was the real composer of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

Well-known classical music incorporated into a film's score wasn't usually noted as such in the credits in those days because it was presumed that the audience would recognize it, if not always be able to identify it.

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Righ! Public domain stuff was (and is)great filler music and doesn't cost much. Should give the performers credit though. Guess it was the same studio orchestra that performed the rest of the movie. There is a composer who wrote music for 2001: A Space Odyssey whose music wasn't used because Straus' was public domain (a lot cheaper). Many a movie (cartoon, serial, and newsreel) is idenified by its use of its classical themes, and many an early TV show. And by the way there was a small part of Romeo and Juliet's Love theme that was looped in the scene where Bel Geddes and Price went to see the Cleveland Orchestra. It was like a broken record.

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>And by the way there was a small part of Romeo and Juliet's Love theme that was looped in the scene where Bel Geddes and Price went to see the Cleveland Orchestra. It was like a broken record.

Ugh, yes. That was horrible. The same dozen measures were played forte at a tempo more suited to "The Minute Waltz" which, paradoxically, made it seem to go on forever.

I mentioned the Tchaikovsky in an earlier post but not the desecration perpetrated on it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039581/board/thread/133540341?d=133551222 #133551222


Re: What did Dimitri Tiomkin write?
by LaChicaChoca 11 hours ago (Fri Mar 20 2009 21:30:01)


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Besides the theme from Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, I also thought I heard parts of a speeded up version of Mozart's Rondo a la Turca and of course, Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy during the concert scene.

I'd say that everything we didn't recognize as classical music was scored by Tiomkin. There was a lot of generically tense orchestral music toward the end that presumably he scored.

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Sorry, didn't realize the Tchai piece had been mentioned. Did anyone note how poorly the cops were controling that crowd? I know it's just a movie but my goodness, his girlfriend was able to sneak up a backstair-well and get into the barricaded apt [she could have at least brought a sandwich] And did I miss the part where the body got removed from the room? Vincent had to be going south by the time the tear gas was lobbed in. It may have been a relief..

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>Sorry, didn't realize the Tchai piece had been mentioned.

Sorry, no, I'm the one who should apologize. I did mention the Tschaikovsky piece earlier but it was on another thread.

The crowd control was ludicrous, even by the standards of the day and really detracted from my ability to suspend disbelief. And frankly, Joanne being so hysterical in the crowd and then suddenly having the presence of mind to elude the police (not that much presence of mind was needed) only further beggared belief.

>And did I miss the part where the body got removed from the room?

I think you must have. Very early on in the film, a shot rings out, Joe's door opens and Vincent staggers out and then falls down the stairs.

Also, the whole notion of two men fighting over the decent but terribly tepid Bel Geddes also failed to persuade me. Even one man pursuing her would have been a stretch. She's just there, in a way that makes you wish she weren't.

Another Litvak film from around this time, Blues in the Night, is much, much better.

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Still you gotta love vincent's delectable portrayal of the magician. You fall in love with him just wondering what debauchery he'll come up with next. Shaving the dogs paws to shorten training time? And he almost looked turned on when Joanne slapped him. I thought he was gonna say, "...again, but harder this time!" And then to say he shouldn't be hated because he's a creative liar! I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to use that one!
Who could have done justice to that role other than Price? Greestreet? Lorre? I know! Orson Welles.

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I saw the last part of this movie last night. Some of Price's lines reminded me of Casey Anthony. Price's character was definitely a sociopath.

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"Even one man pursuing her would have been a stretch. She's just there, in a way that makes you wish she weren't."

I have to disagree. I think she's pretty and sweet, and even sexy (but she doesn't know it). Her only drawback I can see is that she's inexperienced and uptight. She blows a gasket when Max kisses her, so I imagine it's going to take Joe, or whoever the lucky guy ends up being someday, a lot of patient work to get her naked and relaxed.

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