Tiomkin Score


Nice, atmospheric score by Dimitri Tiomkin, but the main theme is actually lifted from his own earlier, It's A Wonderful Life. Listen to George/James Stewart rushing from the bridge to home, near the end of the film. Same music.

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I thought it was tiresome. I was ready to strangle him if he brought in "Ave Maria" one more time...

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Exactly my thoughts. The first time, when we see the clock, I liked it. I think it's a beautiful melody, a bit pensive…but it gradually turns into an annoying advertising jingle each time it plays.

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I noticed that too! They stole the music score from "Wonderful Life"!

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For me, the most irritating thing about it was the frequent quotations from the Gregorian Chant from the Requiem Mass (Dies Irae). This had become a cliché after Berlioz used it in the Symphonie Phantastique and to an educated modern audience it grates.

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I didn't notice it was used that much. In fact, I only remember it as part of the opening credits…and the finale. I've seen the movie 3 or 4 times, and each time the score irritated me less. Go figure.

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He also used movements from Beethoven's sixth and seventh symphonies. I was disappointed that there was so little original material.

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Do you remember at which points? I remember part of Beethoven's 4th as diegetic music, as part of the newsreel when the train is lifted back on the tracks. Some other parts seem to borrow a little from Verdi's Requiem.
The first time I watched it I got annoyed by the repetitions of the so-called Ave Maria (actually Schubert's melody to Ellen's Third Song by Walter Scott)…but it seems I got desensitized.
Parts that seem to be original material: Nick's theme (the flute), and the dramatic music anticipating Warni's death.

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