That orchestra in the beginning starts out good, but then gets SO ANNOYING.
It seriously starts to sound like a bad horror movie after a while and you want it to end.
Also, that "New York" song in the opening is lousy too.
I am formerly known as HillieBoliday....Member since May 2006:
That musical prologue is one of my favorite aspects about the film. I think the lyrics in the song are very clever, and so describes New York; and I love the perfect harmony of the voices.
"OOhhhoo....I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"
I have the sheet music for Street Scene in front of me - no lyrics nor do I remember lyrics from the prologue to the movie - where can I hear them?
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I am formerly known as HillieBoliday....Member since May 2006:
On my DVD, I think it's right before the movie starts....I'll check my copy and get back to you with the lyrics and exactly where they fall.
"OOhhhooo....I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"
I agree with you, I really like it. I know exactly what movie is about to start when I hear it. I just finished watching it on TCM "The Essentials" program.
Have you ever heard the music from "Ice Station Zebra"? If you haven't paid attention to it before, do so. I think you will enjoy it.
I am a musicologist and historian of classical and early 20th century popular music, not that ANY of that means my opinion is any better than anyone else's. Having said that, here's my opinion: this overture is an utter bore, and if you ask me, a contrived and deliberate rip-off of Gershwin's, "American in Paris." It just doesn't work musically. I think it's an utter and complete bore. Comparing it to Gershwin is insulting.
It most especially doesn't work as the "overture" to this film. It has not connection, musically or dramatically to the plot or themes. It is a big mistake on all levels.
Also, I could swear it is the same theme that is used in, "Gentleman's Agreement."
I agree with most of what you say - it was a big mistake on all levels and incomprehensible. Where I disagree is a) it echoes (I wouldn't call it a rip off) the blues segment in American in Paris b) nobody was comparing it to gershwin c) it was a very good (in my opinion of course) composition - capturing the feel of New York written by a highly respected composer and conductor Newman (first name slips my mind) It more closely sounds like sections of Rhapsody in Blue - and of course it doesn't have the grandeur of that magnificent composition
shareI think you missed it -- a comparison to Gershwin WAS made in this post. Alfred Newman WAS a gifted composer, no doubt, but you cannot take ANYTHING that came out of Hollywood as the truth. This may have been written by an assistant or thrown together (which I think is more likely) at the last minute or without much thought on Newman's part. Again, just my opinion.
sharethis is the same argument with respect to Shakespeare - many scholars question whether someone named "Shakespeare" wrote the plays- does it matter - the plays are masterpieces whoever wrote them. Similarly some unnamed assistant may have composed Street Scene - does it matter - it still is a fine composition but of course not in same league as Gershwin. Good discussion by the way - not the usual ad hominum arguments.
shareAgreed, the "New York" song isn't great--and I liked the tune a lot better when the Marx Brothers sang it twenty years earlier!
Honestly, the opening bars (at least) appear to have been lifted note for note from the insanely funny "To War" number in "Duck Soup": "To war, to war, Freedonia's going to war" vs "New York, New York, whatever words come next".
Since the music in "Duck Soup" is credited to Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar, all I can say is, "Shame on you, Alfred Newman!"
this post I just don't understand - we have been discussing the prologue to How to Marry a Millionaire and you seem to be talking about the song New York New York (I think) which Alfred Newman didn't write
share..... and had absolutely nothing to do with How To Marry a Millionaire
shareSorry, should have included this quote from the original message, since it was posted so long ago:
"Also, that "New York" song in the opening is lousy too."
So what I'm referring to is not the prologue, per se, but the song that comes right after it, in which a chorus sings about the wonders of New York over shots of the skyline, etc.
Wait a minute. Shakespeare wrote "Rhapsody in Blue"? I'm so confused. . .
shareRight, so back in the mid-fifties they should though "hey, 60 years from now people will be listening to crappy ass music. They won't like music from this era so we better leave out the overture".
shareNo, but TCM can certainly cut it out now. It's only in the film to show-off the new screen sizes in vogue at the time. It is anachronistic now. Especially on the small screen. Pointless.
shareAs has been said, this seemingly interminable sequence was inserted to show off CinemaScope...though static shots of an orchestra from a distance hardly seem an interesting or appropriate type of subject to introduce audiences of 1953 to the possibilities of 'Scope.
To me this sequence comes under the heading of "What were they thinking?" Watching an orchestra playing an utterly irrelevant piece of music for six minutes or more, with no real camera movement and nothing of any visual appeal whatever, is boring as hell. An early poster claimed that the piece, Alfred Newman's "Street Scene", is magnificent or some such rave. That's debatable, but what's not is that that particular composition had been heard endlessly in many films for many years, in whole or in part, mostly in films with an urban setting, so it was hardly anything new, let alone connected to this movie. The fact that this music was something everyone had heard for years hardly made the sequence more interesting.
But all that said, I disagree that TCM or anyone else should cut out this sequence. Like it or not (and I hate it), it's a part of the film and as such should be kept in. Back in the old days a lot of TV stations did drop this deadly and unnecessary opening but then they also ran this film in grainy pan-and-scan prints that cut out half the picture. As a movie purist, I believe films must be left alone, uncut, unedited, unchanged, un-colorized, unaltered in any way, shown only and exactly as they were made. Which, unfortunately, means enduring this dreadfully dull, completely pointless and thoroughly misplaced orchestral opening in How to Marry a Millionaire. Luckily on the DVD you can skip it.
I just find it annoying that some folks are already suggesting that those who don't appreciate this overture need to become more educated, etc. Some of us are quite familiar with older films, but we just don't care for this particular overture. It has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence levels.
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JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen
On the contrary, it's the people who simply mindlessly defend whatever they're presented with who need some educating.
Actually, I think "Street Scene" was a decent piece of music in its time, but its extreme overuse in so many movies was one reason having it shoved in your face here was so annoying. But it was the unimaginative visual presentation that really make the pre-credit sequence unbearable. You really feel like you're being forced to sit through it.
I agree with your comments about "Street Scene". Besides, to me, it sounds more like a song suited for film noir than a comedy like this one.
I'm watching this movie now, and I'm pleased to announce that I skipped the overture!
I shouldn't say that too loudly, though. Some of the CFBers might complain.
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JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen
Yes, that's it, the music was usually used in noirs amd is unsuited to a comedy, tough it turned up in straight dramas too. You hear it briefly after the opening credits of Gentleman's Agreement (1947), as the camera opens over the skyline of New York. Just that one brief use, but it popped up in similar ways in many films. It was used at the beginning and end of Kiss of Death (1947), too, for another example.
shareA few notes of it were played at the start of the 1950 film Where the Sidewalk Ends. It's a very interesting piece of music, but I skip the overture each time I watch this movie. (I think I hear a few CFBers fainting at the very thought. )
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JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen
Right -- it was being whistled in that one, over the opening credits, with no orchestra behind it. Alfred Newman made sure to cram his baby into as many Fox films as he could back then!
shareOnly a few notes, too. It is a memorable melody. I saw Where the Sidewalk Ends years before I saw How to Marry a Millionaire. The first time I saw Millionaire and I sat through the overture, I remember thinking that I had heard some of that music played somewhere, and then I remembered where exactly I had heard it. Then someone brought to my attention that this music had been used in other films, too. Wasn't it used in the 1940s noir I Wake Up Screaming? Someone here said so, but I can't remember. (BTW, Betty Grable was one of the stars of that film....)
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JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen
Yes, I think it was in I Wake Up Screaming as well. Lots of Fox films. In one form or another, undoubtedly their most oft-repeated bit of music in that era. But it does get a bit tiresome and unoriginal after a while.
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