What's in a Film Score? Bernard Herrmann Quiz

Answer: Citizen Kane

What an amazing way to start a career in film scores. Not only did "Citizen Kane" go on to become one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time, but Bernard's score was seminal in a new approach to using music in film. Basically, he used short bursts of music to accompany the visuals rather than the almost continual music used in many Hollywood films at the time. Another brilliant trick Herrmann adopted was adapting a leitmotif to the events on screen; i.e. Kane's rise to riches and success and subsequent spiral into madness are echoed in the music, the same motif being played in different moods.

Even the film's director, Orson Welles, is quoted as saying the music was 50% responsible for the film's success. An overstatement maybe, but well-deserved praise all the same.

Answer: The Day the Earth Stood Still

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" was Herrmann's first film score in Hollywood, but he didn't choose to ease himself in with run-of-the-mill, standard stuff. In fact, Herrmann threw caution to the wind and went the whole hog employing all sorts of unusual instruments. Amongst those was the theremin, which had already been used by Miklós Rózsa on the soundtracks for "Spellbound", "The Lost Weekend", "The Red House", by Roy Webb on "The Spiral Staircase", and Ferde Grofé on "Rocketship X-M", but it was hardly common fare.

Interestingly, the music from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was reused on the pilot episode of the TV series "Lost In Space".

Answer: The Trouble with Harry

Herrmann's score for "The Trouble with Harry" suits the film perfectly: it's frivolous, slightly whimsical, but subtly disturbing. The film appears to be a silly romp in an idyllic country village and the viewer almost forgets that central to the plot is the inconvenient corpse of a murdered man.

Herrmann went on to produce some of his finest work for Hitchcock films, arguably peaking with "Vertigo" in 1958. He of course composed one of film histories most memorable scores for one of cinema's most iconic scenes; the "Psycho" shower scene. Hitchcock and Herrmann's final project together was "Torn Curtain" (1966) but they fell out over the type of music needed and Herrmann's score went unused.

Answer: Journey to the Center of the Earth

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" is no classic film in its own right. James Mason puts in a good day's work as ever despite the corny misogyny of his character, but casting Pat Boone as a proud, aspiring, kilt-donned Scottish science student almost seems like mockery. Furthermore, the evil villain Count Saknussemm (and his henchman), the widow Carla Göteborg, and the ever-present duck Gertrud are simply daft.

However, Herrmann's score with some interesting scenery and a foolproof basic idea raise the farce above a forgettable sci-fi flick. Once again, Herrmann was incredibly inventive in his use of instruments, even traditional orchestra instruments, used to make outlandish (or should that be inlandish?) sounds.

Answer: Cape Fear

The main title theme for "Cape Fear" is a foreboding tune which really captures the darkness of the film you are about to see. It also hints at the water and the reeds that feature in the climatic last section of the film.

Robert Mitchum as Max Cady is one of the nastiest realistic characters ever seen in film. Just the way he walks oozes with menace. Gregory Peck as Sam Bowden is the archetypal "Mr Normal" (albeit a comfortably wealthy Mr Normal) and he is the perfect balance. What is really interesting is how Cady manages to upset that balance.

For my money, Scorsese's remake isn't a patch on the original. Much of the threat is gone since De Niro's Cady develops into a cartoon character, a very nasty one, but still safely fictional.

Answer: Jason and the Argonauts

Herrmann's use of brass and percussion on the score for "Jason and the Argonauts" is almost as thrilling as Harryhausen's animation. I particularly love the plodding, war-like drums (I think they must be timpani) which really set the mood.

Herrmann and Harryhausen both also worked on "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958), "The Three Worlds of Gulliver", and "Mysterious Island" (1961), but "Jason and the Argonauts" is the best in my book.

Answer: Fahrenheit 451

François Truffaut was a massive fan of Alfred Hitchcock and made a huge contribution to Hitch's reputation as one of cinema's masters. Apparently it was the author of "Fahrenheit 451", Ray Bradbury, who introduced Herrmann to Truffaut because he knew the latter was such a Hitchcock fanatic.

However, it was more than this that led to Truffaut to actually giving the job to Herrmann. When Herrmann asked why he had been picked to write the score for such a supposedly avant-garde director rather than composers with a radical bent, Truffaut replied "they'll give me music of the twentieth century but you'll give me music of the twenty first!"

Answer: Twisted Nerve

Just as with many of Bernard Herrmann's scores, the music in "Twisted Nerve" is anything but intrusive. Nevertheless, the whistled main theme gets inside one's head. It must have done so for Tarantino who paid fitting homage to the master by using it as a ringtone in "Death Proof", and playing it when Daryl Hannah's character Elle Driver is up to no good in "Kill Bill". I have also heard it used on Italian TV adverts.

The film "Twisted Nerve" is a very odd flick which has proved quite controversial for its theme of mental retardation. Reading the synopsis of the film doesn't actually do it justice since it's certainly not exploitative. Having said that, by later standards it is not very compassionate either. What it does do is make one think about our attitudes to intellectual disability, bearing in mind how several characters treat Georgie and how he manages to hoodwink them.

Answer: Sisters

Herrmann's score for De Palma's "Sisters" could quite conceivably be read as a homage to Herrmann's own previous scores, just as the film is De Palma's unabashed homage to Alfred Hitchcock. In the score, the dramatic, brassy sounds are reminiscent of his earlier scores for the Ray Harryhausen-animated films, the anxiety-ridden strings are akin to his score for "Psycho", and the futuristic, theremin-driven sounds are similar to his sci-fi scores. They are all brought together majestically.

The film itself is bloodier than much of Hitchcock's oeuvre, but it takes after the master by sticking its tongue firmly in its cheek. Nevertheless, just like Hitch, De Palma pulls off an enthralling thriller despite the generous doses of black comedy.

Answer: Taxi Driver

Herrmann's score for "Taxi Driver" is his masterpiece. The main theme really gets the character Travis's psychosis down to a tee and the music enhances the film's mood brilliantly, just as all of Herrmann's scores did. Just like Herrmann's first film score back in 1941 for Orson Welles, "Taxi Driver" owes a lot to the visionary composer.

Sadly, it was Bernard Herrmann's last film score and he died before the film was released. The film was quite rightly dedicated to his memory.