This lesser-known suspense thriller is an excellent adaptation of a novel by Graham Greene, and a fine showcase for actor Anthony Hopkins and the upcoming Kristin Scott Thomas, with an able assist from Derek Jacobi. A Paris lawyer is sentenced to die as a random hostage of the German occupiers, but swaps with another prisoner with a desperate, questionable death-cell contract. Three years later, he must pretend not to be himself when he returns to the house he traded for his life, to face a woman who has sworn to kill the man who allowed her brother to die. Fans of Hannibal Lecter will be impressed by Hopkins’ deep, absorbing performance — the show’s moral tension and strange twists of fate are quite moving.
The Tenth Man
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1988 / Color / 2:35 1:85 1:66 widescreen 1:37 Academy / 99 min. / Street Date August 30, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott Thomas,...
The Tenth Man
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1988 / Color / 2:35 1:85 1:66 widescreen 1:37 Academy / 99 min. / Street Date August 30, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott Thomas,...
- 8/27/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“It’s one of the true pioneering enterprises in our business,” says composer Alan Silvestri about the preeminent film music label, Varèse Sarabande, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Silvestri won a 2001 Grammy for instrumental composition for his theme for “Cast Away,” a movie that has very little music and was an unlikely candidate for a soundtrack album … until Varèse producer Robert Townson proposed a Silvestri greatest-hits CD that would lead off with “Cast Away.” “Talk about the adventurousness and passion of Bob Townson and Varèse,” Silvestri adds. “There was no other way anyone was ever going to hear that music outside of the movie.”
Silvestri is just one of many composers who praise the label that has long promoted their work. Lee Holdridge met Varèse principals Chris Kuchler and Tom Null in 1978, and “was impressed by their dream, although I could not understand how they would be...
Silvestri won a 2001 Grammy for instrumental composition for his theme for “Cast Away,” a movie that has very little music and was an unlikely candidate for a soundtrack album … until Varèse producer Robert Townson proposed a Silvestri greatest-hits CD that would lead off with “Cast Away.” “Talk about the adventurousness and passion of Bob Townson and Varèse,” Silvestri adds. “There was no other way anyone was ever going to hear that music outside of the movie.”
Silvestri is just one of many composers who praise the label that has long promoted their work. Lee Holdridge met Varèse principals Chris Kuchler and Tom Null in 1978, and “was impressed by their dream, although I could not understand how they would be...
- 12/8/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Los Angeles, May 18 (Ians/Efe) Under the baton of Placido Domingo, acclaimed Chilean writer Isabel Allende's short story "Una Venganza" ("An Act of Vengeance") emerges from the printed page as the opera "Dulce Rosa", a production with a Latin heart and Greek tragedy in its soul that premiered Friday in Los Angeles.
"Dulce Rosa" is a further effort by the L.A. Opera, directed by Domingo, to bring lyric opera to a wider audience.
"We're always looking to create new works," the Spanish tenor told Efe.
Domingo got behind the adaptation of "Una Venganza" when the idea was proposed to him by composer Lee Holdridge and librettist Richard Sparks, to whom Allende gave the go-ahead years ago without really expecting anything.
"Dulce Rosa" is a further effort by the L.A. Opera, directed by Domingo, to bring lyric opera to a wider audience.
"We're always looking to create new works," the Spanish tenor told Efe.
Domingo got behind the adaptation of "Una Venganza" when the idea was proposed to him by composer Lee Holdridge and librettist Richard Sparks, to whom Allende gave the go-ahead years ago without really expecting anything.
- 5/18/2013
- by Amith Ostwal
- RealBollywood.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Into the Arms of Stranger: Stories of the Kindertransport, shown as part of the "Oscar’s Docs" series, at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood on Monday, November 2, 2009. Pictured above following the screening (left to right): Composer Lee Holdridge, Oscar-winning producer Deborah Oppenheimer, Oscar-winning writer/director Mark Jonathan Harris, editor Kate Amend and associate producer Alicia Dwyer. Photos: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S. Oscar-winning producer/director Tracy Seretean, whose Big Mama was also screened at the Linwood Dunn on Nov. 2.
- 11/4/2009
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Brothers at War is the latest score from Lee which posed a special challenge in a way that he had to write a sublime score that wouldn't overpower the movie. The film is directed by Jake Rademacher's who goes to Iraq to understand what his brothers are fighting for. Apart from providing a rare glimpse of frontline life, the Brothers at War also examines the effect of the war on families. The movie was brought added publicity when Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump) signed up as an executive producer in order to promote this unique approach to the subject. One could argue that this is not the type of film that needs a score, but Holdridge manages to bring some great music to the table without becoming an overpowering entity that would crush the realistic approach to the war. We're closing this special week with Lee's thoughs about scoring Rademacher's directorial debut.
- 4/28/2009
- Daily Film Music Blog
Click here to read the first part of the memories about the documentaries of Mark Jonathan Harris. The second part features discusses three more unique documentaries.
Unlikely Heroes is an unusual look at the time of the Holocaust. This film is seven profiles in courage about seven remarkable individuals who fought back and tried to save Jews from annihilation or at least tried to provide solace to those in the camps. Each person has their own thematic music with its own individual style. As the film grew so did the score. Though a great deal of the score is original I did weave in a few appropriate folk melodies as part of the overall tapestry. I even opened the Vienna scene with a lift from the Brahms Piano Sonata in F Minor. I feel that these quotes give the score a sense of the times and a sense of place.
Unlikely Heroes is an unusual look at the time of the Holocaust. This film is seven profiles in courage about seven remarkable individuals who fought back and tried to save Jews from annihilation or at least tried to provide solace to those in the camps. Each person has their own thematic music with its own individual style. As the film grew so did the score. Though a great deal of the score is original I did weave in a few appropriate folk melodies as part of the overall tapestry. I even opened the Vienna scene with a lift from the Brahms Piano Sonata in F Minor. I feel that these quotes give the score a sense of the times and a sense of place.
- 4/28/2009
- Daily Film Music Blog
Today and tomorrow, Lee will remember five Holocaust documentaries he worked on. Few composers had the chance to revisit this event so many times and find so many musical ways in music to underscore the unusual, horrifying and sometimes inspirational stories which all started from an event that denies human logic.
I am normally a reasonable and logical person with a good sense of balance and an understanding of fairness. However, there is no part of me that can understand or comprehend or explain the horror of the Holocaust. I have worked on five very distinguished documentary feature films about the Holocaust and each one of them makes me fall silent and sends me into a deep disturbed questioning as to why, why, why? I have been privileged to work with some very distinguished film makers on these amazing films: Richard Trank, Mark Jonathan Harris, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Deborah Oppenheimer,...
I am normally a reasonable and logical person with a good sense of balance and an understanding of fairness. However, there is no part of me that can understand or comprehend or explain the horror of the Holocaust. I have worked on five very distinguished documentary feature films about the Holocaust and each one of them makes me fall silent and sends me into a deep disturbed questioning as to why, why, why? I have been privileged to work with some very distinguished film makers on these amazing films: Richard Trank, Mark Jonathan Harris, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Deborah Oppenheimer,...
- 4/28/2009
- Daily Film Music Blog
This 1985 horror comedy features one of Lee's most inventive scores which cleverly incorporates elements of "Pennsylvania 6-5000" into the music. Like the previous title, this soundtrack was available only on LP for a long time before Silva Screen released a suite out of the music on a vampire-themed collection. Now the original program is once again available thanks to Buysoundtrax who released not only Transylvania 6-5000 but also added Korgoth of Barbaria to the program.
Disclaimer: The following notes can also be found in Bsx's soundtrack release. It's included here for time constraint reasons and also because Lee already said what he wanted to say about the score in those notes. The thoughts are reproduced here with permission:
Writing music for horror stories is one of a composer's favorite tasks. The medium of the horror story is such a natural for the power of suggestion of music. The list of...
Disclaimer: The following notes can also be found in Bsx's soundtrack release. It's included here for time constraint reasons and also because Lee already said what he wanted to say about the score in those notes. The thoughts are reproduced here with permission:
Writing music for horror stories is one of a composer's favorite tasks. The medium of the horror story is such a natural for the power of suggestion of music. The list of...
- 4/28/2009
- Daily Film Music Blog
We begin the journey with one of Lee's earliest released scores, East of Eden (1981), a mini-series based on John Steinbeck's novel starring Jane Seymour. Up to that point Holdridge was already getting estabilished in film and television scoring, but East of Eden was the first work that got him noticed among film music collectors. A soundtrack LP was released by Elektra and for a long time a suite appearing on Charles Gerhardt Conducts The Film Music of Lee Holdridge was the only CD release of the score. Now the full Holdridge score is available from Intrada, who put out a special disc that begins with the album program in stereo, than culling together the remaining music from surviving elements, several previously unused cues are presented in mono. Here's Lee's thoughts about the picture and the rocky road to getting a commission of this magnitude:
I read many of John Steinbeck's novels growing up.
I read many of John Steinbeck's novels growing up.
- 4/28/2009
- Daily Film Music Blog
Screened at the Hollywood International Film Festival
The latest production from the Oscar-winning Moriah Films division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Unlikely Heroes" goes beyond the well-documented Warsaw Ghetto uprising to take a fascinating look at seven lesser-known individual paths to resistance.
By incorporating interviews -- in some cases with the surviving subjects -- along with recently unearthed archival footage and photographs as well as newly filmed sequences establishing the international locations where the events took place, director Richard Trank has crafted a moving documentary that should go on to receive considerable attention following its Hollywood film festival premiere.
Included among those profiles in courage is the remarkable story of a rabbi's son who joined the underground and would frequently disguise himself as a high-ranking Nazi in the Hungarian Arrow Cross in order to save the lives of many of his brethren.
Also chronicled are the efforts of a Vienna-born artist and early art therapy advocate who encouraged children in her Theresienstadt camp to secretly draw and paint as a way to escape the everyday horrors of the camp; a pair of Polish sisters in Auschwitz who systematically snuck bits of gunpowder out of a munitions factory until there was enough to blow up a crematorium; and a young French boy who survived the camps by performing songs for fellow Jews and Nazis alike and would later change his name to Robert Clary, of "Hogan's Heroes" fame.
Connecting the self-contained portraits is the stirring narration provided by Ben Kingsley, tastefully underscored by Lee Holdridge's symphonic compositions and the use of period songs.
The latest production from the Oscar-winning Moriah Films division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Unlikely Heroes" goes beyond the well-documented Warsaw Ghetto uprising to take a fascinating look at seven lesser-known individual paths to resistance.
By incorporating interviews -- in some cases with the surviving subjects -- along with recently unearthed archival footage and photographs as well as newly filmed sequences establishing the international locations where the events took place, director Richard Trank has crafted a moving documentary that should go on to receive considerable attention following its Hollywood film festival premiere.
Included among those profiles in courage is the remarkable story of a rabbi's son who joined the underground and would frequently disguise himself as a high-ranking Nazi in the Hungarian Arrow Cross in order to save the lives of many of his brethren.
Also chronicled are the efforts of a Vienna-born artist and early art therapy advocate who encouraged children in her Theresienstadt camp to secretly draw and paint as a way to escape the everyday horrors of the camp; a pair of Polish sisters in Auschwitz who systematically snuck bits of gunpowder out of a munitions factory until there was enough to blow up a crematorium; and a young French boy who survived the camps by performing songs for fellow Jews and Nazis alike and would later change his name to Robert Clary, of "Hogan's Heroes" fame.
Connecting the self-contained portraits is the stirring narration provided by Ben Kingsley, tastefully underscored by Lee Holdridge's symphonic compositions and the use of period songs.
Screened at the Hollywood International Film Festival
The latest production from the Oscar-winning Moriah Films division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Unlikely Heroes" goes beyond the well-documented Warsaw Ghetto uprising to take a fascinating look at seven lesser-known individual paths to resistance.
By incorporating interviews -- in some cases with the surviving subjects -- along with recently unearthed archival footage and photographs as well as newly filmed sequences establishing the international locations where the events took place, director Richard Trank has crafted a moving documentary that should go on to receive considerable attention following its Hollywood film festival premiere.
Included among those profiles in courage is the remarkable story of a rabbi's son who joined the underground and would frequently disguise himself as a high-ranking Nazi in the Hungarian Arrow Cross in order to save the lives of many of his brethren.
Also chronicled are the efforts of a Vienna-born artist and early art therapy advocate who encouraged children in her Theresienstadt camp to secretly draw and paint as a way to escape the everyday horrors of the camp; a pair of Polish sisters in Auschwitz who systematically snuck bits of gunpowder out of a munitions factory until there was enough to blow up a crematorium; and a young French boy who survived the camps by performing songs for fellow Jews and Nazis alike and would later change his name to Robert Clary, of "Hogan's Heroes" fame.
Connecting the self-contained portraits is the stirring narration provided by Ben Kingsley, tastefully underscored by Lee Holdridge's symphonic compositions and the use of period songs.
The latest production from the Oscar-winning Moriah Films division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Unlikely Heroes" goes beyond the well-documented Warsaw Ghetto uprising to take a fascinating look at seven lesser-known individual paths to resistance.
By incorporating interviews -- in some cases with the surviving subjects -- along with recently unearthed archival footage and photographs as well as newly filmed sequences establishing the international locations where the events took place, director Richard Trank has crafted a moving documentary that should go on to receive considerable attention following its Hollywood film festival premiere.
Included among those profiles in courage is the remarkable story of a rabbi's son who joined the underground and would frequently disguise himself as a high-ranking Nazi in the Hungarian Arrow Cross in order to save the lives of many of his brethren.
Also chronicled are the efforts of a Vienna-born artist and early art therapy advocate who encouraged children in her Theresienstadt camp to secretly draw and paint as a way to escape the everyday horrors of the camp; a pair of Polish sisters in Auschwitz who systematically snuck bits of gunpowder out of a munitions factory until there was enough to blow up a crematorium; and a young French boy who survived the camps by performing songs for fellow Jews and Nazis alike and would later change his name to Robert Clary, of "Hogan's Heroes" fame.
Connecting the self-contained portraits is the stirring narration provided by Ben Kingsley, tastefully underscored by Lee Holdridge's symphonic compositions and the use of period songs.
- 10/22/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CHICAGO -- "Twilight of the Golds" sparkled in the opening-night glow of the 32nd annual Chicago International Film Festival.
Native Chicagoans play major roles in the production, most prominently director Ross Marks and executive producer/actor Garry "Go U Northwestern" Marshall, and so the cable project that Showtime hopes to release as a theatrical was met with almost pep-rally enthusiasm.
A sobering drama about a young married couple who learn through a scientific test that the baby the wife is carrying will become gay, the project grapples with a number of philosophical and moral points. Starring Jennifer Beals as the pregnant wife, Suzanne, and featuring a cast that includes Faye Dunaway, Brendan Fraser and Jon Tenney, a savvy distributor could generate some first-weekend interest among target interest groups, in this case, primarily women's-rights groups and gays.
Genetically, however, this thoughtful drama is of the panel-discussion species. Each respective family member or friend posits his or her point of view regarding the having of the child until all philosophical permutations are exhausted. And, most unfortunately, the characters are fashioned pretty much as representative types -- no one really surprises you.
Based on the play by Jonathan Tolin, "Twilight" radiates around Suzanne and her husband the doctor, Rob (Tenney). Suzanne is a mousy and timid sort who has always avoided risks, much to the chagrin of her supportive and rather bossy parents (Dunaway and Marshall). Cocooned by her family's affluence, she's settled into a sheltered life, running a tony clothing store.
When she learns she's pregnant, Rob suggests that she take a new test, one that he's helped develop, which will enable them to learn all sorts of information about the baby -- even its future sexual preference. Like their conscientious and competitive yuppie friends, they want "the best."
When the test reveals that the baby will be a boy who will most likely be gay, it gives them both pause. They want to do the right thing: In fact, Suzanne's loving brother David (Fraser) is gay, and her parents seem quite modern in their thinking. On the other hand --
At this juncture, screenwriters Tolin and Seth Bass begin the roundelay of discussion. They present a spectrum of perspectives taken from this evenly comprised cast, each bringing a personal viewpoint or bias as to whether or not Phyllis should "keep" the baby.
The dramaturgy seems to Bend Over backward to be philosophically fair and, indeed, provokes a number of interesting discussions on a number of social and scientific points. That's both the strength and the weakness: Inevitably, it takes on the gray flavor of a symposium.
And, each type, be it the "objective" man of science, the gay director, the establishment parent or the manly doctor, espouses orthodoxy according to their sexuality, life station and expectation. Eventually, the talk runs out and push comes to shove; woefully, that's almost the literal case here as a boozy homophobe causes the pregnant woman to hit the pavement. Bonk, she makes up her mind.
What gives this drama its most nutritious intellectual fiber are the superb performances. Admittedly, Beals is hampered by the shallow, wishy-washy nature of her character and never much engages our sympathies beyond a low simmer. However, others bring prickly passion to their roles.
In particular, Dunaway and Marshall stand out as her good-hearted, buttinski parents, while Rosie O'Donnell is characteristically a hoot as Suzanne's abrasive, infertile co-worker.
Fraser, as the gay brother, brings the most to the proceedings, showing the tumult beneath his affable and accommodating public nature and erupting into real rage when he feels he might have been aborted had his parents known he would be gay. That's the moment when "Twilight" reaches its highest light.
Under Marks' fluid and gentle hand, the production is as carefully assembled and presented as the drama.
Once again, that's the project's strength and weakness. In this insular Beverly Hills world, all colors are coordinated: Food complements sweaters, and sport coats mesh with plants. In short, where are the unexpected colors -- in personality, viewpoint and setting? That's "Twilight"'s ultimate fading, artificially and too carefully coordinated in both characters and colors.
TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDS
Showtime presents
In association with Hallmark Entertainment
A Repeat Entertainment/
Below the Belt production
A Film by Ross Marks
Producers Paul Colichman, John Davimos,
Mark R. Harris
Director Ross Marks
Screenwriters Jonathan Tolin, Seth Bass
Based on the play by Jonathan Tolin
Executive producer Garry Marshall
Director of photography Tom Richmond
Line producers John Schouweiler, Lisa Levy
Co-producers Valorie Massalas,
Stephen P. Jarchow
Casting Valorie Massalas
Music Lee Holdridge
Costume designer Molly Maginnis
Production designer Amy B. Ancona
Editor Dana Congdon
Color/stereo
Cast:
Suzanne Jennifer Beals
Walter: Garry Marshall
Phyllis Faye Dunaway
David Brendan Fraser
Rob Jon Tenney
Jackie Rosie O'Donnell
Brandon Patrick Bristow
Dr. Adrian Lodge John Schlesinger
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Native Chicagoans play major roles in the production, most prominently director Ross Marks and executive producer/actor Garry "Go U Northwestern" Marshall, and so the cable project that Showtime hopes to release as a theatrical was met with almost pep-rally enthusiasm.
A sobering drama about a young married couple who learn through a scientific test that the baby the wife is carrying will become gay, the project grapples with a number of philosophical and moral points. Starring Jennifer Beals as the pregnant wife, Suzanne, and featuring a cast that includes Faye Dunaway, Brendan Fraser and Jon Tenney, a savvy distributor could generate some first-weekend interest among target interest groups, in this case, primarily women's-rights groups and gays.
Genetically, however, this thoughtful drama is of the panel-discussion species. Each respective family member or friend posits his or her point of view regarding the having of the child until all philosophical permutations are exhausted. And, most unfortunately, the characters are fashioned pretty much as representative types -- no one really surprises you.
Based on the play by Jonathan Tolin, "Twilight" radiates around Suzanne and her husband the doctor, Rob (Tenney). Suzanne is a mousy and timid sort who has always avoided risks, much to the chagrin of her supportive and rather bossy parents (Dunaway and Marshall). Cocooned by her family's affluence, she's settled into a sheltered life, running a tony clothing store.
When she learns she's pregnant, Rob suggests that she take a new test, one that he's helped develop, which will enable them to learn all sorts of information about the baby -- even its future sexual preference. Like their conscientious and competitive yuppie friends, they want "the best."
When the test reveals that the baby will be a boy who will most likely be gay, it gives them both pause. They want to do the right thing: In fact, Suzanne's loving brother David (Fraser) is gay, and her parents seem quite modern in their thinking. On the other hand --
At this juncture, screenwriters Tolin and Seth Bass begin the roundelay of discussion. They present a spectrum of perspectives taken from this evenly comprised cast, each bringing a personal viewpoint or bias as to whether or not Phyllis should "keep" the baby.
The dramaturgy seems to Bend Over backward to be philosophically fair and, indeed, provokes a number of interesting discussions on a number of social and scientific points. That's both the strength and the weakness: Inevitably, it takes on the gray flavor of a symposium.
And, each type, be it the "objective" man of science, the gay director, the establishment parent or the manly doctor, espouses orthodoxy according to their sexuality, life station and expectation. Eventually, the talk runs out and push comes to shove; woefully, that's almost the literal case here as a boozy homophobe causes the pregnant woman to hit the pavement. Bonk, she makes up her mind.
What gives this drama its most nutritious intellectual fiber are the superb performances. Admittedly, Beals is hampered by the shallow, wishy-washy nature of her character and never much engages our sympathies beyond a low simmer. However, others bring prickly passion to their roles.
In particular, Dunaway and Marshall stand out as her good-hearted, buttinski parents, while Rosie O'Donnell is characteristically a hoot as Suzanne's abrasive, infertile co-worker.
Fraser, as the gay brother, brings the most to the proceedings, showing the tumult beneath his affable and accommodating public nature and erupting into real rage when he feels he might have been aborted had his parents known he would be gay. That's the moment when "Twilight" reaches its highest light.
Under Marks' fluid and gentle hand, the production is as carefully assembled and presented as the drama.
Once again, that's the project's strength and weakness. In this insular Beverly Hills world, all colors are coordinated: Food complements sweaters, and sport coats mesh with plants. In short, where are the unexpected colors -- in personality, viewpoint and setting? That's "Twilight"'s ultimate fading, artificially and too carefully coordinated in both characters and colors.
TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDS
Showtime presents
In association with Hallmark Entertainment
A Repeat Entertainment/
Below the Belt production
A Film by Ross Marks
Producers Paul Colichman, John Davimos,
Mark R. Harris
Director Ross Marks
Screenwriters Jonathan Tolin, Seth Bass
Based on the play by Jonathan Tolin
Executive producer Garry Marshall
Director of photography Tom Richmond
Line producers John Schouweiler, Lisa Levy
Co-producers Valorie Massalas,
Stephen P. Jarchow
Casting Valorie Massalas
Music Lee Holdridge
Costume designer Molly Maginnis
Production designer Amy B. Ancona
Editor Dana Congdon
Color/stereo
Cast:
Suzanne Jennifer Beals
Walter: Garry Marshall
Phyllis Faye Dunaway
David Brendan Fraser
Rob Jon Tenney
Jackie Rosie O'Donnell
Brandon Patrick Bristow
Dr. Adrian Lodge John Schlesinger
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/16/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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