Sunday, March 19, 2006

Bernard Herrmann, The Academy Hardly Knew Ya

Every year, there are certain people that the Oscars simply dismiss as they collect the list of cinema's finest. These people, who go on to have great careers despite the loss of that coveted nomination, seem to be gracious and rather philosophical about it, but you have to wonder-are they secretly putting pins in a secret Oscar statue (bought at Universal, as they can't get one of their own) in their bedrooms, spiting the Academy for ignoring their brilliance.

One such person like this has to be Bernard Herrmann. Sure, Herrmann has an Oscar for the completely unseen The Devil and Daniel Webster, but by winning for that, he lost to the melodic and haunting Citizen Kane score.

However, this snub is nothing compared to the losses he sustained for scoring Hitchcock's maddening works in the fifties. The Birds, North By Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo-all brilliant (the last two so brilliant they made my recent list of the best film scores of all time), and yet he didn't receive a cent for them at the Oscars-not even a lone nomination. The reasons for this are several: the Academy never much cared for Hitchcock (notice how he never took home a competitive trophy) and they like the more traditional Maurice Jarre/John Williams type music. Still, they can't be proud that they honored films like Boy on a Dolphin, Separate Tables, and Cleopatra instead of these classics (it should be noted that, the year they snubbed Psycho, they also turned down a chance to reward Bernstein's The Magnificent Seven).

So what about you-what's your favorite Herrmann score? Which composer do you still simmer over losing at the Oscars?

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