didn't anybody else feel the same? and the sheer of volume was flying with the riddler! Not everybody can pull a Morricone i guess!
sharei dont have any problem with the soundtrack. sure you aren't drunk ?
shareI agree about the soundtrack-at least the parts where he would be tempted to drink, sounded somewhat campy to me and I felt like it should be the soundtrack in a horror movie!
shareFor me, the sound, especially the string music, fits the psychodrama very well. I watched it last night and enjoyed its horror elements and the creepy atmosphere very much.
shareThing is, this film was made in 1945. The use of (Dr Samuel Hoffman's) theremin playing was fairly new as a concept. (He'd last played it for spellbound and went on to do lots of sci-fi films in the fifties.) This later use of the theremin on science fiction films leads us to look in retrospect at lost weekend and identify the sound with later films.
shareI felt like it should be the soundtrack in a horror movie!
There were two or three times during the movie where the score became so loud that it brought attention to itself instead of the events that were happening on the screen. I remember each of those times thinking that the score should have been toned down a little.
"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."
I agree the soundtrack was too melodramatic. I'm not sure how interested Wilder was in music - he used stock tunes provided by the studio in quite a lot of his movies. The theremin worked well, but in general the score was laid on much too thick.
Interestingly, the original score used for the screen test was apparently "Gershwinesque", which seems more appropriate to me, but allegedly contributed to 90% of the first preview audience walking out of the movie.
Wilder used to tell a story that one of the departing audience members said "that's it - I'm quitting, never again" and when asked if this meant he would never take another drink said "No, I'm never going to see another picture".
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
I agree with everyone saying that the score was too melodramatic - but was it considered melodramatic by the standards of the 1940s?
shareThe soundtrack was AWFUL, everything else was superb.
Hildy- Don't be hasty. Remember my dimple. Love, Walter.
I liked The Lost Weekend but in addition to the music, the ending also drove me crazy to the point of binge drinking; I'm sure that had the Production Code not been intact Billy Wilder would've taken a much darker turn, but it betrays everything leading up to it and it's a disappointment.
Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say?!
The sound of the theremin was meant to replicate the "thin, clear voice" whispering into Don's ear that his writing isn't good enough, urging him to drink, telling him to hock his typewriter for booze money, etc. It represents his constant, relentless urge for the next shot. As such, it was probably meant to be slightly unpleasant.
The rest of the score did go over the top at times. But I have to admit I sometimes miss the soaring cresendos of string music that used to accompany great acting...
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I actually have a head ache after that. Terrible music.
My vote history: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=29746361
The damn thing kept reminding me of Plan 9 From Outer Space the whole time and it´s just nuts... I mean you don´t wanna be reminded of THAT film in the midst of a supposedly serious addiction drama.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I loved the music. It reminded me of a musical saw, or something you'd hear in Star Trek.
The True Hero of LOST: http://tinyurl.com/yjyxxbh
Agreed. Right from the opening shot, I thought, "Oh God, why does this sound like a horror/thriller?" I liked everything else about this movie, but the soundtrack kept making me think that this is one movie that could use a remake.
Funny you should mention Star Trek!
I just saw this film and the little dark musical theme leading up to his decision to hock the typewriter is actually what John Williams later used as one of the main themes in Star Wars.
Listen here from the 5 min. mark to see which theme I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIvjUSDe_lw
Anyone else agree?
1/10
- don't worry that's just my signature.
At one point I heard the sound of the Star Trek transporter effect!
shareJust saw this for the first time last night, and the soundtrack bugged me too. I didn't think it was particularly good anyway, but it was mixed way too loud to the point of distraction. Glad I'm not the only one who thought so.
Decent film otherwise.
I've seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through.
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For those of you who described Miklos Rozsa's music, including his use of the theremin as sounding like a "horror" or "science fiction" film, you have it backwards. Those genres, especially in the 50's capitalized on the unique sound of the theremin as popularized by Rozsa in this 1945 film, as well as his use in his score the same year for the popular film, "Spellbound". Rozsa used the otherworldly theremin sound to play reflecting the psychiatric, alcohol induced deliriums of the drunken character played by Ray Milland, and in "Spellbound" to highlight the amnesia induced nightmares of Gregory Peck.
The science fiction/horror films of the 50's then picked up the unique sound of the theremin to cast an otherworldly erie aura of fantasy adventure. See e.g. its use in the great Bernard Herrmann score to the original 1951 version of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (BTW, The Beach Boys used it in their big hit of "Good Vibrations" as well.).
I happen to like the scores to both of those early 1945 films.