Just saw BoB on TCM. In the scene where Goering's train arrives in Pas-de-Calais (to a great deal of pomp and circumstance) a Wehrmacht band is playing a military march which seemed familiar - maybe from other WW2 movies? Can anyone identify it? Thanks!
shareNearly all the music is by Ron Goodwin- the film's composer. He wrote the music used for the Luftwaffe to sound "German". The only part of the film score that isn't by Goodwin is the climactic sequence by William Walton.
"Oh dear. How sad. Never mind!"
In the U.S. version, the climactic music was changed to some anonymous orchestral dreck.
The original version is much better.
Originally, the movie was scored by William Walton. During production, that score was replaced with a new one by Ron Goodwin, with the exception of the climactic "Battle in the Air," retained from Walton's score. The film was originally released that way in theaters in Britain and the U.S. The first DVD release had the entire, previously unreleased score by Walton instead of the familiar Goodwin music. A second DVD release shortly thereafter had the Goodwin score with Walton's "Battle in the Air," as in the original U.K.-U.S. theatrical showing. The current Blu Ray disk has the Goodwin/Walton music, with the fully Walton score available as an alternative. There has never been a U.S. version of the film with "anonymous orchestral dreck".
shareI will have to check and see, I thought it was the "Aces High" march, but since it has been a long time......[Edited to Add: It was the Aces High March by Goodwin, not a traditional German March....at 1:20:01 in the movie...]
The use of "Wehrmacht" is incorrect. It would have been the Lufwaffe playing the march, Wehrmacht is not the German Army, rather the equivalent of "Department of Defense" literally "Armed Forces"
Army: Deutsche Reichsheer
Air Force: Luftwaffe
Navy: Kriegsmarine
Just a minor point, one of those things that are trivially amusing to Germanophones...
BTW: All the role playing games usually get this wrong as well!!!
Dale
"If those sweethearts won't face German bullets--They'll face French ones!"
luftwaffe march incase anyone is still wondering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1teoC2aMVtY
The original soundtrack album titles the track "Luftwaffe March". The CD (1999) titles it "Aces High March". The original title was fine when used within the context of the film but as the march became popular with military bands and used in concerts and recordings as well as parades, the march was retitled.
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