BFI | Sight & Sound | The Best Music in Film

The Best Music in Film

(Composed the music for Bad Day at Black Rock, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Long Day's Journey into Night)

S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?: "I have several favourite film soundtracks: William Walton's Henry V (1944), Hugo Friedhofer's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's The Sea Hawk (1940)."
S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?: "Good film music can enhance scenes, which seem bland, or frankly, boring."
S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?: "I wish I could write music like The Sea Hawk, which was superbly composed by Korngold. It is a big, extrovert, splashy film, and it would be great fun to write a big, extrovert, splashy score for it."