American Film Institute

American Film Institute: Orson Welles [VHS]
$14.98
This Worldvision VHS tape is recorded in SP mode and it's in good video and sound quality.The 75-minute program, originally aired on CBS in 1975, is the third AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, which is historically one of the more tasteful and classy award shows. Each show usually comprises of tributes to the award recipient, film clips of his or her work, and a final acceptance speech. Usually the actual ceremony runs much longer, and the broadcast version is trimmed down to fit a time slot; that begs the question: when will we see the outtakes from these shows? For film fans, every bit of footage of Welles, Hitchcock, Lean, etc., is precious.The program opens with a nice introduction: "Our first AFI award was given to director John Ford, our second was to actor James Cagney, and tonight, we honor the 'third man'." Then, accompanied by the famous zither music from THE THIRD MAN, Welles emerges from the crowd.Those who pay tribute to Welles in the program are: Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood, Janet Leigh, Dennis Weaver, Johnny Carson (who comes to collect a $50 debt from Welles), Edgar Berger (1930s ventriloquist), Joseph Cotten, Peter Bogdanovich, and George Stevens, Jr. Film clips of THE THIRD MAN, CITIZEN KANE, TOUCH OF EVIL, JANE EYRE (Welles with Joan Fontaine), THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, OTHELLO, TOMORROW IS FOREVER (Welles with Natalie Wood), FALSTAFF, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, and Welles' last but unfinished THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, are shown.

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE'S TOP 25 FILM SCORES
$16.95
After Hal Leonard has released book after book of "great movie music" (pop songs that play during the end credits of blockbusters) they finally got it right with a book of music that was actually a significant part of the movies it came from. The movies were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI), and Hal Leonard provided the selections from each film. The pieces included:

The Adventures of Robin Hood: "March of the Merry Men" (Korngold)

Ben-Hur: Main Title (Rozsa)

The Godfather: Love Theme (Rota)

Chinatown (Goldsmith)

Theme From E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial) (Williams)

Gone with the Wind: Tara's Theme (Steiner)

High Noon: Do Not Forsake Me (Tiomkin)

How The West Was Won: Main Title (Newman)

King Kong: Main Title (Steiner)

Theme from "Jaws" (Williams)

Laura (Raksin)

Theme from "Lawrence of Arabia" (Jarre)

The Magnificent Seven (E. Bernstein)

The Mission: Gabriel's Oboe (Morricone)

On Golden Pond (Grusin)

On The Waterfront (L. Bernstein)

The Pink Panther (Mancini)

Planet of the Apes: The Hunt (Goldsmith)

Psycho: Prelude (Herrmann)

Star Wars: Main Theme (Williams)

A Streetcar Named Desire (North)

Sunset Boulevard: An Aging Actress (Waxman)

To Kill A Mockingbird (E. Bernstein)

Vertigo Theme (Herrmann)

Love Theme from Out of Africa (The Music of Goodbye) (Barry)


Granted, I don't care for some of the songs (particularly The adventures of Robin Hood, High Noon, How the West Was Won, On The Waterfront, and Out Of Africa) because I either don't think the music stands well on its own apart from the movie or because I don't care for the music altogether.

Some of the arrangements are a mindless repackaging of stripped-down arrangements that HL has reused over and over again in their books (Chinatown, which isn't in the right key and doesn't really capture the mood of the original; Star Wars, a two-page arrangement of one of the themes from "The Throne Room" [a piece HL has released in its entirety in other books]; and The Pink Panther, which is two pages and only includes the first half of the song repeated over again). I know HL could have done better with these movies since they had to write new arrangements for some of the films anyway. It must be a marketing thing.

But most of the arrangements are note-for-note accurate or can't be found in other books. Some favorites: Ben-Hur, Jaws, Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, On Golden Pond, Planet of the Apes, Psycho, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Vertigo. These are all outstanding. I wouldn't have thought music from Planet of the Apes could be reduced for a single pianist, but I'm pleasantly surprised with the results.

Some of the music doesn't have a distinctive/catchy melody but is fun to play and captures the mood of the movies it came from (King Kong, Sunset Boulevard, A Streetcar Named Desire).

I doubt HL would have released or re-released some of this sheet music if the AFI hadn't named their respective movies as having the best scores (King Kong, Psycho, Sunset Boulevard, A Streetcar Named Desire, Planet of the Apes, Vertigo).

Despite its flaws, overall it is an excellent and well-rounded survey of some of the great movie music of all time. If you like movie music but aren't keen on movie pop songs, this book may be a good choice for you.

Elizabeth Taylor American Film Institute Life Achievement Award (21)
$15.00
A Salute issued by the American Film Institute for Life Achievment presented to Elizabeth Taylor on March 11, 1993. The presentment feature is 96 pages in length and features many tributes from studios and other actors. Many photographs and outtakes are shown of Elizabeth's remarkable film career. Elizabeth was the 21st person so honored by them and this is the commementary program guide issued in her honor.

Hal Leonard American Film Institute's Top 100 Movie Songs (Piano/Vocal/Guitar)
$29.95
It's a real treat to play through a songbook of 100 songs and every single one of them will be familiar and beloved. The American Film Institute has ranked these movie songs from #1 (Over the Rainbow) to #100 (Old Time Rock and Roll)and everything in between. Every era from the advent of "talkies" to Titanic is represented. Included are both theme songs and songs from movie musicals, feature length cartoons and stage adaptations. Since they are familiar, most of them will probably be in songbooks that you already own if you have a good collection, but it's very convenient to have them all in one place if you just want to sit down and play and enjoy. Of course, I would have preferred the top 200 or even 300 movie songs, but this is definitely a worthwhile addition to your sheet music library.