It was a gift for the senses to see and hear the fabulous score by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) played by the National Philharmonic Orchestra for the screening of the eighth best American movie ever made.*
The audience at the Music Center at Strathmore swooned to the maestro's only movie score and the 1954 crime drama On the Waterfront, starring the young and fit Marlon Brando (1924-2004) who went on to win the Oscar® for Best Actor for his portrayal of "Terry," a longshoreman beset by the extremes of good and evil.
It was the Philharmonic's film show debut which will certainly not be its last.
Who am I to disagree that a single French horn begins the score when I heard drums and cymbals? I just write what I heard which, in this case, was loud percussion to open the movie.
At the beginning, the drums probably were a little too domineering for the script, but their magnitude soon settled in to the sounds of the docks to match the shipyard visuals in black and white, and scenes in the warehouse inhabited by conniving union bosses who commandeered crews to handle their heavy lifting.
Soon enough the searing initial musical notes were disrupted by the script and tone which summoned light strings and a welcome shift from hostility and tension to romance.
Playing opposite Brando was a new ingénue, Eva Marie Saint starring in a breakout role. (And, at age 94, she is still wooing them.)
On the Waterfront tells the true story of longshoremen, a working class which in those times got short shift when it came to movie subjects, said a film lecturer in a SRO pre-concert program.
Linda DeLibero, senior lecturer in the Film and Media Studies program at Johns Hopkins University, and David Sterritt, Editor-in-Chief of Quarterly Review of Film and Video, talked to an overflow crowd about the making of the film which "stands on its own," Ms. DeLibero said, calling On the Waterfront, "the pinnacle" of Brando's career.
(He was nominated seven times for Best Actor and won twice, also for The Godfather in 1972.)
It "really transcends that time. I really think it's that important," and it carried some improvised scenes. Ms. DeLibero drew the attention of the audience to the "glove scene" which she indicated was improvised. It's a sexy interaction where Brando, early in the romantic relationship, tries on the dropped glove of Eva Marie Saint, and while engaged in conversation, neither mentions the act.
The movie must transcend the time because Mr. Sterritt used the phrase, too, in his remarks: "The movie transcends the moment."
Waterfront was made after the "trauma of [World]war [II]," DeLibero said which was still " fresh in people's minds."
It received 12 Academy Award nominations and won eight excluding Best Supporting Actor (three in the film were nominated: Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger) and Best Music, but it's Bernstein's score which endures, wrote film music historian, Jon Burlingame, in the program notes.
The performance was another of the many celebrations of Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday celebration.
The story was based on real events in New Jersey which won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 1949 for the New York Sun. The director's second choice for writer, Budd Schulberg wrote an original script (and won the Oscar®). He spent countless hours interviewing the reporter for the Sun and at sessions of the Waterfront Crime Commission, portrayed in the film.
Originally, Elia Kazan who directed (and won the Oscar® for Waterfront) pursued Arthur Miller as writer, but Miller turned down the proposal, disillusioned by Kazan's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where Kazan identified eight "suspicious" persons.
Upon learning he did not get the role, DeLibero said Frank Sinatra, a New Jersey native, tore up his hotel suite. Kazan wanted Brando.
While the film was being made, Brando was near a nervous breakdown and had to take off every day at 3 p.m. to see his psychiatrist.
On the Waterfront on the big screen with live music was a lasting experience.
Conducting was Piotr Gajewski who studied with Bernstein and had a Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood Music Center.
Throughout the film, the music effectively signaled increasing tension. Playing significant roles were the strings, triangle, xylophone, percussion, cymbals, and horns. The piano sometimes echoed in a plaintive soliloquy. Dainty notes by the harpist could frequently be singled out before the movie's content enveloped the audience.
Familiar chords from Bernstein's West Side Story which came three years later on Broadway were easily recognized.
In recognition of his service to classical music and to Strathmore, Eliot Star Pfanstiehl, CEO Emeritus and founder of Strathmore Hall Foundation Inc., and chef temporaire par excellence was given the opportunity to direct the orchestra when it played the Star-Spangled Banner to start the show on stage.
The orchestra played under the screen with blue lights at the stands to illuminate the score. To ensure that everyone heard the dialogue, subtitles were used.
Had it been made in color, that would have weakened the message which black and white underscored.
*according to the American Film Institute.
Coming up, the National Philharmonic performs:
What: "Lenny's Playlist"with Mozart's Overture to the Magic Flute, Barber's Violin Concerto, Op. 14, and Shostaskovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
When: 8 p.m., Saturday, October 13, 2018 and 3 p.m., Sunday, October 14, 2018
Where: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, N. Bethesda, MD 20852
Tickets: Buy online or call 301.841.8595
Free parking at the Metro Grosvernor-Strathmore station next door
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