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davewerden

IMDB - Still My Favorite Internet Site

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I LOVE movie music! Writing for the movies is a sophisticated art form these days. In the earliest days of movies, before they had sound, it was up to the theater's pianist to come up with appropriate background music to fit the action on the screen. As "talkies" became a reality, composers were hired to come up with the recorded soundtracks. At first there was substantial content from existing classical music. When I was growing up the TV Western series "The Lone Ranger" was how many people came to be familiar with the William Tell Overture.


But even in the old days of movies, some very fine composers wrote soundtracks. One of the earliest was Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who did the music for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Captain Blood (1935) among many others. Before he left Europe for Hollywood, he was considered a rising classical star who was destined to become the next Mahler. Many other movie composers have serious roots in classical music training.


But back to my main point: the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). This site is a reference for movies. Within the listings for each movie are hyperlinks to all the actors, music writers and orchestrators, directors, etc. involved in the movie. So if you hear a soundtrack behind a movie and really like the music, look up the movie on IMDB. If you click on "Full Cast and Crew" and scoll down the page you can usually fine a listing for Original Music By. Click on the composer's name to see a biography and a complete list of other movies that use his/her music.


While you are looking at the movie listing, you can find links to trivia (often very fun), reviews, soundtrack, and many other interesting pieces.


It's an amazing resource and has been around for many years. Check it out and see what I mean:


Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

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