MUSIC IN FILMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21224, 2 July 1932, Page 10 (Supplement)

MUSIC IN FILMS.

HEIGHTENING DRAMATIC POWER. TWO PRODUCTIONS COMPARED. An increasing use of music is being made in films. All the latest and smartest pictures utilise music in one form or another, whether as an integral part of the theme, or simply as an accompaniment.

This development, previously predicted and discussed in these notes, is important because it enables films to recapture one of their oldest and strongest means of appeal. Dialogue and sound effects are still there, when needed, but music is ready to take a hand in expressing emotion that is beyond words, or in giving point to a piquant situation. Curiously enough, the best demonstrations of how, and how not, to use music in a serious talkie are given in two of the new Paramount pictures, "The Man I Killed" and "The Miracle Man." Ernst Lubitsch shows how to use it in the former; Norman McLeod shows how not to use it in the latter.

The music which accompanies "The Man I Killed," released in New Zealand as "The Broken Lullaby," is so cunningly and artistically introduced that you are scarcely conscious of it. Yet it exerts tremendous dramatic force and great emotional power in scenes which would lack colour without the blare of trumpets and trombones or the soft notes of the violin and 'cello. Where Lubitsch succeeds is in knowing when to stop. His silences are as effective as his musical and dramatic crescendoes. In one scene, only the ticking of a clock is heard; music would spoil it. In others, a crashing chord from the orchestra rams home the drama.

"The Man I Killed" proves conclusively that nothing could be more effective in a dramatic talkie than the judicious use of music.

"The Miracle Man," on the other hand, shows the importance of that word "judicious." Norman McLeod is, in some respects, a workmanlike director, but he is no Lubitsch, and he is gravely at fault in heralding the appearance of the Patriarch, or miracle man, with majestic music supposed to express holiness or mystic power. The effect is ludicrous in its suggestion of "Here comes the bogy man."

It will be seen that, while music may be a great advantage, it can also be a considerable drawback. Directors must consider its probable effect in every individual scene before using it. When it ceases to form a kind of melodic background and becomes obtrusive, it should stop at once. When it interferes with the dialogue it is worse than useless.