Film Classics
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with JACK GOGGIN Sundays at 6 PM ET!
If you love movies, you know that a fine musical score can make a bad picture good and a good picture great. WRCJ 90.9 FM's Jack Goggin is your guide to the world of film music. Click here to see how the show started. If you enjoy "Film Classics" let Jack know that you appreciate his fine work with a contribution!
Missed a show? Don't worry, below you can listen to any of Jack's shows, any time you like!
January 29, 2012 - SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC
January 17th marked the 100th anniversary of Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition reaching the South Pole. (Unfortunately, they found that the Norwegians had already been there, and to make matters worse, Scott and his advance team all perished on their way back.)A tragic story, but one of heroism and inspiration as well. In 1947 the Ealing Studios in Britain made a remarkable film starring John Mills about the ill-fated expedition, and it featured an even more remarkable musical score by the then 75 year-old Ralph Vaughan Williams, who thought so highly of it that he rewrote it as his 7th Symphony (“Sinfonia antartica”). Tonight, we’ll listen to a recent recording of the motion picture music in its original form.
January 22, 2012 - THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN)
Another new one from director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams! This time a 3-D performance-capture animation project produced by none other than Peter Jackson and based on the enormously successful comic book series by the Belgian artist Georges Remi (“Herge”). Spielberg acquired the movie rights way back in 1983, and for a long time this project was in limbo, but now it’s done, and there are two more films in the pipeline if this one’s a success. We’ll be listening to the OST (Original Soundtrack Recording), conducted by the composer, with an appearance by soprano Renee Fleming.
January 15, 2012 - JUDY, JUDY, JUDY!
No, this show won’t have anything to do with Cary Grant—it’s actually going to be devoted to selections from movies that starred the great Judy Garland. There’s a lot of material to choose from, of course, all the way from “The Wizard of Oz” to “A Star is Born.” Tune in and hear what we come up with.
January 8, 2012 - THE ARTIST
Music from a new movie that hearkens back to an earlier cinematic era: “The Artist,” a silent movie (in black and white!) about the silent era that is actually creating a great deal of Oscar buzz. The score is by French composer Ludovic Bource.
December 11, 2011 - LANG LANG GOES TO THE MOVIES
The celebrated young classical piano virtuoso has participated in a few movie soundtracks—and tonight we’re going to play excerpts from some of them, including “My Week with Marilyn,” “A Dangerous Method,” and “The Painted Veil.”
A new film directed by Steven Spielberg and scored (surprise!) by John Williams. Well, OK, maybe it’s not much of a surprise—but it is a good thing to have on the show. Based on a young adult novel by British author Michael Morpurgo that was published in 1982, it tells the story of a horse named Joey and a young man named Albert who become separated and then are improbably reunited in France during the First World War.
November 27, 2011 - VERTIGO 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann, and each month this year we’ve been devoting an entire show to his music. This month’s installment is arguably his greatest collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock: “Vertigo,” from 1958, which starred James Stewart and Kim Novak. A convoluted tale of mystery and obsessive love that inspired what many critics think is one of the finest scores ever composed for a motion picture.
November 11th marked the 60th anniversary of the premiere of this classic MGM musical, directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. Tonight we’ll be listening to the original 1951 soundtrack recording, conducted by Johnny Green, with George Gershwin’s music arranged by Conrad Salinger.
November 13, 2011 - SILENTS PLEASE!
Selections from orchestral scores written for the silent screen, including “Der Heilige Berg” (“The Holy Mountain”) by Edmund Meisel (1926) which starred Leni Riefenstahl, before she became a director—and “Sangen om den eldroda blomman” (“Song of the Crimson Flower”) by Armas Jarnefelt (1919), who, as it happens, was the brother-in-law of Jean Sibelius!
Halloween leftovers? Selections from movies produced at RKO in the 40’s by Val Lewton’s horror and fantasy unit and which were scored by Roy Webb—including “The Seventh Victim,” “Cat People,” “I Walked with a Zombie,” and “The Body Snatcher.”
October 30, 2011 - SISTERS Our year-long tribute to composer Bernard Herrmann (whose 100th birthday would have been June 29th) continues this month with the original soundtrack recording from “Sisters” (1973)—his first collaboration with director Brian De Palma. (There is no truth to the rumor that Herrmann conducted this with a meat cleaver!)
Yes, composer Howard Shore has arranged a six movement concert work for chorus and orchestra based on the music he wrote for director Peter Jackson’s epic movie trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien! We don’t actually have enough time for the entire work—but we’ll do our best to include excerpts from “The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Two Towers,” and “The Return of the King.”
October 9, 2011 - 49th PARALLEL
Ralph Vaughan Williams very first film score (1940)---written at the tender young age of 68! A 2004 recording of a concert suite from the movie arranged by Stephen Hogger, featuring the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba.
June 29th marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann—and so each month this year we’ve been devoting an entire program to his music. September’s installment is one of the wonderful fantasy scores he did for special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen—“Mysterious Island” (1961)—based (rather loosely!) on the novel by Jules Verne.
September 18, 2011 - TWO BY RACHEL PORTMAN
Selections from the brand-new soundtrack for the film “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” (2011)—and an earlier score Ms. Portman composed for director Wayne Wang—“The Joy Luck Club”—from 1993.
A new recording of a brilliant and relatively little-known score composed in 1926 for a French silent film version of Merimee’s “Carmen” by Ernesto Halffter—it sounds very Spanish, but it is NOT Bizet.
September 4, 2011 - REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA
Music from “Nicholas and Alexandra” (1971) by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett—and “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) by Maurice Jarre.
2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann—and each month of 2011 we’re featuring an entire program devoted to his music. August's installment is from perhaps the most celebrated of Herrmann’s collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock--“Psycho”—from 1960. We’ll be listening to a recording that Herrmann made in Britain not long before his death in 1975. (NOTE: If you need to take a shower tonight, we suggest you take it before listening.)
August 21, 2011 - COMPOSERS ON-SCREEN
Musical selections from five motion pictures in which you can actually see (briefly) the composers who wrote the scores on screen! The movies are: “Knight Without Armour” (1937)—“The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956)—“Anatomy of a Murder” (1959)—“Henry V” (1989) and “Mulholland Drive” (2001).
The incredibly popular series of movie adaptations of the equally popular series of books about the young wizard and his friends is finally done—and tonight we’ll try to feature music from all eight motion pictures in it—including tracks by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat.
August 7, 2011 - HUNCHBACKS THREE
Music from a trio of cinematic adaptations of Victor Hugo’s celebrated novel “Notre Dame de Paris” (which is usually known in English as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”): the 1939 Hollywood version (scored by Alfred Newman) with Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Hara—the 1956 French version (scored by Georges Auric) with Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida—and the1996 Disney animated version (scored by Alan Menken).
2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann—and each month this year we’re featuring an entire program devoted to his music. This month’s installment is devoted to two movies he scored for French director Francois Truffaut: “Fahrenheit 451,” from 1967, and “The Bride Wore Black,” from 1968.
July 24, 2011 - SHOSTAKOVICH
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote over 30 film scores during the course of his life, most of them little-known in the West. Tonight we’ll feature music from two Soviet films that had female protagonists: one from near the beginning of his film career--“A Girl Alone,” from 1931—and one near the end--“Sofia Perovskaya,” from 1968.
2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann, and in commemoration, each month this year we’re featuring an entire show devoted to his music. This month’s installment is “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958)—the first of his four collaborations with special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. One of Herrmann’s most imaginative scores—it’s an Arabian Nights fantasy of the first order, and a masterpiece of orchestral color!
May 22, 2011 - THE END OF THE WORLD!
April 24, 2011 - THE ROBE
For Easter Sunday, Jack presented the original soundtrack recording from “The Robe,” written by Alfred Newman for the 1953 film adaptation of the Lloyd C. Douglas best-seller about the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the first Christians. The movie, starring Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature, was directed by Henry Koster for 20th Century Fox, and was the first feature to be released in Cinemascope.
2011 marks the centenary of Bernard Herrmann—and every month this year Film Classics will present a show devoted to his music. This month’s installment is from one of his most famous collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock—“North by Northwest” from 1959—an instant classic that starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and some celebrated stone faces!
April 3, 2011 - TRIBUTE TO ELIZABETH TAYLOR
Jack remembers Elizabeth Taylor with music from movies that featured the legendary star, Hear selections by Alex North, John Green, Miklos Rozsa, John Barry, Franz Waxman and Johnny Mandel.
In this edition, Jack Goggin continues his tribute to Bernard Herrmann, with music from “The Kentuckian,” (1955) about a man (Burt Lancaster) moving to Texas because Kentucky is too civilized.
March 20, 2011 - THE NATURAL
Play Ball! Jack tosses out the first pitch of spring with Oscar-nominated music by Randy Newman for "The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford and directed by Barry Levinson.
March 13, 2011 - THE QUIET MAN
Jack celebrates St. Patrick's Day with music by Victor Young for John Ford's1952 film about an Irish-American prizefighter who returns to his family's village and falls in love. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara starred. The soundtrack here features the Dublin Screen Orchestra led by Kenneth Alwyn.
Hear music from two film adaptations of novels by Daphne du Maurier: “Rebecca” (1940)—and “My Cousin Rachel” (1952)—both scored, as it happens, by Franz Waxman.
This show aired on the night they gave out the Academy Awards in Hollywood—and instead of featuring scores that have won Oscars—here, Jack plays music that did NOT win the coveted statuette. (That way, we have a lot more movies to choose from!)
February 20, 2011 - OBSESSION
2011 marks the centenary of Bernard Herrmann—and every month this year Film Classics will present a show devoted to his music. This month’s feature is “Obsession” from 1975—starring Cliff Robertson and Genevieve Bujold, and directed by Brian de Palma. And although “Obsession” was written before “Taxi Driver,” it was actually released afterward, making it (technically) Herrmann’s last score to be heard by the public.
One of the giants of movie music, John Barry passed away on January 30th at the age of 77. In this edition, excerpts from such Oscar-winning scores as “Born Free,” “The Lion in Winter,” “Out of Africa,” Dances With Wolves”--and as many James Bond scores as time permits.
February 6, 2011 - RONALD REAGAN TRIBUTE
Today’s the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan—so here we’ll present music from some of the movies in which he appeared before he became a politician—including “Dark Victory” by Max Steiner, “Night Unto Night” by Franz Waxman and of course, “Kings Row” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Hear music from three movies about painters: “Lust for Life” (1956) by Miklos Rozsa, about Van Gogh—“The Agony and the Ecstasy” (1965) by Alex North, about Michelangelo—and “Moulin Rouge” (1952) by Georges Auric, about Toulouse-Lautrec.
January 16, 2011 - HAS ANYONE EVER SEEN THIS MOVIE?
Jack went out on limb with this one, because although we had the recordings at WRCJ, no one at the station had actually seen the pictures for which the music was supposedly written! But it's good music. Listen to three scores from the 1930s: “Acciaio” by Gian Francesco Malipiero (1933)—“The Discovery of Brazil” by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1937)—and “The Cavalcade of Love” by Darius Milhaud (1939).
Highlights from two very fine CDs featuring violinist and composer/conductor/arranger John Williams devoted to themes from motion pictures. (Arranged, of course, for violin and orchestra!)
12/26/10 - LEFTOVERS
This is more appetizing than the name implies. Enjoy great movie music that Jack wasn't able to play earlier in the year.
12/19/10 - SEASONS GREETINGS
Play this program when you want to be in a holiday mood as Jack presents soundtracks from memorable holiday movies.
12/12/10 - GANGSTER MOVIES
Selections from movies about ongoing criminal enterprises, including “Public Enemies” by Eliot Goldenthal, “The Godfather” by Nino Rota, “The Untouchables” by Ennio Morricone, and “Key Largo” by Max Steiner. Listen, OR ELSE!
11/28/10 - TWO BY OTTO
Director Otto Preminger worked with many composers in his career. In this edition, hear from two of them: David Raksin (“Forever Amber”--1947) and Ernest Gold (“Exodus”--1960).
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December 4, 2011 - WAR HORSE 
November 20, 2011 - AN AMERICAN IN PARIS 
November 6, 2011 - VAL LEWTON / ROY WEBB
October 23, 2011 - THE LORD OF THE RINGS SYMPHONY? 
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September 11, 2011- CARMEN MINUS BIZET 
August 28, 2011 - FUN AND GAMES AT THE BATES MOTEL 
August 14, 2011 - OUR LAST HARRY POTTER PROGRAM?
July 31, 2011 - TRUFFAUT/HERRMANN 
May 29, 2011 - THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD 
May 15, 2011 - PACHYDERM MOVIES!
May 8, 2011 - MAX STEINER AND JOHN FORD 
May 1, 2011 - JUAREZ 
April 17, 2011 - NORTH BY NORTHWEST 
March 27, 2011 - THE KENTUCKIAN 
March 6, 2011 - TWO BY DAPHNE 
February 27, 2011 - LOSERS!
February 13, 2011 - JOHN BARRY (1933-2011)
January 23, 2011 - CINEMATIC TRIPTYCH
January 9, 2011 - CINEMA SERENADE
