Notablog

Song of the Day: Blade Runner (“Love Theme”) [YouTube link], composed by Vangelis, features a haunting saxophone solo by British jazz musician Dick Morrissey. For many years, the influential electronic soundtrack to this trailblazing 1982 sci-fi noir film, directed by Ridley Scott, was unavailable except through bootleg recordings. It was…

Song of the Day: The Body Snatcher (“Main Title”) [YouTube link], composed by Roy Webb, opens this Val Lewton-produced, Robert Wise-directed 1945 movie. An adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson short story, the cast included both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (the last time they would appear in the same…

Song of the Day: The Tender Trap (“Love is The Tender Trip”), music by Jimmy van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, received a “Best Original Song” Oscar nomination for this 1955 comedy, based on the Max Shulman–Robert Paul Smith 1954 play. The film stars Debbie Reynolds, Celeste Holm, and Frank…

Song of the Day: Sabrina (“Moonlight”) features the lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman and the music of birthday boy John Williams, who turns 93 today. It is performed by Sting in this 1995 Sydney Pollock-directed film. The film, starring Julia Ormond in the title role and Harrison Ford and…

Song of the Day: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (“The Flag Parade”), composed by John Williams, is a Miklos Rozsa-inspired fanfare—appropriate since the pod race in this 1999 George Lucas film is an explicit homage to the chariot race from the 1959 version of “Ben-Hur“, which Rozsa scored. Today begins…

Song of the Day: X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (“Trippy Las Vegas Sequence”) [YouTube link], composed by Les Baxter, is heard as the characters in this Roger Corman-directed 1963 sci-fi/horror film enter Las Vegas. This wild film starred Oscar-winning actor Ray Milland and comedian Don Rickles.