Miklos Rozsa: The Lost Weekend (1945, soundtrack)

 |   |  2 min read

Bottle is Discovered
Miklos Rozsa: The Lost Weekend (1945, soundtrack)

The Hungarian-born composer Miklos Rozsa -- who died in '95 -- has a rare accolade in his long career as a composer of film soundtracks: when his music for the Hitchcock film Spellbound won an Oscar, he beat out two other scores, both of which he had also written.

Those two were the music for A Song to Remember (about Chopin) and The Lost Weekend (about an alcoholic).

For both Spellbound (which Hitchcock hated because he felt the score overwhelmed the images, one eerie dream sequence conceived by Salvador Dali) and The Lost Weekend, Rozsa used the theremin to often scary and disconcerting effect.

Some accused him of repeating himself -- both films have unnerving themes -- but either way, he was a pioneer in the use of electronics in film scores. (The first fully electronic score was for Forbidden Planet over a decade later, by Bebe and Louis Barron).

Miklos Rozsa had a remarkably successful career in Hollywood after writing and performing in Europe, and he was there for that era where music played right throughout a film.

resized__300x406_image_miklos_rozsa_imageAmong his credits were Thief of Baghdad, Jungle Book, Double Indemnity, sword and sandal blockbusters (Quo Vadis, Ben Hur, King of Kings, all with religious themes), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and many more.

But his downright terrifying music for The Lost Weekend stands apart even now.

That theremin is very disconcerting as the alcoholic writer (played by Ray Milland) goes on his benders, has the DTs (the hospital scene is white-knuckle stuff) and finds redemption.

It was quite some long weekend. 

Rozsa's score parallels all this with dramatic descending string passages, slow tension (the five minute sequence The Alcoholic Ward/Night Alcoholic Ward and The Elevated), repeated phrases which just get beneath the skin and piercingly high violin which sometimes makes you want to clap your hands over your ears.

The titles of the sequences tell the story and evoke the moods: Broken Date and Hidden Bottle, Frustration, Bottle is Discovered, Dawn/Nightmare, The Rainy Day, Suicide Attempt . . . 

paramount_lost_weekend1There was an urban rumour -- which I dutifuly passed on here -- that the music was banned by (or more correctly perhaps, not played on) some radio stations because it caused people to get depressed.

That sounds plausible, and alcoholics certainly shouldn't play it alone, late at night with a bottle in front of them.

And certainly not when the impossibly high violins come stabbing and the theremin sounds like the haunted spirit of a deceased soprano.

The opening Prelude might start like some archetypal Forties drama but it doesn't take too long for you to be dragged into some scary places by Rozsa's extraordinary score. 

Rozsa's music for the writer's suicide attempt initially makes it seem like a sweet release and, given all the aural horror and disconcerting theremin passages which precede it, not many will make it through to Long Finale.

But wait, there is more . . . because some CD reissues add in alternate takes.

Welcome to the uneasy listening hour. If you are up for it, this soundtrack is at Spotify here.

Cheers. 

These Essential Elsewhere pages deliberately point to albums which you might not have thought of, or have even heard . . . Dive in.

.

.


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Essential Elsewhere articles index

Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs (2000)

Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs (2000)

Many years ago, because it was silly, I started picking up the odd tribute album. And tribute albums are odd indeed. Without much difficulty -- because tribute albums almost invariably end up... > Read more

Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958)

Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958)

Although neither his best known long playing record from the era (the LP format was just kicking off) nor his biggest seller of the late Fifties, Frank Sinatra's Only the Lonely is an... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Various Artists: Afro-Rock Volume One (Strut)

Various Artists: Afro-Rock Volume One (Strut)

This 12-song compilation pulls together rare and unreleased Afro-beat from the likes of the pre-Fela star Geraldo Pino from Sierra Leone (with Heavy Heavy Heavy) to the 12-minute rolling,... > Read more

The Contours: First I Look at the Purse (1965)

The Contours: First I Look at the Purse (1965)

One of the first groups signed to Berry Gordy's Motown label, the Contours had a huge hit with the much-covered Do You Love Me ("now that I can dance") which was in the set of Beatles-era... > Read more