Film and Music

Write page paper that discusses film and music. In this essay “Film and music”, the author compares and contrast the two film Noir films The Lost Weekend and Spellbound. The idea here is to bring out the relationship between the two films. They highly emphasize on the influence of the Theremin and experimental music for the scores. The composers of “The lost weekend” and “Spellbound” have made use of theremin all through the film from the start to the end. Rózsa has made use of theremin as a way of integrating boldness and creativity in the recording. The composer has also used the two films to emphasize on the psychological impacts on the characters. Spellbound is an American Thriller which tells a story of the new mental asylum head who later turns out to be what he does not claim to be. The purpose of the film is to highlight psychoanalysis virtues which come with the banishing of restoring reason and mental illness. The lost weekend film shows the life of an alcoholic writer and particularly on a weekend alcoholic binge. The use of theremin by Rózsa showed just how bold and creative he was in integrating novel approaches. He wanted to use it in The Lost Weekend because he had successfully used it in Spellbound and he thought that the two somehow related. This is alcoholism, which [the character] cannot resist”. The theremin is cued every time Don gets the urge to drink alcohol and is overwhelmed by his longing. As we can see at the start of the film, Don is silent, but he does not have to say anything silence all we need to know we can read from the look on his face. We can tell from the expression on his face that he is absorbed as he stares at the bottle that is hanging from the window of his dwelling. The “Alcohol Theme” is cued as he looks down at the alcohol bottle and the theremin has the melody. Music starts to fade as he and his brother Wick begin to talk and is later heard once again as Dons’ brother and Hellen leave the apartment after discovering the alcohol bottle hanging by the window. When Don goes to the bar and asks for a drink, he is given, but he hesitates to take it knowing that once he does he will not stop. The “Alcohol theme” plays once more, but it stops when he takes the shot.