Alfred Hitchcock's film
Torn Curtain had two scores written, but only one was used. The music heard in the film was written by
John Addison, but an alternate score by famed cinematic composer
Bernard Herrmann has also been released thrice on CD. The legend of the scores is that
Herrmann refused to craft his composition toward the director's and studio's preferred
pop direction. After an amazing nine efforts,
Hitchcock and
Herrmann parted ways after collaborating on some of the most famous soundtrack music of all time, including those for
Psycho,
Vertigo, and
North by Northwest. The two never worked together again. The
Addison version is about half as long, probably due to resultant time constraints.
"Main Title" is sweeping with some jazzy hints while
"Love Theme" sounds like most upbeat
romantic cues of the time. Whereas
Herrmann's unused score has moody and paranoid undertones throughout (as befitting a 1966 Cold War drama),
Addison's only occasionally repeats those darker motifs.
Herrmann's, with so many more cues and subsidiary pieces, provided a much deeper musical experience. So soundtrack fans are presented with a wonderful debate: Which score is better? The used is reflective of the time, but the unused has cache, a lot more music, and a challenging missive. While
Addison used melody to propel the story ahead,
Herrmann chose to forgo Hollywood's melodic conventions to further a brooding mood. The soundtrack to
Torn Curtain shows that the tensions between producers and artists is universal and that the corporate needs with regard to
film music are probably as old as film itself. Like with
Orson Welles' unsuccessful struggle to make
The Lady From Shanghai (and its music) more alienating and frightful,
Bernard Herrmann was unsuccessful in forcing his musical vision upon
Hitchcock. The used score is undeniably lesser, but also a good piece of work. The released
Torn Curtain employed the use of silence, which made for an interesting artistic choice forged out of necessity. The two scores together make for an interesting history lesson for the students of
film music. ~ JT Griffith
