This black & white short film shows how a musical score enhances a motion picture. Many clips from Frank Lioyd’s ‘Wells Fargo’ (1937) are shown. There is no copyright but this is circa 1937, and was likely made to help promote the feature’s release.
Opening: A title card that mentions how music enhances the spectacle of a great motion picture (:09-:19). Paramount Pictures front gate, a soundstage, the music department entrance sign. Western clips are superimposed over the face of director Frank Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd is then seated with composer Victor Young, another man, in a projection room. They watch a scene from Lloyd’s film, ‘Wells Fargo’ (1937). The scene shows New Year’s Eve 1854 with a rowdy crowd on horse wagons, a couple laughs in a dining hall, a man comes in and tells another about a gold strike, he says it rather loud and everyone hears it and starts to react. People rush out in a frenzy. Victor Young plays the piano, he stops to jot something down (:20-2:11). Young composes a theme for Bob Burns and an Indian walking down a busy street, the scene is shown with the music added. The next scene shows the vigilantes preparing to lynch Porter Hall, music ads to the menace as the scene continues. A rope with a noose is thrown up around a pole (2:12-3:20). Another scene in which Frances Dee says goodbye to Joel McCrea, she hugs him and the music comes up. They hold one another and talk. A hand composes a score. Music is printed, names of instruments are printed. On a scoring stage, the orchestra starts to play. Victor Young composes while the orchestra plays, clips of the movie play above them on a film screen. Young waves his baton. Violinists play. A horse and wagon chase plays out above them (3:21-5:14). Young waves his baton in a frenzy, a man plays a flute. A scene of a wagon is shown, music composing continues. Clips of people running, cheering, from ‘Wells Fargo’ (1937). Victor Young continues to wave the baton. A man bangs a cymbal. People wave from a scene in ‘Wells Fargo’ (1937) (5:15-6:41). End credits (6:42-6:50).
Albert Victor Young (1899 – 1956) was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He received 22 Academy Award nominations during his career — although he did not have a nomination for “Wells Fargo”. In fact, Young did not win an Oscar during his lifetime, instead winning posthumously for his score of Around the World in Eighty Days (1956).
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