Steven Schwartz wrote:

>I love John Ford's movies . . . However, to me the music he generally uses
>is incredibly weak, usually provided by routineers (sic).

True, Ford used composers like Max Steiner, Alfred Newman and Richard
Hageman, when he could have perhaps used available talent whose music would
stand alone in the concert hall without the "accompanying pictures" (as
Oscar Levant once quipped about Steiner's score for "King Kong").  But Ford
saw movies as a purely visual medium.  Of all American directors he is said
to have had the clearest personal vision and the most consistent visual
style.  Hardly a director to overpower that style with a memorable sound
track.

John Dalmas
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