John Dalmas wrote:

>>My favorite Alfred Newman score was to the 1939 "Gunga Din." It was a score
>>IMO every bit as striking as any of Korngold or Moross, but strangely got
>>scant recognition at the time.

Steve Schwartz replied:

>I've not heard the score all by itself, although I've seen the movie many
>times.  To me, in the context of the movie (one of my favorites), it never
>leaves the background.  Therefore, I can't agree with "striking." It does,
>however, function very well as a sub-liminal emotional "guide."

Another of my favorite Newman scores is the stirring one (recycled by Fox
for use in other films) to the 1940 "Brigham Young--Frontiersman."

Regarding Steve's description of the score to "Gunga Din" as limited to
functioning in the background below the level of consciousness (with which
description I disagree), I might comment that generally the most striking
component of a film score is the main title theme, music that rarely in a
film has any concurrent narrative foreground.

John Dalmas
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