Hammer Film Productions London. - Music from the house of Hammer: music in the Hammer horror films, 1950-1980

FILMMAKERS SERIES

edited by

ANTHONY SLIDE

1. James Whale, by James Curtis. 1982

2. Cinema Stylists, by John Belton. 1983

3. Harry Langdon, by William Schelly. 1982

4. William A. Wellman, by Frank Thompson. 1983

5. Stanley Donen, by Joseph Casper. 1983

6. Brian DePalma, by Michael Bliss. 1983

7. J. Stuart Blackton, by Marian Blackton Trimble. 1985

8. Martin Scorsese and Michael Cimino, by Michael Bliss. 1985

9. Franklin J. Schaffner, by Erwin Kim. 1985

10. D. W. Griffith at Biograph, by Cooper C. Graham et al. 1985

11. Some Day Well Laugh: An Autobiography, by Esther Ralston. 1985

12. The Memoirs of Alice Guy Blach, trans. by Roberta and Simone Blach. 1996

13. Leni Riefenstahl and Olympia, by Cooper C. Graham. 1986

14. Robert Florey, by Brian Taves. 1987

15. Henry Kings America, by Walter Coppedge. 1986

16. Aldous Huxley and Film, by Virginia M. Clark. 1987

17. Five American Cinematographers, by Scott Eyman. 1987

18. Cinematographers on the Art and Craft of Cinematography, by Anna Kate Sterling. 1987

19. Stars of the Silents, by Edward Wagenknecht. 1987

20. Twentieth Century-Fox, by Aubrey Solomon. 1988

21. Highlights and Shadows: The Memoirs of a Hollywood Cameraman, by Charles G. Clarke. 1989

22. I Went That-a-Way: The Memoirs of a Western Film Director, by Harry L. Fraser; edited by Wheeler Winston Dixon and Audrey Brown Fraser. 1990

23. Order in the Universe: The Films of John Carpenter, by Robert C. Cumbow. 1990

24. The Films of Freddie Francis, by Wheeler Winston Dixon. 1991

25. Hollywood Be Thy Name, by William Bakewell. 1991

26. The Charm of Evil: The Life and Films of Terence Fisher, by Wheeler Winston Dixon. 1991

27. Lionheart in Hollywood: The Autobiography of Henry Wilcoxon, with Katherine Orrison. 1991

28. William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier, by Bruce Long. 1991

29. The Films of Leni Riefenstahl, 2nd ed., by David B. Hinton. 1991

30. Hollywood Holyland: The Filming and Scoring of The Greatest Story Ever Told, by Ken Darby. 1992

31. The Films of Reginald LeBorg: Interviews, Essays, and Filmography, by Wheeler Winston Dixon. 1992

32. Memoirs of a Professional Cad, by George Sanders, with Tony Thomas. 1992

33. The Holocaust in French Film, by Andr Pierre Colombat. 1993

34. Robert Goldstein and The Spirit of 76, edited and compiled by Anthony Slide. 1993

35. Those Were the Days, My Friend: My Life in Hollywood with David O. Selznick and Others, by Paul Macnamara. 1993

36. The Creative Producer, by David Lewis; edited by James Curtis. 1993

37. Reinventing Reality: The Art and Life of Rouben Mamoulian, by Mark Spergel. 1993

38. Malcolm St. Clair: His Films, 1915-1948, by Ruth Anne Dwyer. 1995

39. Beyond Hollywoods Grasp: American Filmmakers Abroad, 1914-1945, by Harry Waldman. 1994

40. A Steady Digression to a Fixed Point, by Rose Hobart. 1994

41. Radical Juxtaposition: The Films of Yvonne Rainer, by Shelley Green. 1994

42. Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company, by Harry Carey, Jr. 1994

43. Strangers in Hollywood: A History of Scandinavian Actors in American Films from 1910 to World War II, by Hans J. Wollstein. 1994

44. Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups, by Georgia Hale, edited with an introduction and notes by Heather Kiernan. 1995

45. The Word Made Flesh: Catholicism and Conflict in the Films of Martin Scorsese, by Michael Bliss. 1995

46. W. S. Van Dykes Journal: White Shadows in the South Seas (1927-1928) and other Van Dyke on Van Dyke, edited and annotated by Rudy Behlmer. 1996

47. Music from the House of Hammer: Music in the Hammer Horror Films, 1950-1980, by Randall D. Larson. 1996

48. Directing: Learn from the Masters, by Tay Garnett. 1996

49. Featured Player: An Oral Autobiography of Mae Clarke, edited with an introduction by James Curtis. 1996

50. A Great Lady: A Life of the Screenwriter Sonya Levien, by Larry Ceplair. 1996

Music in the
Hammer Horror Films
19501980

Randall D. Larson

Filmmakers, No. 47

SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of America

by Scarecrow Press, Inc.

4720 Boston Way

Lanham, Maryland 20706

4 Pleydell Gardens, Folkestone

Kent CT20 2DN, England

Copyright 1996 by Randall D. Larson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Cataloguing-in-Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Larson, Randall D., 1954

Music from the house of Hammer : music in the Hammer horror films, 19501980 / by Randall D. Larson.

p.cm. (Filmmakers, no 47)

Filmography

Discography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Motion picture musicGreat BritainHistory and criticism. 2. Hammer Film Productions. 3. Horror filmsGreat BritainHistory and criticism. I. Title. II. Series

ML2075.L341996781.5420941dc2094-43502CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-8108-2975-6

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the memory of David A. Kraft, tireless and enthusiastic researcher of film music, whose friendship and kindness, as well as his dedication to motion picture composers and their music, will be abundantly missed.

By James Bernard

By Harry Robertson

I am especially indebted to the following individuals whose time and efforts were invaluable in compiling this comprehensive examination of Hammer film music.

Richard Klemensen generously loaned me great segments of his Hammer video cassette library, thereby affording me the opportunity to view, hear, and analyze the music of many films not otherwise available to me. This book is also an expanded revision of an article published in his magazine, Little Shoppe of Horrors, and with thanks I acknowledge his assistance in printing my first lengthy examination of Hammer horror music. Richard was also instrumental in my contacting several of the Hammer composers interviewed herein, as were the following.

David Stoner, of Silva Screen Records, and Clare Mitchell of PRS London, both provided avenues to contact Hammer composers and by so doing contributed invaluably to the comprehensiveness of this book. I am indebted to them both.

I am grateful to James Bernard and Harry Robertson for taking the time and the interest to provide an intriguing introduction and afterword as bookends. I am also grateful to the many Hammer composers, from their earliest to their latest, for taking the time to respond to my interview requests and share their experiences working for the Studio that Dripped Blood. Their assistance allowed me to expand my own subjective analysis and provide a look behind the scenes at the composers perspective of Hammer film music. Thanks to you all!