August 13, 2014

  • Stravinsky in Hollywood: Uneven Documentary

     

    Stravinsky in Hollywood **1/2

    C Major 716404

    Total Time: 52:19

     

     

    As a result of turmoil in  Europe, many artists found themselves fleeing for new countries and opportunities.  Hollywood certainly beckoned to many émigrés and some would find great careers there in the 1930s and years to follow.  For composers, the opportunity to explore this new art form of film and how music worked in it was an interesting proposition.  Some, like Korngold, were evenly matched to such work.  Others, like Copland to some extent, or Igor Stravinsky found the collaborative and artistic environment a bit unwieldy for their art and personalities.

     

    Some of the tales of Stravinsky’s life in America were recently explored in Robert Craft’s massive semi-autobiographical survey of the composer’s life released last yearm Stravinsky: Discoveries and Memories (Naxos Books).  This new film, written, directed, edited and narrated by Marco Capalbo, focuses on Stravinsky’s arrival in 1939 in Hollywood and continuing up to the composer’s death.  The film includes previously unseen footage (though very minimal), though historical value of many of these is really questionable (there is a lot of time viewing Stravinsky laying on a bed on an ocean liner reading).  Some scenes appear as “re-enactments” which make the documentary feel more art house biopic than documentary.  Many are rather distracting and absurd at times.

     

    An overall problem with the film itself is that there are no placards giving titles, or sequences, to many of the clips and so the impact is a bit lost.  Music often plays along underneath without being specifically identified, though it is often implied in the narrative that what we are hearing is what was just mentioned.  This will be a bit too esoteric for all but Stravinsky enthusiasts though.  Given the title, one would expect some opportunity spent on the films Stravinsky did score.  The subject is introduced through Fantasia and the issues that arose for the composer over Disney’s “acquisition” and use of Le Sacre du Printemps.  Not much new is revealed here.  There is a central portion though that is quite interesting as the commentary moves into the project The Song of Bernadette.  The narration digresses about Wurfel (the author) for a moment, but we do get to see and hear Stravinsky’s music for one sequence.  Unfortunately, we do not get to have a side-by-side comparison of Alfred Newman’s resulting score.  This would have provided a reference point for the viewer.  One highlight is the scene from Orson Welles’ Jane Eyre where Rochester and Jane are on the moors.  The piece, “Ode” is allowed to play to picture with dialogue.  It is painfully obvious rather quickly that Stravinsky’s highlight kinetic music was a great distraction to the dialogue.  No commentary is really given though for why any of the composer’s music was rejected.  A few other films that were to have music by Stravinsky are then quickly glossed over.

     

    While Capalbo’s voice works fine for narration, it begins to weary the listener/viewer rather quickly as a dry paper.  The film needs quotes read by someone else for variety.  At about 20 minutes in we are treated to an odd interview with the aging Robert Craft.  The camera spends way too much time on Craft.  Here was an opportunity for stills, or home movies to play while Craft reminisces.  Some of the interview footage is also disconcertingly edited in a couple of spots causes slight hiccups.

     

    Seemingly rather suddenly, we are thrust to 1951.  The serialist Arnold Schoenberg, who lived a few miles from the Stravinsky’s, died.  The loss of this “rival” shook Stravinsky a bit, we are told, and caused him to re-evaluate his music.  Craft’s role in some of this, while important, seems to take over the film for a while here.  It was Craft who served as a bridge for the aging composer to the work of the Second Viennese School, especially upon the recording project of Anton Webern’s works.  This exposure would impact Stravinsky’s Agon and Threnie and continue through his final period.

     

    The film ends rather abruptly with a picture of the room where Stravinsky died, indicated by the first, and only, screen text.  The narration stops and the film does little summation.  We are left with the empty room which might mean something in light of the often surreal earlier drives in the desert that the film spends so much time on earlier.  The credits do not tell you anything about what performances were used in the film.  Overall they are pretty lacking in general.

     

    Stravinsky in Hollywood is a thumbnail sketch of the composers life in Los Angeles from 1939-1971.  The film does not provide enough on-screen guides to further its points and spends a lot of time on things of little value to its story.  The images are very clearly delineated throughout, including the home footage.  Audio of the music is equally well done.  It is interesting to hear Stravinsky commenting on things, but some of these things make him look a bit buffoonish and needed more context to the conversation.  With more detail on the earlier film hopes, some additional voices to provide variety to the narration, and on-screen supportive data, this could be a really engaging documentary.  It will be somewhat useful in spots to provide visuals to Craft’s book and with some editing could be used in a film class to show different approaches to a scene.

     

    There is nothing else on the release.  Bonus material of fuller rehearsal footage, or even performances of some of the complete pieces edited for the documentary would have made this an easier item to recommend.  At $25 it is perhaps best for those Stravinsky enthusiasts who are curious.  Admittedly, I had high hopes for this film.  The first 10 minutes are very slow, things pick up briefly in the film music discussion, but then there are these odd portrayal sequences which take you out of the documentary.  The information is really not new, and for a film about Stravinsky and Hollywood, there is way too much time given to Schoenberg and Craft given the length of the documentary.  The result is a big missed opportunity.