Friday, October 7, 1983 25
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
`Exodus' Among Many Successes of Film Composer Ernest Gold
By HERBERT LUFT
(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
HOLLYWOOD — Ernest
Gold, the Academy
Award-winning composer of
"Exodus," in a recent inter-
view, detailed the progres-
sion of the musical score to
the epic Otto Preminger
film, shot in Israel in 1960.
Gold had been fascinated
by Leon Uris' novel and
spent the months of April to
June during production of
the movie in the HolyLand
to study the land and the
people and get the feeling of
the Israeli people in time of
peace and war.
He visited with the
Habima Theater and at-
tended performances and
rehearsals of the Inbal dan-
cers. The local atmosphere
inspired him to compose
seven original themes for
"Exodus." One of them was
the theme of "Ari," a
character portr4yed on the
screen by Paul\ Newman.
There were no lyrics when
the picture was released.
Pat Boone, who had never
been in Israel and had not
yet seen the film, was in-
spired by the melody to
write the powerful words,
"This Land Is Mine, God
Gave the Land to Me."
- This was not the first
film in which composer
Gold expressed his love
for humanity. Stanley
Kramer's "On the
Beach," forewarning of a
nuclear disaster, was.
made a year earlier in
Australia and netted the
composer an Orcar
nomination and a Golden
Globe Award. Gold won
the Lauren Award for
Kramer's "The Defiant
Ones," an expression of
brotherly love between
the races; he scored
Kramer's anti-Nazi pic-
ture, "The Secret of Santa
Vittoria," for which he
was recognized with both
an Academy nomination
and one from the foreign
press. Once more for
Kramer, Gold wrote the
music to the most haunt-
ing Judy Garland film,
"A Child is Waiting."
In all, Gold, who left Vie-
nna with his family as a
teenager in 1938, has writ-
ten the score to some 60
motion pictures.
Gold is an enemy of
gratuitous violence on the
screen. Violence in itself
he feels, is not enter-
tainment, although it has
its place if it is used as a
necessary plot device. He
contends, "Today the inces-
sant exposure to murder
and mayhem desensitizes
all of us toward our fellow
human beings — we live in
an atmosphere of general
brutalization."
Ever since the memorable
melodies of "Exodus"
brought him his first award.
Gold has been recognized as
a person who hears power-
ful sounds and translates
them into themes that reach
the hearts of millions.
"I try to put something
into a film that is not al-
ready there," Gold exp-
lains. "I ask myself, what
is the basic function of
music in that particular
picture? In 'Judgment at
Nuremberg,' for exam-
ple, I tried to give the au-
dience a respite from the
tense courtroom scenes
whenever the cameras
left the courtroom."
While Gold has always
been an innovator, he is not
a follower of fads. "There is
a trend today to score mo-
tion pictures with synth-
esizers whether or not the
film truly calls for it," he
explains. "There is nothing
wrong with synthesizers,
but feelings and human
reactions have remained
virtually the same for
thousands of years and the
instruments best equipped
to reach them should not be
discarded on a whim.
Among the more impor-
tant films Gold has set to
music are, in addition to the
ones already mentioned,
Stanley Kramer's "Inherit
the Wind," "Pressure
Point," and Kramer's latest,
"The Runner Stumbles." He
has currently completed an
independent UA film,
"Safari 3000," starring
David Carradine and Stoc-
kard Charming.
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Woman Disrupts
Services in NY
cr3
c.)
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Criminal charges were
lodged here against a 57-
year-old Brooklyn woman
for interrupting religious
services and harassing con-
gregants during Rosh
Hashana services at an Or-
thodox synagogue. If con-
victed, she could be sen-
tenced to a year in prison.
Marie Iannelli ap-
proached the synagogue,
Chevra Shaff, and yelled
abusive epithets at the con-
gregants, the complaint
said.
Excuses are the vainest
things.
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