Thursday, February 16, 2017

Alfred Hitchcock, Best Original Song

When you think of Alfred Hitchcock movies, you don't necessarily think of songs. Oh, you may think of the Bernard Herrmann scores, or in some cases other composers, like Miklos Rozsa's memorable score to Spellbound. But songs? With lyrics?

Of course, one Hitchcock movie did win the Oscar for Best Original Song, and that one, the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, is on TCM tonight at 8:00 PM. That song is "Que Sera Sera", sung by Doris Day, with the Oscars going to songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. I thought I had done a full-length version of it before, but it looks as though I've only posted more extensively on the 1934 version.

Both versions are worth watching. The 1950s version clearly has the better production values, but there's something about the tauter storytelling of the 1930s that I really like. There's something to be said for telling your story in 80 minutes instead of 120.

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