The Museum of Modern Art is currently presenting Franz Waxman: Music for the Cinema,
a month-long 21-film retrospective of the work of the man who scored Sunset Boulevard, Rebecca, The Bride of Frankenstein, and hundreds of other golden-age Hollywood films.
Though Waxman won two Oscars (for Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun) and is ranked at least as highly as Erich Wolfgang Korngold or Max Steiner by most film-music connoisseurs, his name is much less well known to the public at large. I decided to try to do something about that–as well as to draw attention to the MoMA series–by devoting my next “Sightings” column, to be published in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, to a discussion of Waxman’s work.
If that piques your interest, pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Journal, where you’ll find my column in the “Pursuits” section.