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Charles Williams (composer)
Charles Williams (8 May 1893 – 7 September 1978) was a British composer and conductor, contributing music to over 50 films. While his career ran from 1934 through 1968, much of his work came to the big screen as stock music and was therefore uncredited. Biography Williams was born in London as Isaac Cozerbreit in 1893. He began his career as a freelance violinist in theatres, cinemas and symphony orchestras and later studied composition with Norman O'Neill at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1933, he went to Gaumont British Films as composer and stayed there until 1939. He composed for many British films and radio shows and after the end of World War II, he became the conductor of the new Queen's Hall Light Orchestra. Later, he formed his own Concert Orchestra. He died in Findon Valley, Worthing, West Sussex, aged 85. Light music compositions He composed many orchestral pieces and marches for his ensembles, which were recorded in the "Mood Music" category of light music and du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Barton
''Dick Barton – Special Agent'' is a radio thriller serial that was broadcast in the BBC Light Programme between 7 October 1946 and 30 March 1951. Produced and directed by Raymond Raikes, Neil Tuson, and Charles Lefaux, it was aired in 15-minute episodes at 6.45 (later 6.15) each weekday evening. From 11 January 1947 an additional "omnibus" edition repeated all of the week's programmes each Saturday morning between 11.00 and 12.00. In all, 711 episodes were produced and the serial achieved a peak audience of 20 million.James Chapman (2006) ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'' Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 537–559 "‘HONEST BRITISH VIOLENCE’: CRITICAL RESPONSES TO DICK BARTON—SPECIAL AGENT (1946–1951)" Its end was marked by a leading article in ''The Times''.''The Times'', 31 March 1951, p. 7 "The Last Instalment" The serial followed the adventures of ex-Commando Captain Richard Barton MC (Noel Johnson, later Duncan Carse and Gordon Davies) who, with his mates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
They Came By Night
''They Came by Night'' is a 1940 British crime film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Will Fyffe, Phyllis Calvert and Anthony Hulme. It was made at the Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures and released by 20th Century Fox. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was based on the West End play of the same title by Barré Lyndon. Synopsis The screenplay concerns a man who is blackmailed into taking his brother's place in a gang for a jewellery heist. Cast * Will Fyffe as James Fothergill * Phyllis Calvert as Sally * Anthony Hulme as Sergeant Tolly * George Merritt as Inspector Metcalfe * Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Lightbody * John Glyn-Jones as Llewellyn Jones * Athole Stewart as Lord Netfherly * Cees Laseur as Vollaire * Hal Walters as Hopkins * Kuda Bux as Ali * Leo Britt as George * Sylvie St. Clair as Claire * Wally Patch Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strange Boarders
''Strange Boarders'' is a 1938 British comedy thriller film, directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures, and starring Tom Walls, Renée Saint-Cyr, Googie Withers and Ronald Adam. The film is an adaptation of the 1934 espionage novel '' The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent'' by E. Phillips Oppenheim, and was well received by critics. Plot A seemingly innocuous and respectable elderly lady is knocked down and critically injured by a bus on a London street. When the police search her handbag to find out her identity, they are astonished to discover a series of top secret military blueprints. The secret service are alerted and arrive at the hospital to question her, but she laughs in their faces before quietly dying. The man for the job is top secret service agent Tommy Blythe (Walls), who happens to be on honeymoon with new wife Louise (Saint-Cyr). He is summoned back to London under conditions of absolute secrecy, not allowed to divul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hey! Hey! USA
''Hey! Hey! USA'' is a 1938 British comedy film starring comedian Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy and Eddie Ryan. Hay appears as Benjamin Twist, a porter who accidentally finds himself on a ship bound for the United States. The film features an early appearance by child actor Roddy McDowall, before he went to live in America. Plot outline Benjamin Twist, a teacher working during school holidays as a ship's porter ends up on a ship bound for America and impersonating a professor, Phineas Tavistock. Along with American gangster and stowaway Bugs Leary (Edgar Kennedy), Twist finds himself entangled in a plot to kidnap the son of a millionaire whom 'Professor' Tavistock is teaching. Things are further complicated by the fact that two sets of gangsters are attempting to get their hands on the ransom money, which Twist is given to hand over. Cast * Will Hay - Benjamin Twist/Professor Phineas Tavistock * Edgar Kennedy - Bugs Leary * David Burns - Tony Ricardo * Eddie Ryan - Ace Marco * Fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Citadel (1938 Film)
''The Citadel'' is a 1938 British drama film based on the 1937 novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin. The film was directed by King Vidor and produced by Victor Saville for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British at Denham Studios. It stars Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell. Plot Dr. Andrew Manson (Robert Donat) is an idealistic newly qualified Scottish doctor dedicated to treating the Welsh miners suffering from tuberculosis in the Welsh mining village of Blaenely and is an apprentice to Dr. Page (Basil Gill). Initially, he has many lofty scientific goals, but meets local resistance in his research. After his laboratory and notes are destroyed by the miners, he moves to London, taking working class patients in impoverished conditions. There, his purpose erodes when a chance encounter with a medical school friend, Dr. Frederick Lawford (Rex Harrison) leads to his quiet seduction by an unethical medical establishment, treating rich hypochondriacs. Christine (Rosalind Russell), his wife t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
While I Live
''While I Live'' is a 1947 British drama film directed and co-written by John Harlow and starring Sonia Dresdel, Tom Walls and Carol Raye. ''While I Live'' is best remembered for its musical theme "The Dream of Olwen" composed by Charles Williams, reprised at intervals throughout the film, which became hugely popular in its time and is still regularly performed. The film itself became widely known as ''The Dream of Olwen''. It was based on a play by Robert Bell, in which Sonia Dresdel also starred. Plot In Cornwall in 1922, young pianist and composer Olwen Trevelyan (Audrey Fildes) is struggling with the ending of a piano tone poem she is composing. Driven to complete the piece by her domineering elder sister Julia (Sonia Dresdel), Olwen becomes agitated and despondent, and one night sleepwalks to the edge of a cliff near their home. Julia follows her and shouts her name but Olwen, abruptly awakened, loses her balance and falls to her death on the rocks below. Julia is unab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pastiche
A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it. The word is a French cognate of the Italian noun , which is a pâté or pie-filling mixed from diverse ingredients. Metaphorically, and describe works that are either composed by several authors, or that incorporate stylistic elements of other artists' work. Pastiche is an example of eclecticism in art. Allusion is not pastiche. A literary allusion may refer to another work, but it does not reiterate it. Moreover, allusion requires the audience to share in the author's cultural knowledge. Both allusion and pastiche are mechanisms of intertextuality. By art Literature In literary usage, the term denotes a literary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imitation of another's style; although jocular, it is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano Concerto
A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpieces which require an advanced level of technique on the instrument. These concertos are typically written out in music notation, including sheet music for the pianist (which they typically memorize for a more virtuosic performance), orchestra parts for the orchestra members, and a full score for the conductor, who leads the orchestra in the accompaniment of the soloist. Depending on the era in which a piano concerto was composed, the orchestra parts may provide a fairly subordinate accompaniment role, setting out the bassline and chord progression over which the piano plays solo parts (more typical during the Baroque music era, from 1600 to 1750 and the Classical period, from 1730 to 1800), or the orchestra may be given an almost equal ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Mills (composer)
Richard John Mills , (born 14 November 1949) is an Australian conductor and composer. He is currently the artistic director of Victorian Opera, and formerly artistic director of the West Australian Opera and artistic consultant with Orchestra Victoria. He was commissioned by the Victoria State Opera to write his opera ''Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' (1996) and by Opera Australia to write the opera ''Batavia'' (2001). Career Mills was born and grew up in Toowoomba, Queensland, and went to Nudgee College in Brisbane. He studied in London with Edmund Rubbra at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and worked as a percussionist in England and for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Mills started conducting and composing in the 1980s. In 1988, to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) commissioned Mills to re-orchestrate Charles Williams's ''Majestic Fanfare'', the signature tune of ABC news and television broadcasts, in a more moder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned body that is politically independent and fully accountable, with its charter enshrined in legislation, the ''Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983''. ABC Commercial, a profit-making division of the corporation, also helps to generate funding for content provision. The ABC was established as the Australian Broadcasting Commission on 1 July 1932 by an act of federal parliament. It effectively replaced the Australian Broadcasting Company, a private company established in 1924 to provide programming for A-class radio stations. The ABC was given statutory powers that reinforced its independence from the government and enhanced its news-gathering role. Modelled after the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which is funded by a tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majestic Fanfare
''Majestic Fanfare'' is a short orchestral piece of music written by the British composer Charles Williams in 1935. It is well recognised as the theme to ABC news broadcasts in Australia. 1943 version ''Majestic Fanfare'' was first recorded in 1943 by the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra conducted by the composer. In an abridged form, it came to prominence in Australia, initially as the signature tune for radio broadcasts of proceedings from the Parliament of Australia, and subsequently as the signature tune for radio and television news broadcasts by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). It was first used for this purpose on 1 January 1952 until 1982, when it was replaced with a different version. ''Majestic Fanfare'' replaced a short version of ''Advance Australia Fair'' that had been in use throughout World War II. Further shortening of what was already regarded as a significant national song (it would in 1984 become Australia's official national anthem) was regarded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
