New film music releases: Fried, Rozsa.

New music releases include:

•  The Grissom Gang (1971; composer Gerald Fried). Dragon's Domain Records. For more information or to hear some clips, go here.

• The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977) and Background to Violence suite (composer Miklós Rózsa); the suite includes selections from The Naked City,  The Killers, and Brute Force). Citadel Records. For more information or to hear some clips, go here.

 

 

New recording, The Ipcress File.

Quartet Records has released a new recording by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra of John Barry's score for The Ipcress File (1965, adapted from the book by Len Deighton and starring Michael Caine as spy Harry Palmer), In addition to content that appeared on the original album, music written by Barry for the album but not used has been included, as well as Barry's themes from the TV programs Vendetta (1966–68) and The Persuaders! (starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, 1971–72). To listen to some samples, go here.

New release: The Golden Age of Crime Dramas, vol. 1.

 

As Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Score Friday, Dragon's Domain Records has released The Golden Age of Crime Dramas, vol 1, which includes Harry Sukman's score for Underworld, U.S.A. (dir. Samuel Fuller, 1961), and Barry Gray's score for Crossroads to Crime (dir. Gerry Anderson, 1960). To hear some clips, visit this webpage.

Film Music Friday: Alfred Hitchcock.

The latest episode of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday focuses on music in the films of Alfred Hitchcock, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (composer: Bernard Herrmann), North by Northwest (composer: Bernard Herrmann), Psycho (composer: Bernard Herrmann), Rear Window (composer: Franz Waxman), To Catch a Thief (composer: Lyn Murray), and Vertigo (composer: Bernard Herrmann).

Film music by Dmitri Tompkin.

As Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Score Friday, Intrada has issued From New York to Hollywood: Music for Albertina Rausch and Classic Films, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and featuring works by composer Dmitri Tompkin for movies such as Lost Horizon and It's a Wonderful Life. Also included is "Fisherman's Jive" from the film noir D.O.A. (1949).

Edmond O'Brien in D.O.A. (1949)

Film Music Friday: Jerry Goldsmith.

A recent episode of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday featured the TV work of Jerry Goldsmith who moved from clerk-typist to composer. Selections include his work for The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Twilight Zone, and more. 

A release of music from The Man from 
U.N.C.L.E. that includes Jerry Goldsmith's work

Film Music Fri: Warner Bros. scores; rejected film scores.

Eleanor Parker in Caged (1950)

Recent episodes of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday feature Warner Brothers scores (including The Maltese Falcon [composer: Adolph Deutsch] and Caged [composer: Max Steiner]) and rejected film scores (including Gangs of New York and The Getaway). 

20 years of The Bunburyist.

The inquiring Elizabeth Foxwell. 

I missed the 20th anniversary of The Bunburyist (which occurred on November 5). I've been very busy as an editor at McFarland and Co., which—although I relish the opportunity to work on many fascinating projects dealing with subjects like women's history and mystery fiction—leaves me less time to devote to social media. I am very grateful for the many visitors who are interested in mystery history and continue to drop by. They might note that lately I've been including posts about mystery-related music (particularly film music), as I tend to find that composers often do not receive much attention for their important work.

The following are the top 10 posts on The Bunburyist based on views, and I should note that my page with links to mystery course syllabi is pretty popular as well. Do you have other favorites?
 

 The Top 10 Posts on The Bunburyist, 2005–25:

10. "Iniquity is catching":  Frank R. Stockton's The Stories of the Three Burglars (1889)

 9. "Security Risk" [TV episode, narrated by Jack Webb, 1963] 

 8. "Iconic Detectives" exhibition at Ohio State

 7. New release, Gerald Fried's crime drama music

 6. Hidden Fear (film, 1957)

 5. McFarland's true crime sale

 4. Upcoming tribute to Rod Serling

 3. "Committed" (TV episode with Alan Ladd, 1954)

 2. "The Grave Grass Quivers," by MacKinlay Kantor (1931)

 1. Dozen Best Detective Stories Ever Written

New Thursday Murder Club CD.

Film Score Friday reveals that there's a new CD from Intrada available of Thomas Newman's score for The Thursday Murder Club (dir. Chris Columbus, 2025; book by Richard Osman). For more information and to hear some sample tracks, go here.

New film music releases: Gerald Fried, Bernard Herrmann.

Film Score Friday brings news of the following new releases:

•  Gerald Fried's score for What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (dir. Lee H. Katzin and Bernard Girard, 1969; based on Ursula Curtiss' The Forbidden Garden)

• The Devil and Bernard Herrmann, which includes selections from his score for Obsession (dir. Brian De Palma, 1976) 

• Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960), performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra in 1975 and directed by the composer

Film Music Friday: More music from film noir.

Joseph Cotten, left, with Jack Moss in Eric Ambler's
Journey into Fear (1943)

A recent episode of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday focused on music from film noir, including selections from Double Indemnity (composer Miklós Rózsa, 1944); Journey into Fear (composer Roy Webb, 1943); Laura (composer David Raksin, 1944); Please Murder Me (composer Albert Glasser, 1956); Sorry, Wrong Number (composer Franz Waxman, 1948); and more.

Film Music Friday: Jazz in Films.

Steve McQueen in Bullitt (dir. Peter Yates, 1968)

A recent Film Music Friday on Kansas Public Radio pays tribute to jazz in films, including Anatomy of a Murder (music by Duke Ellington, 1959), Bullitt (music by Lalo Schifrin, 1968), and more.

Coming soon: Miklós Rózsa's score to Time After Time.

Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Music Friday of the upcoming release by buysoundtrax of famed Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa's score for Time After Time (1979, cowrit. and dir. Nicholas Meyer). For more information and to hear some sample tracks, go here. 

New release, Gerald Fried's crime drama music.

As Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Score Friday, there's a new release from Dragon's Domain records, Gerald Fried: The Crime Dramas, which features Fried's music for two Roger Corman films: The Cry Baby Killer (1958, with Jack Nicholson) and Machine Gun Kelly (1958, with Charles Bronson). Go here for more information and some sample tracks. 

Fried composed for TV series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, and Roots. 

New releases: On Her Majesty's Secret Service; Prince of the City

As Scott Bettencourt mentions in Film Score Friday, new releases include John Barry's score for the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (dir. Peter H. Hunt, 1969) from La-La Land and Paul Chihara's score for the police corruption drama Prince of the City (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1981) from Quartet.

For more information and to listen to some excerpts:

• On Her Majesty's Secret Service 
• Prince of the City

 

40th anniv ed., Young Sherlock Holmes score.

As Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Score Friday, Intrada has issued a 40th anniversary edition of the score by Bruce Broughton for Young Sherlock Holmes (1985, dir. Barry Levinson, perf. Nicholas Rowe as Sherlock Holmes). For more information or to listen to some excerpts, go here.

Film Music Friday: David Raksin.

Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday recently featured the music of composer David Raksin, including his haunting theme for Laura (1944) and music for The Big Combo (1955).

From left: Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, and Dana Andrews in Laura (1944)

Score to Pursuit (1972).

Martin Sheen in Pursuit (1972)

As Scott Bettencourt writes in Film Music Friday, Intrada has released Jerry Goldsmith's score to the TV movie Pursuit (dir. and writ. Michael Crichton, 1972). In Pursuit, G-man Ben Gazzara seeks to thwart an extremist who plans to unleash nerve gas on a city. For more information and to hear some selections, go here. 

Score to Christie's The Mirror Crack'd (1980).

 

As Scott Bettencourt writes enthusiastically in Film Score Friday, John Cameron's score to The Mirror Crack'd (dir. Guy Hamilton, 1980, based on the Agatha Christie novel, featuring Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson) will soon be issued by Caldera. For more information or to listen to some clips, go here.

Film Music Friday: The films of Gene Hackman.

Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday pays tribute to Gene Hackman, who died in February, including the score for The French Connection (1971; director William Friedkin, composer Don Ellis, screenwriter Ernest Tidyman [author of Shaft]).