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Film Score of the Day
Max Steiner
The Lost Patrol
1934
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Film scores weren't even a category at the Oscars until 1934, and Steiner's score was one of only three that were nominated that first year (the others were the two musicals The Gay Divorcee, and the winner, One Night of Love).
That Steiner was nominated was a coincidence, as composers weren't nominated for scores until 1938. The nomination (and award) would go to whomever the studio's music department head was at the time. Steiner, in this instance, was both composer and head of the RKO Radio Studio Music Department. Also coincidentally, Steiner was nominated for The Gay Divorcee, although that score was composed by Kenneth Webb & Sam Hoffenstein.
Back in 1934, films were still thought of as disposable product, to be released once, then likely melted down to be recycled for next year's films. So finding scores for films this old is sometimes a scavenger hunt.
The Lost Patrol is a hybrid WWI/suspense film. Here's the plot:
During World War I, the young lieutenant in charge of a small British mounted patrol in the empty Mesopotamian desert is shot and killed by an unseen sniper. This leaves the sergeant at a loss, since he had not been told what their mission is and has no idea where they are. Riding north in the hope of rejoining their brigade, the eleven remaining men reach a deserted oasis where they find water, edible dates, and shelter.
During the night, one of the sentries is killed, the other seriously wounded, and all their horses are stolen, leaving them stranded. They bury the dead man and put his sword at the head of his grave. One by one, the remaining men are picked off by the unseen assailants. During the course of the film, the men talk and reminisce and fight—and deal with their situation. In desperation, the sergeant sends two men chosen by lot on foot for help, but they are caught and their mutilated bodies returned. One man, Abelson, suffering from heat exhaustion, sees a mirage and wanders into deadly rifle fire. The pilot of a British biplane spots the survivors, but nonchalantly lands nearby and despite frantic warnings is killed. After dark, the sergeant takes the machine gun from the aircraft and then sets the plane on fire as a signal to any British troops. Sanders, a religious fanatic, goes mad and walks into deadly fire.
In the end only the sergeant is left and, thinking he too is dead, the six Arabs who have been besieging the oasis advance on foot. Using the machine gun from the aircraft, the sergeant kills them all. A British patrol which had seen the smoke from the burning plane rides up and the officer in charge asks the sergeant roughly where his men are. In silence, the sergeant looks toward their graves, six swords gleaming in the sun.
Here's the score, in 11 parts, as recorded by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra led by William Stromberg (1964-....), an American film composer and conductor. Stromberg has been active in the Marco Polo Film Series, compact discs which feature world premiere digital stereo performances of classic movie scores of the 1930s and 1940s. Among them are "Beau Geste", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (the 1939 version), and many others. This collection also includes music from Steiner's scores for Virginia City and The Beast With Five Fingers.
Here's a link to the Main Title music, which I assume will link to the rest of the score titles.
The Lost Patrol was a remake of the silent film "Lost Patrol", released in 1929.
Prior to 1938 it's a bit tricky to track down film score credits, as credit was often simply not given. Steiner's work prior to this include Cimarron (1931) and King Kong (1933), Little Women (1933), and Of Human Bondage (1934), the film that made Bette Davis a star.
Of course, Steiner would go on to be nominated for 24 Academy Awards, winning three: The Informer (1935); Now, Voyager (1942); and Since You Went Away (1944).
There's also the top rated scores for Gone With the Wind, Jezebel, Dark Victory, Casablanca, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Summer Place, The Big Sleep, The Fountainhead, Life With Father, and The Glass Menagerie.
Naturally, Steiner, along with contemporaries Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Alfred Newman, set the style and forms of film music of the time period and for film scores to come.
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Originally Posted by Jacck
