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Franz Waxman

1906 - 1967

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The filmcomposerFranz Waxman was born as Franz Wachsmann in Königshütte.

Although he already got piano lessons as a child he chose a bourgeois profession at the request of his father. Therefore he worked as a cashier in a bank.
Beside it he continued his musical education and he got lesson for piano and composition. Finally he began a study in Berlin.

In order to earn his living he worked as a piano player and was a member of a jazz band.

He alread got in touch with the film business in 1930 and he got first orders for film compositions.
He soon became a demanded filmcomposer and he wrote the score for movies like "Das Kabinett des Dr. Larifari" (30), "Einbrecher" (30), "Scampolo, ein Kind der Strasse" (32), "Ich und die Kaiserin" (33) and "Gruss und Kuss - Veronika" (33).

As a Jew he was no longer able to work in Germany and he went to France where he was engaged for few more movies like "Liliom" (34), "La crise est finie" (34) and "Mauvaise graine" (34).

But France was also not a save place any longer, therefore Franz Waxman went to the USA.
He had no problems to continue his career and he recommended himself to the US film business with successful compositions for "Bride of Frankenstein" (35), "The Affair of Susan" (35), "East of Jawa" (35), "Love Before Breakfast" (36), "Fury" (36), "Captains Courageous" (37), "A Day at the Races" (37), "Arsène Lupin Returns" (38), "Too Hot to Handle" (38), "A Christmas Carol" (38), "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (39) and "At the Circus" (39).

Franz Waxman soon joined the cream of  American filmcomposers and he wrote the scores of numerous well-known US productions.
To his well-known works of the 40s and 50s belong "Rebecca" (40), "Escape" (40), "The Philadelphia Story" (40), "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (41), "Mr. Skeffington" (44), "The Have and Have Not" (44), "Hotel Berlin" (45), "Nora Prentiss" (47), "The Paradine Case" (47), "Sorry, Wrong Number" (48), "Sunset Blvd." (50), "A Place in the Sun" (51), "Come Back, Little Sheba" (52), "I, the Jury" (53), "Prince Valiant" (54), "Rear Window" (54), "Untamed" (55), "Sayonara" (57) and "The Nun's Story" (59).

His last film compositions came in the 60s into being. He did not work for the cinema as often as before, instead he also wrote for TV productions. 
To his last filmmusics belong "Full Circle" (60) , "Cimarron" (60), "My Geisha" (62), "Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man" (62), "Taras Buba" (62), the serial "The Fugitive" (63), the serial "Peyton Place" (64-69), an episode of the serial "Gunsmoke: The Raid" (66), "Lost Command" (66) and "To Die in Paris" (68).

Besides his film compositions he also created a lot of so-called stock music which was used for movies with other main composers. These scores were normally used for background music and the name of Franz Waxman was not mentioned in the credits.
To these movies belong "Conflict" (36), "Flash Gordon" (36), "Secret Agent X-9" (37), "Forbidden Valley" (38), "A Christmas Carol" (38), "Buck Rogers" (39), "Fast and Furious" (39), "Gone with the Wind" (39), "Edison, the Man" (40), "Rio Rita" (42), "Madame Curie" (43), "Shane" (53), "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" (55) and "The Court Jester" (55).


Other movies from Franz Waxman:
Das Lied vom Leben (31) Das Mädel vom Montparnasse (32) Das erste Recht des Kindes (32) Paprika (32) The Only Girl (34) Diamond Jim (35) Three Kids and a Queen (35) Remember Last Night? (35) Magnificent Obsession (35) The Invisible Ray (36) Next Time We Love (36) Dangerous Waters (36) Don't Get Personal (36) The First Offence (36) Sutter's Gold (36) Absolute Quiet (36) Trouble for Two (36) The Devil-Doll (36) His Brother's Wife (36) Love on the Run (36) Personal Property (37) CThe Emperor's Candlesticks (37) The Bride Wore Red (37) Man-Proof (38) Test Pilot (38) Three Comrades (38) Three Loves Has Nancy (38) Port of Seven Seas (38) The Young in Heart (38) The Shining Hour (38) Dramatic School (38) The Ice Follies of 1939 (39) On Borrowed Time (39) Lady of the Tropics (39) Strange Cargo (40) Florian (40) Sporting Blood (40) I Love You Again (40) Boom Town (40) Flight Command (40) The Bad Man (41) Unfinished Business (41) The Feminie Touch (41) Honky Tonk (41) Suspicion (41) Design for Scandal (41) Kathleen (41) Woman of the Year (42) Tortilla Flat (42) Her Cardboard Lover (42) Seven Sweethearts (42) Journey for Margaret (42) Reunion in France (42) Air Force (43) Edge of Darkness (43) Old Acquainance (43) Destination Tokyo (43) In Our Time (44)  The Very Thought of You (44) Objective, Burma! (45) God Is My Co-Pilot (45) The Horn Blows as Midnight (45) Pride of the Marines (45) Confidential Agent (45) Her Kind of Man (46) The Two Mrs. Carrolls (47) Cry Wolf (47) Possessed (47) Dark Passage (47) The Unsuspected (47) That Hagen Girl (47) No Minor Vices (48) Whiplash (48) Alias Nick Beal (49) Night Unto Night (49) Rope of Sand (49) Task Force (49) Johnny Holiday (49) Night and the City (50) The Furies (50) Dark City (50) Only the Valiant (51) He Ran All the Way (51) Anne of the Indies (51) The Blue Veil (51) Red Mountain (51) Decision Before Dawn (51) Phone Call from a Stranger (52) Lure of the Wilderness (52) My Cousin Rachel (52) Man on a Tightrope (53) Botany Bay (53) Stalag 17) (53) A Lion Is in the Streets (53) Elephant Walk (54) Demetrius and the Gladiators (54) This Is My love (54) The Silver Chalice (54) Mister Roberts (55) The Virgin Queen (55) The Indian Fighter (55) Miracle in the Rain (56) Crime in the Streets (56) Back from Eternity (56) The Spirit of St. Louis (57) Peyton Place (57) Run Silent Run Deep (58) Count Your Blessings (59) Career (59) Serie "The Twilight Zone: The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" (59) Beloved Infidel (59) The Story of Ruth (60) Sunrise at Campobello (60) Return to Peyton Place (61) King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (61) Serie "Arrest and Trial: Isn't It a Lovey View" (63) Serie "Arrest and Trials: A Flame in the Dark" (63) Serie "Arrest and Trial: Whose Little Girl Are You?" (63) Serie "The Twentieth Century: Theh Plots Against Hitler" (64) Serie "The Twentieth Century: Lenin and Trotsky" (64) Serie "Kraft Suspense Theatre: Operation Greif" (64) Serie "Kraft Suspense Theatre: That He Should Weep for Her" (64) Serie "Kraft Suspense Theatre: Graffiti" (64) Serie "Kraft Suspense Theatre: Won't It Ever Be Morning?" (65) Serie "The Virginian: An Echo of Thunder" (66) The Longest Hundred Miles (67)

Actor:
Einbrecher (30) Love in the Afternoon (57)

 
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