Film Music Review

      ALL-TIME FAVORITE FILM SCORES

                                      Compiled by Roger Hall, Film Music Historian, Author: A Guide to Film Music

You may be surprised that the giant ape who climbed to the TOP of the Empire State Building many years ago, has also climbed to the TOP of this list of...

Favorite Film Scores

1.	*KING KONG (Max Steiner, 1933) - Rhino CD (Original soundtrack, conducted by Max Steiner) and Marco Polo CD (Moscow Symphony, conducted by William T. Stromberg)
2.	*STAR WARS (John Williams, 1977) -  Special Edition 2-CD set (conducted by John Williams)
3.	*BEN-HUR (Miklos Rozsa, 1959) -  Rhino 2-CD set, with booklet (Miklos Rozsa)
4.	*VERTIGO (Bernard Herrmann, 1958) - Varese-Sarabande CD (original soundtrack, conducted by Muir Mathiesen) and Varese-Sarabande (re-recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Joel McNeely)
5.	*THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (Herrmann, 1947)  - Fox Classics/Varese-Sarabande CD (original soundtrack conducted by Bernard Herrmann) and Varese-Sarabande CD (conducted by Elmer Bernstein)
6.	[2 way tie]  *THE BIG COUNTRY (Jerome Moross, 1958) - Silva Screen CD (conducted by Tony Palmer) *TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Elmer Bernstein, 1962) - Varese-Sarabande CD (conducted by Elmer Bernstein).
7.	*PLANET OF THE APES (Jerry Goldsmith, 1968) - Varese-Sarabdande
8.	*THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (Hugo Friedhofer, 1946) - Label X
9.	[3 way tie - listed in alphabetical order]      *THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Erich Korngold, 1938) - Marco Polo CD (Moscow Symphony, conducted by William T. Stromberg)      *HIGH NOON (Dimitri Tiomkin, 1952) - Excerpts on Unicorn-Kanchana CD (conducted by Laurie Johnson)      *SPELLBOUND (Miklos Rosza, 1945) - Excerpts on BMG/RCA CD (Charles Gerhardt conducting)
10.	[8 way tie - all with the same number of votes, arranged alphabetically]     *THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Bernard Herrmann, 1951) - Fox (Herrmann conducting)       THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (Alfred Newman, 1959) - No CD soundtrack       EL CID (Miklos Rozsa, 1961) - Sony CD (Rozsa conducting)     *FAHRENHEIT 451 (Bernard Herrmann, 1967) - London CD (Herrmann conducting)     *PSYCHO (Bernard Herrmann, 1960) - Varese-Sarabande (McNeely, conductor)     *THE SEA HAWK (Erich Korngold, 1940) - Excerpts on BMG/RCA CD (Charles Gerhardt conducting) and Deutsche Grammophon CD (Andre Previn conducting)     *SPARTACUS (Alex North, 1960) - MCA CD (Alex North conducting)     *STAR-TREK - THE MOTION PICTURE (Goldsmith, 1979) - Sony CD (Jerry Goldsmith conducting)

* =  listed in the Top 100 Film Scores of the 20th Century in  A Guide to Film Music - Songs and Scores. 

Composers with the most scores listed on the survey:

Bernard Herrmann =  5 scores

Miklos Rozsa = 3 scores

Jerry Goldsmith = 2 scores

Erich Wolfgang Korngold = 2 scores.

Top 10 Film Scores of the 20th Century

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