Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball

Bernard Herrmann - Main Title (Taxi Driver: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes (1948, dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) “My father took me to see this film in 1950, when I was eight years old. And I’ve never forgotten it. I wouldn’t know how to begin to explain what this film has meant to me over the years. It’s about the joy and exuberance of film-making itself. It’s one of the true miracles of film history. What keeps nourishing me over the years is the spell the film casts, how it weaves the mystery of the obsession of creativity, of the creative drive. It all comes down to that wonderful exchange early in the film when Anton Walbrook confronts Moira Shearer at a cocktail party. ‘Why do you want to dance?’ he asks, and she answers, ‘Why do you want to live?’ The look on his face is extraordinary.’ Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about that exchange. It expresses so much about the burning need for art – the mystery of the passion to create. It’s not that you want to do it, it’s that you have to do it. You have no choice. You have to live it and it comes with a price. But what a time paying it.” -Martin Scorsese (2009)

Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes (1948, dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)

“My father took me to see this film in 1950, when I was eight years old. And I’ve never forgotten it. I wouldn’t know how to begin to explain what this film has meant to me over the years. It’s about the joy and exuberance of film-making itself. It’s one of the true miracles of film history.

What keeps nourishing me over the years is the spell the film casts, how it weaves the mystery of the obsession of creativity, of the creative drive. It all comes down to that wonderful exchange early in the film when Anton Walbrook confronts Moira Shearer at a cocktail party. ‘Why do you want to dance?’ he asks, and she answers, ‘Why do you want to live?’ The look on his face is extraordinary.’

Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about that exchange. It expresses so much about the burning need for art – the mystery of the passion to create. It’s not that you want to do it, it’s that you have to do it. You have no choice. You have to live it and it comes with a price. But what a time paying it.”

-Martin Scorsese (2009)

Bernard Herrmann - The .44 Magnum Is a Monster (Taxi Driver: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

“It wasn’t easy getting Bernard Herrmann to compose the music for Taxi Driver. He was a marvelous, but crotchety old man. I remember the first time I called him to do the picture. He said it was impossible, he was very busy, and then asked what it was called. I told him and he said, ‘Oh, no, that’s not my kind of picture title. No, no, no.’

I said, ‘Well, maybe we can meet and talk about it.’ He said, ‘No, I can’t. What’s it about?’ So I described it and he said, ‘No, no, no. I can’t. Who’s in it?’ So I told him and he said, ‘No, no, no. Well, I guess we can have a quick talk.’

Working with him was so satisfying that when he died, the night he had finished the score, on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, I said there was no one who could come near him. You get to know what you like if you see enough films, and I thought his music would create the perfect atmosphere for Taxi Driver.”

-Martin Scorsese, Scorsese on Scorsese (1989)

Harvey Keitel in publicity still for Mean Streets (1973, dir. Martin Scorsese) (via)

Harvey Keitel in publicity still for Mean Streets (1973, dir. Martin Scorsese) (via)

Storyboards drawn up by an 11-year-old Martin Scorsese for The Eternal City, an imaginary widescreen Roman epic he dreamed of making. His “cast” included Marlon Brando, Virginia Mayo, Alec Guinness, and Richard Burton. (via)

Akira Kurosawa with Martin Scorsese, who is getting made up for his turn as Vincent Van Gogh in Kurosawa’s Dreams (via)

Akira Kurosawa with Martin Scorsese, who is getting made up for his turn as Vincent Van Gogh in Kurosawa’s Dreams (via)

Excerpts from Martin Scorsese’s storyboards for the climactic scene in Taxi Driver (1976) (via)