10 - A Closing Argument

Summary

By way of closing these nine stories of how music operates within the horror films of Val Lewton, I want to remind the reader of elements of the introduction that resonate throughout the book and justify its approach. These few echoes set the stage for a discussion of the origins of the project and its methods.

Echoes

This book benefits enormously from Val Lewton Jr.'s revelation of his father’s tone deafness. “[My father] must have understood the importance of music to film but didn't have the facility to really appreciate the nuances of a film score.” By severing the auteur from a key parameter of an audiovisual medium, space opens for examining that parameter's independent voice.

One could easily conjecture that few studio-era producers really understood music's inner workings, so this observation about Val Lewton is not itself wholly explanatory. But how many producers do we know from first-hand testimony were actually tone deaf?

Next, I want to sound an echo not of Roy Webb's music but of his words by way of explaining why treating the music of these films as a gateway to understanding them makes sense. His interview with Film Music Notes, includes this key passage, “I was lucky to be working on the artistic melodramas of producer Val Lewton, and felt that they deserved a deeper and more thoughtful treatment than the usual picture of this category.” This echo from the introduction prompts an echo of K. J. Donnelly's claim that the films themselves prompted Roy Webb to a high degree of subtlety in his musical treatment. What Webb claimed about his work, Donnelly heard decades later. This book explores the contours of what Webb called “a deeper and more thoughtful treatment.”

My aim has been an effort to supply the contours not only of Webb’s “deeper treatment,” but also of the entire RKO Music Department’s. A different scholar looking at the same films, scores, scripts, memos, letters, and source material would surely tell a different story. My claim is not that I know what Webb meant, but that I can imagine what I believe to be one version of this story.

The Origin of this Project

This project finds its origin rooted in my love for these texts. The nine horror films discussed in this book offer a distinct, alternate vision of how a cinematic genre might operate.