Music for Performance
ON BORROWED TIME
1939
Movements
A Suite in Three Parts for Orchestra 10:45
Arranged by Christopher Palmer
1. Prelude 1:43
2. Miss Nellie, Pud & Mr. Brink 4:39
3. Where the Woodbine Twineth 2:50
Program Notes
An old man (Lionel Barrymore) refuses to die and chases Death, Mr. Brink (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) up an apple tree. This is only the beginning of the plot of Edward Witkin’s novel on which Paul Osborne based his sentimental play On Borrowed Time which MGM filmed in 1939. Historians have noted that this film is a weird, wild and unpredictable fantasy with dream sequences more like present day Brunel. Joseph Ruttenberg’s photography is magnificent. Harold C. Bucquet directed and inspired cast that includes Uta Merkel and Beulah Bondi. It was a pivotal film for Franz Waxman, as David O; Selznick was so captivated by the mood Waxman had created that he hired him to compose the music for Rebecca, but tracked some of Mr. Brink’s music into that production.
Instr.
2(II=picc) 2(II=EH) 2(II=bcl).2
4 2 2 1
timp perc(3): sus cym, cyms, tambo, vib, glsp, xyl, SD, BD, tgl
harp
pft(cel)
str