Variations on a Theme

After accepting an excellent offer from MGM in 1933, Selznick fostered a relationship with MGM composer Herbert Stothart. As with Steiner at RKO, Selznick’s penchant for longer scores helped jump-start the composer’s career. In contrast to Steiner’s drive for wholly “original” scores at RKO, however, Stothart preferred interweaving classical selections—a method born of the silent era that Selznick found attractive, even preferable. This chapter focuses on Stothart’s creative arranging of works by Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and others in a series of literary adaptations, including Night Flight (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), and A Tale of Two Cities (1935). Through these films, Selznick and Stothart fashioned a music model for the prestige film that Selznick carried forward in his independent productions.