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Pipe organs in the movies! (updated)

smilingvox

New member
In Chariots of Fire, the 1885 Hill in Eton College Chapel is seen about 20 to 30 minutes into the movie.

There was an assembly taking place in a town hall or church in France (most likely actually in England). An organ is seen there. The facade pipes had the English inverted mouths. Perhaps someone, who has seen this movie, can identify this organ and place?

At the end, after everybody returns from France, there is a service in what seems to be Christ Church Spitalfields, London, with Parry's Jerusalem being played on the 1735 Bridge. Only problem with this, is a 16' reed is heard and I don't believe this organ has a 16' reed. Sound track from another organ was used, as the Bridge has been silent since around 1960.


In Brassed Off, the band travels to the Royal Albert Hall, London, but once inside, we see the big c.1837 Hill at Birmingham Town Hall. Yep, Hollywood does exist in the great country of England.
 
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mathetes1963

New member
Hey everyone, my first post here. As I'm a devotee of both organ and film music, thought I'd contribute my 2 shekels worth:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith's magnificent score not only features a large studio orchestra w/pipe organ, but also synthesizers, "blaster beam" (Google that and see what you come up with), and a variety of exotic percussion instruments.

Someone previously mentioned Captain Nemo playing the JSB's Toccata in d/BWV 565 in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, here's some interesting trivia you may not know:
James Mason, who played Nemo, is not a musician, and thus had to "mime" for the camera. A professional organist saw the film, and wrote Disney studios saying, "That's the best fingering I've ever seen for the D-Minor Toccata." Strange but true! :crazy:
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Aloha Mathetes1963,

Welcome aboard! Please do make yourself feel very much at home on MIMF and do plan on staying for a spell as this forum is highly addictive. A secret: MIMF is like an IV-drip for me - gives me so much *joy juice*. :grin::grin::grin:

Cheerio,

Corno Dolce :tiphat::tiphat::tiphat:
 

jhnbrbr

New member
I remember a film called "Prayer for the Dying" with Bob Hoskins, in which an ex-IRA fugitive is in a church with his girlfriend, who explains his presence to the police by claiming he's the organ tuner. The sceptical police man demands to hear a tune and at first the boyfriend just seems to be pressing random keys, and it looks like the game is up, then completely unexpectedly he plays the Little Fugue in G minor. My own then-girlfriend was very fond of this film, as she was from Ireland, and had studied the Little Fugue in music appreciation lessons when she was at school. So then I had to learn to play it to keep her happy, and I've loved it ever since!
 
in the movie "In Bruges" There is a scene when the 2 protagonists are in a cathedral. In the background you can clearly hear J.S Bach's Passacaglia BWV 582. IT mush have been a real Pipe Organ from a recording or not.
 
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smilingvox

New member
The organ in the chapel at College of Mount St. Vincent is seen in Doubt (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman). This is one of Hilborne Roosevelt's first organs (1873), 2-16. The Clarabella is one stop primarily heard.
The college is in the Bronx.
 

comet

New member
I am an organist who is trying to put together a recital of organ music with pieces that have been used as part of movie soundtracks. Any idea how I can get the titles of the works used in some of the movies listed?
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
I am an organist who is trying to put together a recital of organ music with pieces that have been used as part of movie soundtracks. Any idea how I can get the titles of the works used in some of the movies listed?

You may have to buy the sheet music and then create your own transcription for organ. That's how the theater organists like Charlie Balogh and Lew Williams do those, anyway.

Some of the 'golden oldies' tunes may be in public domain, but will require some searching on the internet to find them. Sometimes there is a 'midi' of these which can be imported to a music notation software program and made into a score. The application I use, NWC2, does this easily.
 

Drinklicafix

New member
Looks like A Canterbury Tale (1944) wasn't mentioned in this thread.
I was looking through it today and found a portion in the last quarter of the movie where a soldier plays Bach's Toccata & Fuge BWV 565 and in the last scene at the church he plays something I don't recognise. Can someone please tell me what it is?
 
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smilingvox

New member
In Chariots of Fire, the 1885 Hill in Eton College Chapel is seen about 20 to 30 minutes into the movie.

There was an assembly taking place in a town hall or church in France (most likely actually in England). An organ is seen there. The facade pipes had the English inverted mouths. Perhaps someone, who has seen this movie, can identify this organ and place?

At the end, after everybody returns from France, there is a service in what seems to be Christ Church Spitalfields, London, with Parry's Jerusalem being played on the 1735 Bridge. Only problem with this, is a 16' reed is heard and I don't believe this organ has a 16' reed. Sound track from another organ was used, as the Bridge has been silent since around 1960.

Just went to the National Pipe Organ Register website and found history on the 1735 Bridge. I was surprised to find that there were two 16' reeds during that time. The period in which the story was set.

Gray & Davison enlarged the organ in 1852. Additions included a 16' Grand Trombone in the Pedal and a 16' Contra Fagotto in the Swell.
 
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dll927

New member
As for the exact type of organ involved, I question whether ANYONE can really tell from recordings just what is going on. Nowadays they can do a lot with recording equipment. Next thing we know, someone will try to tell us they know if it's St. Sulpice or Wanamaker.

Of course, if the organ is visible, that's another story. But short of that or some type of documentation, who knows?
 

wljmrbill

Member
As far as pipe organ goes.. or virtual reproduction of: every organ carries particuliar individual characteristics which can be noted in the sound of the instrument as it is played.... Takes a good ear but they are there... electronics also carry some of the same tonality characteristics.
 

smilingvox

New member
Like I said before, concerning Christ Church Spitalfields, because of its silence since 1960, a recording of another organ must have been used in Chariots of Fire, which was shot in 1981. A brief shot of just the organ shows it was the old 1735 Bridge.
 

smilingvox

New member
After a 3-month slumber for this thread, I found another flick with an organ.

The Haunting.

Most of this movie was shot at Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire (England). Its Great Hall is this rotunda with a massive staircase, opposite of which is a pair of huge doors. On either side of the doors are guilded 16' facades, Aeolian-esque. Feet are painted. Smaller pipes appear high over the doors.

I tried googling this, but got no results. Lots on the Manor, itself, though. Nothing found in the BIOS site, either. Organ was not heard in the movie. Any of our friends across the pond have any info on this organ?
 

smilingvox

New member
Couldn't find that one right away, due to lack of time.
Another movie where I found what looked like an 18th-century instrument was Love Actually. It was a wedding, I believe, in like the first 10 minutes of the flick. It was filmed in a church in London.
 
Tom Cruise and the Mighty Wurlitzer of Gideon...

Pipe Organs in the Movies for $ 1000, Alex...

Minority Report, circa 2002...

Tom Cruise portrays Chief John Anderton, lead officer of a "pre-crime"
unit. The individuals he arrests prior to the commission of their crimes
are put in a suspended state physically and mentally for their incarceration.
Tim Blake Nelson ( "Delmar" in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") portrays a
wheelchair confined "jailkeeper" named "Gideon" who watches over his "flock", as he calls them. In several scenes he plays a Wurlitzer theater organ that lacks its pedal clavier...

When Cruise's character Anderton is captured, he is incarcerated, under Gideon's watchful care. Prior to this Anderton evades identification by retinal scan thanks to transplantation of another person's eyes. When Anderton's former wife uses his removed eyes to gain access to the containment ward he is being held in, she puts a gun to Gideon's head and states "I'd like a word with my husband." When Gideon says " You're not authorized. How did you get in here?", she places a plastic bag with
Anderton's removed, somewhat bloody eyes on one of the Wurlitzer's
manuals...

Interestingly enough, Mr. Nelson is an Oklahoma native... born and raised in Tulsa. I'm just a transplant... mwahahahaha!!!

Just my dos centavos, mi compadres!! Have fun.

Mark "D.C."
 
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