Though the film is overlong in the fashion of over-long 1960s epics*, director Carol Reed does well with two main aspects of the tale conveying Michelangelo’s convoluted (to put it mildly) human relationships with everyone else (particularly with his semi-girlfriend/pseudo-sister-advisor Contessina de' Medici, played by Diane Cilento), and showing just how hard it is to get a client to pay you when you're a freelance artist (an ongoing sub-story is the effort by Michelangelo to get the Pope to pay up on money owed, which is hard to do when the Pope has the power to forbid any discussion of money). This act has put Michelangelo on the bad side of the lethal and tricky Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison), who is now dedicated to making Michelangelo finish the commission, saying to everyone "or he will hang!" Everyone else was quite happy with the work, but not Michelangelo, so he scrapes the face off the giant painted figure in the middle of the night and runs for his life. Shortly afterward, with only one figure partially done, he is miserable, knowing he has botched it and is working from a mediocre idea that isn't even his own (the subject was given to him by the Pope). Michelangelo gets to work, standing on a platform 60 feet in the air, working with a team he has hired, painting in the first of the twelve apostles. Freelance Michelangeloįorced into a commission from the Pope, Michelangelo has to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, protesting "I'm a sculptor, not a painter!" But that doesn't dissuade this Pontiff who can't be told "no." The Pope tells a very reluctant Michelangelo to paint some figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling accompanied with "appropriate designs." Or else. Given the friendship and mutual respect the two composers shared, it seems particularly fitting and poignant finally to unite such thrilling examples of some of each man's finest work.20th Century Fox & Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Italy Finally, and for the first time, it is here reunited with the score it was written to precede.Īlex North and Jerry Goldsmith were lifelong friends. As stunning a work as it is, the piece was not included on the original soundtrack album of Alex North's score. The Prologue, twelve and a half minutes in length, was composed in five movements (Rome, Florence, The Crucifix, The Stone Giants, The Agony of Creation), played without a break. Despite the grandeur of the locations and works of art shown, Goldsmith's composition is actually one of the most fragile and delicate he ever wrote. Though scored for full symphony orchestra, the orchestra actually speaks only occasionally. In fact, it remained one of the composer's personal favorites through to the very end of his career. In his score for this moving study of genius, Jerry Goldsmith produced an absolutely stirring work. Titled The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint, the twelve and a half minute documentary was beautifully photographed, narrated by voice actor Marvin Miller and scored by the not-yet-legendary Jerry Goldsmith. To do this, after production of The Agony and the Ecstasy had already had been completed, the studio decided to produce a documentary prologue to be shown before the film. Further, the notion that the artist of what is now one of the most famous of all paintings was, in fact, an artist who never considered himself a painter at all, needed to be emphasized. Of considerable concern to the filmmakers and studio was that audiences might need an introduction to, or at the very least a refresher course in, the work and significance of Michelangelo. It is a designation that not only lasts until today but North's scores seem on an even higher and more unattainable plane when viewed from a distance of 50 years. Joining with Spartacus and Cleopatra, The Agony and the Ecstasy concluded the composer's trio of epics in grand style, ensuring that North would be considered one of the masters of the genre forever. The Agony and the Ecstasy sent Alex North into an altogether different world and he produced a stirringly emotional and thrilling score that ranks with the all-time greats.
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