Film Music Review

TOP 10 FILM SCORES (1930s - 1970s)  

Selected by Roger Hall, Editor, Film Music Review

This is one of the Century Classics  series.  

These are my personal choices for the Top 10 film scores of the 20th Century, from English language films.

The choices are what I'd consider the most essential scores, based on their originality and effectiveness in the film.  

* = Academy Award (or Oscar) winner

TOP 10 FILM SCORES:

 1.   CITIZEN KANE (1941) - Bernard Herrmann.  The best score from the best American film of the century.  A score that has as many levels of superb music as the film has superb acting , writing and cinematography.

 2.  *BEN-HUR (1959) - Miklos Rozsa

 3.   VERTIGO (1958) - Bernard Herrmann

 4.  *THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946) - Hugo Friedhofer

 5.    KING KONG (1933) - Max Steiner

 6.  *THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) - Erich Wolfgang Korngold

 7.    LAURA (1944) - David Raksin

 8.  *A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) - Franz Waxman

 9.    TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) - Elmer Bernstein

10.   CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) - John Williams

For the list of Top 100 Scores of the 20th Century, order this book:

A Guide to Film Music - Songs and Scores (PineTree Press,  2nd edition, 2002)

For a list of recommended recordings, go to:  

My Top 10 Favorite Scores

See also this web poll:

All-Time Favorite Film Scores

Bookshelf Search

Please help support FILM MUSIC REVIEW...

Use this search to find your Books, CDs, and DVDs at Amazon.com:

   Send your film score favorites to:

FMR

Return to:  Film Music Review