Kick-ass Musical Scores for Epic Movies 1958-1962 Five great years for the epic

• "The Big Country" (1958) Jerome Moross
• "Ben Hur" (1959) Miklos Rozsa
• "Exodus" (1960) Ernest Gold
• "El Cid" (1961) Miklos Rozsa
• "Spartacus" (1962) Alex North
• "How The West Was Won" (1962) Alfred Newman
• "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) Maurice Jarre

Miscellaneous prattle:

They don't make true epics anymore. CGI just doesn't cut it.

1961 was a bumper year for the epic - as well as "El Cid", we had "King of Kings", "Barabbas", "The Tartars". After "Cleopatra" (1963), the bottom fell out of the movie epic-market. Twentieth Century Fox was nearly bankrupted. Sword and sandal/biblical epics became uncool in the swinging 60's.
Special mention goes to mega-producer Samuel (nephew of Trotsky?!) Bronston (his last epic was 1964's "The Fall of the Roman Empire"). Hollywood gave the biblical epic one last go in 1965 with "The Greatest Story Ever Told". Dino de Laurentiis tried in 1966 with "The Bible...in the Beginning".

"The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) From the Video Vault

Billy Wilder's flawed masterpiece (United Artists insisted it was cut from 3+ hours down to 125 minutes) is rarely seen. It has impeccable credentials. Co-written by longtime Wilder collaborator, I.A.L. Diamond), sumptuous sets (check out the London club and the street scenes), beautiful Scottish scenery; classy Maurice Binder titles; sublime, melancholy Miklos Rozsa score; perfect English cast (Irene Handl as Mrs Hudson is priceless), Christopher Lee (who at the same time was king of Hammer Horror) as older, smarter bro Mycroft.
Critics were lukewarm when it was released in 1970, making a lot of fuss about the homosexual element (Russian ballet, first story). Now, nearly 45 years later, this film (even though only 2 or the 4 tales remain) compares favourably to recent Holmes remakes: Guy Richie's overkill and BBC's "Sherlock". The 7% solution (cocaine) reference pre-dates the 1976 film of the same name.
The witty, ingenious script has Holmes regretting his biographer's efforts in "The Strand Magazine", grumbling about having to keep up with his image, coming off second best with superspy Mycroft (compare with BBC's "Sherlock"), encountering Queen Victoria, dead dwarfs, gravedigger Stanley Holloway and going all steam punk in Loch Ness.
What about the missing sections? A flashback to Sherlock's university days, 2 more mysteries (one concerning a corpse in an upside-down room, which remains in the Laser Disc edition) and a present day scene. Tantalising, but tragically lost.

From a deleted scene, Sherlock in a fez...delicious fun
Copyright Filmclub.org

"Time After Time" (1979 film) When H.G. Wells Meets Jack the Ripper

Don't you love 'time travel' movies?
What about the meeting of two famous or fictional characters? Take Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven Per Cent Solution" (1976) when Sherlock Holmes meets Sigmund Freud? How about a film that combines the two ideas?

Three years later Nicholas Meyer (mainly known for directing 3 early "Star Trek" films) made "Time After Time". Sci fi author H.G.Wells follows Jack the Ripper to present day San Francisco. This movie is delicious fun.
The time machine looks quite different to George Pal's 1960 version of "The Time Machine". Looks more like a helicopter cabin. The special effects reflect the meagre budget. Apparently director Meyer insisted on veteran Miklos Rozsa to compose the musical score. it's very overwrought and 40's syrupy but beautiful to listen to. The disco scenes in San Francisco, with lots of vile suits and polyester shorts are quite jarring, but I'm quibbling.
Meyer originally wanted Derek Jacobi as H. G. and Mick Jagger as Jack. Wow. A shame.
They settled on Malcolm McDowell as Wells and David Warner for the ripper, who was later typecast as baddies in fantasy films - "Tron" (1982), "The Golden Child" (1986).
Mary Steenburgen is great at H.G.'s love interest. She is sort of channelling Cyndi Lauper - Queens accent - but still cute as a button. McDowell and Steenburgen met on set and were married from 1980-1990.
The final explanation of H.G.'s real fate and personal life is quite touching (no spoilers from me here).
Update: Nicholas Meyer wrote the biopic two parter "Houdini" for The History Channel in 2014. Adrien Brody came out of this cheesy opus unscathed.