Bernard Herrmann's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Book excerpt: "In this guide, Cooper considers Herrmann's musical technique and theorizes some of the ways in which music can be meaningful in film. He also explores nonmusical contexts of the film, including the screenplay's relationship to the popular novel from which it was adapted, as well as the contribution of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the performances of Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, and the editing of Dorothy Spencer. Cooper also provides a quantitative, evidence-based study of the score. A rundown of all the cues in Herrmann's manuscript is followed by an examination of the score as a musical artifact. In his evaluation of the overall approach to the soundtrack, the author considers the musical detail of the score's structure, its themes, and their orchestration.