by Ian Lace
•
13 Apr, 2022
Bette Davis knew the value of film music. She keenly appreciated its power to flatter her and support her portrayals, focusing and intensifying the emotions of her characters and, often, revealing contradictions in their personalities. Davis took a keen interest in the composition of the music for her films. At Warner Bros, where she was under contract from 1932 to 1949, her films were scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman and Max Steiner. They would all become very familiar with her screen characterisations. [Her favourite was Max Steiner, who contributed music for most of them - 20 in all.] But of Waxman's score for Mr Skeffington, Bette Davis told the composer's son, "Yes, now that was music!"