Justin Freer discusses his favorite Bernard Herrmann score of all-time to the 1951 B&W science fiction film The Day The Earth Stood Still, directed by the great Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Andromeda Strain, Star Trek: The Motion Picture). This film has been preserved in the United States National Film Registry and is considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Bernard Herrmann is an Academy Award winner and particularly known for his collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He also composed scores for many other films, including Citizen Kane, Anna and the King of Siam, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, Fahrenheit 451, and Taxi Driver.

Where to watch: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-day-the-earth-stood-still/