A Worthy Successor To King Kong
5
By Wilhelm Scream!
Steiner was still under contract in 1935 when Cooper made his other pet project at RKO, a movie called She. With the score to Kong, Steiner invented the modern musical score for film. Steiner's score for She is the spiritual successor to Kong and expands on the innovations he made with both The Most Dangerous Game and Kong.
The score has grandeur and dissonance and Stromberg and the Moscow Symphony play it with blood and thunder. It is a miracle this score even exists today. The film negative was destroyed in the infamous RKO fire and the film was lost until a print turned up in Buster Keaton's garage. John Mogan took time to reconstruct the score from what remained of Steiner's notes and a close reading from the film.
If you enjoy the score for King Kong, chances are you will like this.
Highly recommended.