Having bought tickets to a film noir, I wonder if audiences in 1949 laughed out loud when they first heard Anton Karas’ jaunty zither score. Sure, the Old World stringed instrument was geographically on point for a film set in post-World War II Vienna. (Director Carol Reed discovered Karas strumming away in a bar during the on-location shoot.) Still, it was a far cry from the moody, broody sound you’d expect to score a suspense about an American writer (Joseph Cotten) investigating the mysterious death of his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). But if audiences laughed, they also clapped, and bought the bejesus out of the soundtrack. The perfect music for, yes, a perfect movie. – Kimberley Jones
Sept. 13-19
