Clifton Parker

Edward John Clifton Parker (born February 5, 1905 in London - Forest Hill , † September 2, 1989 in Marlow , Buckinghamshire ) was a British composer and film composer .

Life

The son of a bank clerk began his professional life in the commercial sector. As a teenager he took private lessons in music and in 1926 received a diploma in piano from London's Royal Academy of Music . Parker's first musical professional activity was that of a copyist of pieces of music by well-known composers. In 1936 Parker got his first important position as arranger with the Folkestone Municipal Orchestra , and later he worked as a pianist at Dartington Hall School . The BBC soon became aware of Parker and played his pieces.

Clifton Parker first came into contact with film through Muir Mathieson in the early stages of World War II . Since 1941 he began to add music to numerous feature films and short documentaries, initially often without naming them. For the first decade and a half after the war, Parker was one of the most sought-after composers in the British film industry. Parker scores provided virtually all genres of cinema, especially action and adventure material, and less often comedies. In 1963, Clifton Parker ended his film activity in protest of the royalties demanded by the music publishers and felt by him (and his colleague William Alwyn ) to be far too high.

Parker also worked for the theater, for which he wrote several pieces of music, as well as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts . He also composed his own opera with Aucassin and Nicolette .

Filmography (selection)

• 1942: It Started at Midnight (documentary)
• 1942: In Which We Serve
• 1943: Yellow Canary
• 1943: Schweik's New Adventures
• 1944: Wonderful Times (This Happy Breed)
• 1944: Western Approaches (documentary)
• 1944: Johnny Frenchman
• 1945: Perfect Strangers
• 1946: Children on Trial (documentary)
• 1946: Pirate Love (The Man Within)
• 1946: The Silver Darlings
• 1947: Restless Blood (Blanche Fury)
• 1947: Fight for Jimmy (When the Bough Breaks)
• 1947: The World Is Rich (documentary)
• 1948: Daughter of Darkness (Daughter of Darkness)
• 1948: The Man Without a Conscience (My Brother's Keeper)
• 1948: The Blue Lagoon (The Blue Lagoon)
• 1949: Poet's Pub
• 1949: Men, Girls, Diamonds (Diamond City)
• 1950: Treasure Island (Treasure Iceland)
• 1950: The Wooden Horse
• 1952: Robin Hood and his daring companions (The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men)
• 1952: A Food for the Fish (The Gift Horse)
• 1953: A princess falls in love (The Sword and the Rose)
• 1953: Hell Below Zero
• 1955: A woman comes on board (Passage Home)
• 1955: Angel of Everyday Life (The Feminine Touch)
• 1956: On the Edge of the Underworld (The Secret Place)
• 1957: Tarzan and the Lost Safari
• 1957: Dangerous Legacy (Campbell's Kingdom)
• 1957: The Birthday Present
• 1957: Night of the Demon (Night of the Demon)
• 1958: The Paw of the Tiger (Harry Black and the Tiger)
• 1958: The Black Devils of El Alamein (Sea of ​​Sand)
• 1958: Virgin Island
• 1959: The 39 Steps (The 39 Steps)
• 1959: The House of the Seven Hawks
• 1959: The last voyage of the Bismarck (Sink the Bismarck!)
• 1960: Snowball
• 1960: Circle of Deception
• 1960: A dead man plays the piano (Taste of Fear)
• 1960: The Treasure of Monte Cristo
• 1961: Rebellion (HMS Defiant)
• 1962: U-153 does not respond (Decoy)
• 1963: Police spies X 2 (The Informers)
• 1966: The Great Highway (short documentary)

literature

• Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 141.

Web links

• Clifton Parker in the Internet Movie Database (English)