Editing Max Steiner (section)

=== Composing for Warner Bros. (1937–1953) ===
In April 1937, Steiner left RKO and signed a long-term contract with [[Warner Bros.]]; he would, however, continue to work for Selznick. The first film he scored for Warner Bros. was [[The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)|''The Charge of the Light Brigade'']] (1936). Steiner became a mainstay at Warner Bros., scoring 140 of their films over the next 30 years alongside Hollywood stars such as [[Bette Davis]], [[Errol Flynn]], [[Humphrey Bogart]], and [[James Cagney]].<ref name="thomas" />{{rp|56}} Steiner frequently worked with composer Hugo Friedhofer who was hired as an orchestrator for Warner Bros; Friedholfer would orchestrate more than 50 of Steiner's pieces during his career.<ref name="soundtrack" />{{rp|72}}<ref name="american" />{{rp|198}} In 1938, Steiner wrote and arranged the first "composed for film" piece, ''Symphony Moderne'' which a character plays on the piano and later plays as a theme in ''[[Four Daughters (1938 film)|Four Daughters]]'' (1938) and is performed by a full orchestra in ''[[Four Wives]]'' (1939).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Atkins |first1=Irene Kahn |title=Source Music in Motion Pictures |date=1983 |publisher=Associated University Presses |location=East Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=0838630766 |page=91}}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Steiner GWTW cover.jpg|thumb|Album cover for the film score soundtrack]] -->
In 1939, Steiner was borrowed from Warner Bros. by Selznick to compose the score for ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939), which became one of Steiner's most notable successes. Steiner was the only composer Selznick considered for scoring the film.<ref name="Thomas" /> Steiner was given only three months to complete the score, despite composing twelve more film scores in 1939, more than he would in any other year of his career. Because Selznick was concerned Steiner wouldn't have enough time to finish the score, he had [[Franz Waxman]] write an additional score in the case the Steiner didn't finish. To meet the deadline, Steiner sometimes worked for 20-hours straight, assisted by doctor-administered [[Amphetamine|Benzedrine]] to stay awake.<ref name=Thomas/> When the film was released, it was the longest film score ever composed, nearly three hours. The composition consisted of 16 main themes and nearly 300 musical segments.<ref name=Thomas/><ref name="soundtrack" />{{rp|34}} Due to the score's length, Steiner had help from four orchestrators and arrangers, including [[Heinz Roemheld]], to work on the score.<ref name="royal">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Royal S. |title=Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music |date=1994 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0585261660 |url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=093239bf-5309-4e98-860d-33c35677711d%40sessionmgr4010&vid=0&format=EB}}</ref>{{rp|58}} Selznick had asked Steiner to use only pre-existing [[classical music]] to help cut down on cost and time,<ref>Bartel, Pauline. ''The Complete "Gone with the Wind" Trivia Book'', Rowman & Littlefield (1989) p. 92</ref>  but Steiner tried to convince him that filling the picture with swatches of classic concert music or popular works would not be as effective as an original score, which could be used to heighten the emotional content of scenes.<ref>Gottlie, Jack. ''Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish'', S.U.N.Y. Press (2004) p. 47</ref> Steiner ignored Selznick's wishes and composed an entirely new score. Selznick's opinion about using original scoring may have changed due to the overwhelming reaction to the film, nearly all of which contained Steiner's music. A year later, he even wrote a letter emphasizing the value of original film scores.<ref name=Selznick>Selznick, David O., Behlmer, Rudy, ed. ''Memo from David O. Selznick'', Viking Press (1972)</ref>{{rp|227}} The most well known of Steiner's themes for the score is the "[[Tara (plantation)|Tara]]" theme for the O'Hara family plantation. Steiner explains Scarlett's deep-founded love for her home is why "the 'Tara' theme begins and ends with the picture and permeates the entire score".<ref name="gwtw">{{cite book |last1=Ussher |first1=Bruno David |editor1-last=Harwell |editor1-first=Richard |title=Gone With the Wind as Book and Film |date=1983 |publisher=University of South Carolina |location=Columbia, South Carolina |isbn=0872494209 |page=[https://archive.org/details/gonewithwindasbo0000unse/page/165 165] |chapter=Max Steiner Establishes Another Film Music Record |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/gonewithwindasbo0000unse/page/165 }}</ref> The film went on to win ten Academy Awards, although not for Best Original Score, which instead went to [[Herbert Stothart]] for ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''.<ref name="Oscars1940">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1940 |title=The 12th Academy Awards (1940) Nominees and Winners |access-date=August 10, 2011 |publisher=Oscars.org ([[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706093722/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/12th-winners.html |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> The score of ''Gone with the Wind'' is ranked #2 by [[AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores|AFI]] as the second greatest American film score of all time.<ref>{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores25.pdf |website=afi.com |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=March 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803184308/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores25.pdf |archive-date=August 3, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''[[Now, Voyager]]'' would be the film score for which Steiner would win his second Academy Award. Kate Daubney attributes the success of this score to Steiner's ability to "[balance] the scheme of thematic meaning with the sound of the music."<ref name="voyager" />{{rp|46}} Steiner used motifs and thematic elements in the music to emphasize the emotional development of the narrative.<ref name="gender">{{cite book |last1=Laing |first1=Heather |title=The Gendered Score: Music in 1940s Melodrama and the Woman's Film |date=2007 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Burlington, VT |isbn=9780754651000}}</ref>{{rp|38}} After finishing ''Now, Voyager'' (1942), Steiner was hired to score the music for ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1942). Steiner would typically wait until the film was edited before scoring it, and after watching ''Casablanca'', he decided the song "[[As Time Goes By (song)|As Time Goes By]]" by [[Herman Hupfeld]] wasn't an appropriate addition to the movie and he wanted to replace it with a song of his own composition; however, [[Ingrid Bergman]] had just cut her hair short in preparation for filming ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls (film)|For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'' (1943), so she couldn't re-film the section with Steiner's song. Stuck with "As Time Goes By", Steiner embraced the song and made it the center theme of his score.<ref name="round">{{cite book |last1=Harmetz |first1=Aljean |title=Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of "Casablanca" |date=1992 |publisher=Hyperion |location=New York |isbn=1562829416 |url=https://archive.org/details/roundupusualsusp00harm }}</ref>{{rp|254–255}} Steiner's score for ''Casablanca'' was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, losing to ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]'' (1943).<ref name="round" />{{rp|319}} Steiner received his third and final Oscar in 1944 for ''[[Since You Went Away]]'' (1944). Steiner actually first composed the theme from ''Since You Went Away'' while helping counterbalance Franz Waxman's moody score for ''[[Rebecca (1940 film)|Rebecca]]''. Producer David O. Selznick liked the theme so much, he asked Steiner to include it in ''Since You Went Away''.<ref name="royal" />{{rp|119}}<ref name="movies" />{{rp|78}} In 1947, Max married Leonette Blair.<ref name=Leaney/>

Steiner also found success with the [[film noir]] genre. ''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'', [[Mildred Pierce (film)|''Mildred Pierce'']], and ''[[The Letter (1940 film)|The Letter]]'' were his best film noir scores of the 1940s.<ref name="Palmer" />{{rp|32}} ''The Letter'' is set in [[Singapore]], the tale of murder begins with the loud main musical theme during the credits, which sets the tense and violent mood of the film. The main theme characterizes Leslie, the main character, by her tragic passion.<ref name="Palmer" />{{rp|32–33}} The main theme is heard in the confrontation between Leslie and the murdered man's wife in the Chinese shop. Steiner portrays this scene through the jangling of wind chimes which crescendos as the wife emerges through [[opium]] smoke. The jangling continues until the wife asks Leslie to take off her shawl, after which the theme blasts indicating the breaking point of emotions of these women.<ref name="Palmer" />{{rp|33}} Steiner's score for ''The Letter'' was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Original Score, losing to [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 13th Academy Awards-1941 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1941 |website=Oscars.org |date=October 5, 2014 |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |access-date=June 19, 2018}}</ref> In the score for ''The Big Sleep'', Steiner uses musical thematic characterization for the characters in the film. The theme for [[Philip Marlowe]] (Humphrey Bogart) is beguiling and ironic, with a playful grace note at the end of the motif, portrayed mixed between major and minor. At the end of the film, his theme is played fully in major chords and finishes by abruptly ending the chord as the film terminates (this was an unusual film music practice in Hollywood at the time).<ref name="Palmer" />{{rp|33,48}} According to [[Christopher Palmer]], the love theme for Bogart's Philip and [[Lauren Bacall]]'s Vivian is one of Steiner's strongest themes. Steiner uses the contrast of high strings and low strings and [[brass instrument|brass]] to emphasize Philip's feelings for Vivian opposed with the brutality of the criminal world.<ref name="Palmer" />{{rp|35}}In 1947, Steiner scored a film noir [[Western (genre)|Western]], ''[[Pursued]]''.

Steiner had more success with the Western genre of film, writing the scores for over twenty large-scale Westerns, most with epic-inspiring scores "about empire building and progress",<ref name="Thomas" /> like ''[[Dodge City (film)|Dodge City]]'' (1939), ''[[The Oklahoma Kid]]'' (1939), and ''[[Virginia City (film)|Virginia City]]'' (1940). ''Dodge City'', starring Errol Flynn and [[Olivia de Havilland]], is a good example of Steiner's handling of typical scenes of the Western genre.<ref name="Thomas" /> Steiner used a "lifting, loping melody" which reflected the movement and sounds of wagons, horses, and cattle.<ref name="Thomas" /> Steiner showed a love for combining Westerns and romance, as he did in ''[[They Died with Their Boots On]]'' (1941), also starring Flynn and de Havilland.<ref name="Thomas" /> ''[[The Searchers (film)|The Searchers]]'' (1956) is, today, considered his greatest Western.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.9675/.f?sc=13&category=21780|title=SEARCHERS, THE|website=store.intrada.com|access-date=August 24, 2018}}</ref>