Sound of Cinema

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Sound of Cinema Podcast

Sound of Cinema: The Comic Strip

The Comic Strip

BBC Radio 3 - Sound of Cinema, The Comic Strip

Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by comic strips.

With the 40th anniversary re-release of Flash Gordon imminent, Matthew Sweet is joined by guitarist Brian May of Queen for a programme celebrating film and the comic strip.

With the 40th anniversary re-release of Mike Hodges’s Flash Gordon into cinemas at the end of the month, Matthew Sweet is joined by guitarist Brian May for a look back on the film's groundbreaking score composed by Howard Blake and Queen. Matthew also takes a timely look back across the decades at music for films that have taken their inspiration from comic strips and comic books. Featured films include 'Modesty Blaise', 'Dennis the Menace', 'Popeye', 'Addams Family Values', 'The Peanuts Movie', and 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'; 'The Belles of St Trinians', 'Barbarella', 'The Perils of Gwendoline' and 'Tamara Drewe'; 'The Adventures of Tintin', 'Dick Tracy' and of course 'Flash Gordon'. The Classic Score of the week is Franz Waxman's music for the 1954 Arthurian inspired adventure epic, 'Prince Valiant'. 

And the programme also includes music from the newly released video-on-demand feature, 'The Old Guard' - based on a 2017 comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez and featuring a new score by Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Music: Easy Listening, Soundtracks & Musicals

Matthew Sweet's weekly look at music for the screen

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