Several of Frank Skinner's 1950's melodramas featured scores based on classical themes. The first of these was MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION. There is a progressive motif in the section linked below that is very similar to one of Newman's phrases in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. Was this a classical quote by both or simply another case of musical coincidence?
Where in the 2:45 clip do you hear the similarity? I don't hear it, but....I recall a letter to FILMS IN REVIEW citing Newman's borrowing of Respighi for DIARY, but I could not find that either.
It does seem to me that in some of Skinner's late scores he can approach the "sublime sweetness" that Newman embodied.
Ray, I know what you mean. The "similarity" starts right at the top of the the MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION clip, but really is not quite what Newman did in ANNE FRANK, in my opinion. To illustrate your point further, you might want to post a piece from the ANNE FRANK score. I knows that the theme you are thinking of appears at several points in the score.
I don't think either are borrowed, both are just a few notes going up the scale. Never heard any repighi in Diary. Two themes of Diary were written as a test for the Selznick Farewell to Arms They can be heard in the Fox promo of upcoming films used on the doc Fox the first fifty years.
