Star Archive


Mischa Spoliansky (1898 - 1985)

What I know of the career of Mischa Spoliansky could be written on a matchbox. So, get yourself a matchbox and a thin-nibbed pen and copy down the following:

He was born in Bialystok, Russia, the son of an opera singer. The family moved to Germany in 1905 and Spoliansky studied music. He got involved in the booming theatrical life of Berlin writing as a sort of cheerier version of Kurt Weill. He worked with Max Reinhardt and Marlene Dietrich among other notables. His musical Zwei Krawatten was filmed.

He got out of Germany in 1933 and settled in England where he kept busy providing the music for some forty-odd films over forty-odd years.

And that's the sum total of my knowledge. So why is he included here? Because in the years since I started this site, whenever I've sat through a film and thought "Oo, I like that music, it really suits", it's usually been by him.

Why isn't he better known? Probably because most of his work was done in comedy. The better-known composers in British cinema are usually highbrow chappies like William Walton or Benjamin Britten, slumming it for a quick buck on some prestigious project or other. Mischa Spoliansky never gave the impression of someone slumming it. His music served the films they graced, and that's the finest thing you can say about a film composer.

Filmography 

1931 Wie Werde ich riech und glucklich? (Ger.)
1930 Zwei Krawatten (Ger.)
1931 Nie wieder Liebe (Ger.)
1931 Calais-Douvres (Ger.)
1932 The Lucky Number
1932 Das lied einer Nacht (Ger.)
1932 Einmal mocht ich keine Sorger Haben (Ger.)
1932 La Chanson d'une nuit (Fr.)
1933 Muss man sich gleich scheiden lasseng (Ger.)
1934 The Private Life of Don Juan
1934 My Song for You
1934 Love at Second Sight
1934 Evensong
1935 Sanders of the River
1935 The Ghost Goes West
1935 Car of Dreams
1936 The Man Who Could Work Miracles
1936 Forget-Me-Not
1937 King Solomon's Mines
1937 Paradise for Two
1937 Over the Moon
1941 Jeannie
1942 Secret Mission
1944 Mr Emmanuel
1944 Don't Take it to Heart
1946 Wanted for Murder
1946 The Man from Morocco
1947 Temptation Harbour
1947 Meet Me at Dawn
1948 It Always Rains on Sunday
1948 Under the Frozen Falls
1948 This Was a Woman
1948 Idol of Paris
1949 That Dangerous Age
1949 Adam and Evelyne
1949 Golden Arrow
1950 The Happiest Days of Your Life
1950 Stage Fright
1950 Midnight Episode
1950 Into the Blue
1951 Happy go Lovely
1952 Treasure Hunt
1953 Turn the Key Softly
1953 Trouble in Store
1953 Melba
1954 Viktoria und ihr Husar (Ger.)
1954 Duel in the Jungle
1957 Saint Joan
1958 The Whole Truth
1959 North West Frontier
1965 The Battle of the Villa Fiorita
1969 The Best House in London
1973 Hitler: the Last Ten Days
 

 Mischa Spoliansky at Amazon UK

 Mischa Spoliansky at Amazon US