Max Steiner's rhapsodic 1949 musical score for "The Fountainhead." Based on Ayn Rand's novel, the film starred Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal and was directed by King Vidor. CD includes lavish 32 page deluxe color booklet with a detailed musical commentary and history of the film.
1. Main Title/Montage: Roark’s Early Life 2:53
2. Cameron’s Heart Attack/The Ambulance 2:31
3. Awaiting the Board’s Decision :25
4. Ellsworth Toohey :33
5. Wynand and Toohey/Down the Airshaft 1:30
6. Dominique’s Fear of the World :41
7. "A Woman Incapable of Feeling"/The Sound of Blasting 1:51
8. The Quarry 1:26
9. Dominique Fantasizes About Roark :36
10. Dominique Smashes the Marble 1:06
11. The Wrong Man :22
12. Dominique’s Wild Ride/The Rape/Enright’s Letter/Roark is Gone 4:04
13. What is Toohey After?/Montage: Toohey’s Crusade/Construction of the
Enright House 1:53
14. Piano for Secondhanders 2:06
15. Dominique’s Theme for Piano/In Roark’s Apartment 6:24
16. Dominique Agrees to Marry Wynand :39
17. Blackballed/Montage: Roark Defeated/"But I Don’t Think of You"/Montage: Roark Ascendant/Roark Interviewed 4:27
18. Summoned by Wynand :28
19. Dominique Assails Wynand 1:48
20. Wynand Tempts Roark/Dominique and Roark Reunited 3:44
21. Roark Agrees to Design Cortlandt :42
22. Dominique’s Jealousy :34
23. Keating is Overruled :26
24. Cortlandt Homes/Roark Plots with Dominique 3:15
25. Roark Dynamites Cortlandt/Toohey’s Rally/Wynand’s Soliloquy 2:49
26. Wynand Crusades for Roark/Hospital Visit/Keating’s Confession (deleted) 4:11
27. Wynand Surrenders :55
28. The Jury Deliberates/The Call from Wynand 2:26
29. Finale: The Wynand Building 2:30
The hero of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" is Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), a fiercely independent architect obviously patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright. Rather than compromise his ideals, Roark takes menial work as a quarryman to finance his projects. He falls in love with heiress Dominique (Patricia Neal), but ends the relationship when he has the opportunity to construct buildings according to his own wishes. Dominique marries a newspaper tycoon (Raymond Massey) who at first conducts a vitriolic campaign against the "radical" Roark, but eventually becomes his strongest supporter. Upon being given a public-housing contract on the proviso that his plans not be changed in any way, Roark is aghast to learn that his designs will be radically altered. Roark sneaks into the unfinished structure at night, makes certain no one else is around, and dynamites the project into oblivion. At his trial, Roark acts as his own defense, delivering an eloquent paean to individuality. He is acquitted, while the newspaper tycoon, upset that he could offer Roark no help during the trial, kills himself. This clears the way for a final clinch between Roark and Dominique on the skeleton of his latest building project. Ayn Rand's celebration of Objectivism didn't translate very well to film, with Gary Cooper coming off more selfish and petulant than anything else. "The Fountainhead's" saving graces are the solid direction by King Vidor, the rhapsodic musical score by Max Steiner, and the symbolism inherent in Cooper's manipulation of his power drill when he first lays eyes on Patricia Neal! 1949