A SAMPLING OF SCORES: Errol Flynn played the lead role in “The Adventures of Robin Hood” to an iconic score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The film is part of a new program focused on music at the Princeton Garden Theatre.

By Anne Levin

It’s hard to imagine the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho without its score by Bernard Hermann. The same might be said of the 1933 version of King Kong minus its music by Max Steiner; or Lawrence of Arabia without its sweeping accompaniment by Maurice Jarre.

Music in the movies is the theme of “Keeping the Score,” a year-long series of screenings at the Princeton Garden Theatre presenting films with iconic music that is “a primary cinematic element which must be seen and heard in a theater,” reads a press release on the series.

The screenings begin March 13 with King Kong. Programming is scheduled through May 18; the remainder of the year is still being planned.

“Music elevates film so much,” said the Garden’s Director of Outreach Kyle Stenger. “We have tried to create a lineup that represents different styles and different time periods, from the 1930s to the early 2000s. So we have classic orchestral pieces as in The Adventures of Robin Hood to modern synthesizer music as in Blade Runner by Vangelis.”

Early this month, the Garden screened a newly restored version of the film Amadeus. On the same program, musicians from the Princeton Symphony Orchestra played music by Mozart.

“People loved that connection,” Stenger said. “Having cinema and symphony work together showed us how powerful that can be. We have plans to develop more collaborations and partnerships with this new series, including speakers and, possibly, performers.”

Those collaborations are still being finalized. One that is extremely likely is a talk by Chris Collier, the executive director of the Garden’s parent company Renew Theaters. He just happens to have a degree in musicology, specializing in film music.

“He’s an expert in this field. He has tremendous insight,” said Stenger.

Deciding which films to include depends not only on the knowledge of the staff, but the realities of obtaining them. “As always, there are distribution issues, politics, and what is actually available,” said Stenger. “We couldn’t get everything we wanted. But I think we have a really good representation.”

Following King Kong on March 13, the series continues with Edward Scissorhands on April 2, The Third Man on April 10, Chocolat on April 16, Psycho on April 23, Whiplash on April 30, The Adventures of Robin Hood on May 1, Blade Runner on May 14, and Lawrence of Arabia on May 18. More films will be announced soon.

“We’re trying to capture a whole spectrum of film music through the end of this whole year,” said Stenger. “We’re recognizing that film music is diverse. We want to give a taste of that diversity.”