On Borrowed Time: A Suite in Three Parts (1939)

Movements
1. Prelude
2. Miss Nellie, Pud, and Mr. Brink
3. Where the Woodbine Twineth

Note
An old man (Lionel Barrymore) refuses to die and chases Death, personified by the elegant Mr. Brink (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), up a tree. This is only the beginning of the plot of Edward Witkin’s novel on which Paul Osborne based his sentimental play On Borrowed Time, which MGM filmed in 1939. Historians have noted that this film is a weird, wild, and unpredictable fantasy with dream sequences like present-day Brunel. Joseph Ruttenberg’s photography is magnificent. Harold C. Bucquet directed and inspired a cast that includes Uta Merkel and Beulah Bondi. It was a pivotal film for Franz Waxman, as David O. Selznick was so captivated by the mood Waxman had created that he hired him to compose the music for Rebecca, but tracked some of Mr. Brink’s music into that production.