Pinewood’s Fiddler Fans Goldwyn’s Folly

Abstract

This chapter examines archived correspondence between the Los Angeles–based Goldwyn Studios and London’s Pinewood Studios during the creation of Fiddler on the Roof’s four-track sound design. Goldwyn’s sound team argued that Pinewood’s mixers were not capable of delivering a Hollywood-caliber soundtrack. In response, Pinewood accused Goldwyn of not adhering to the industry standards for stereo mixing. Taken together, these communications expose how competitive the postproduction sound industry was for premier Hollywood projects during the early 1970s. While this chapter is devoted to the analysis of the voices of the sound practitioners, the author argues that the correspondence regarding Fiddler’s soundtrack also reveals the aesthetic ideals of both Goldwyn and Pinewood at a time when the definition of a Hollywood film was in contention.