Watch: Out of Nazi Germany and Into the Movies: Five Soundtrack Composers

What do Billy Wilder’s ‘Double Indemnity,’ Michael Curtiz’s ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood,’ Fritz Lang’s ‘Hangmen Also Die!,’ Max Ophuls’ ‘Caught,’ and Fred Zinnemann’s ‘The Nun’s Story‘ have in common? Their soundtracks were all created by composers who fled Nazi Germany during the 1930s: Miklós Rózsa, Erich W. Korngold, Hanns Eisler, Friedrich Hollaender, and Franz Waxman, respectively. These men either left out of opposition or because they were antagonized (to put it mildly), and the composed soundtracks for some of film’s most enduring masterpieces. As gathered here by Ian Magor, they’re quite entertaining–in particular Wilder’s Fred McMurray vehicle and, interestingly, Curtiz’s gift to Errol Flynn (and others).