In 1942, before Ronald Reagan became president, he starred in a movie that helped inspire ‘Star Wars’

George Lucas’s 1977 *Star Wars* offered audiences a sweeping space fantasy at a time when American cinema was dominated by darker, more cynical films. John Williams’s orchestral score helped give it the romantic, old-Hollywood feel Lucas wanted, and the film became a cultural phenomenon associated with a shift away from the pessimism of the 1970s.

Williams took inspiration for the film’s opening theme from Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s score for *Kings Row*, a 1942 period drama starring Ronald Reagan. Both themes feature a grand brass swell and rising strings, with similarities in their notes and structure. Reagan later chose Korngold’s music for his 1981 presidential inauguration.