FILM SCORE FRIDAY 8/30/02

Just another reminder, our two latest FSM CDs are Elmer Bernstein's THE GYPSY MOTHS and Hugo Friedhofer's Oscar® nominated ABOVE AND BEYOND. Order them now! The power of Lukas compels you!

Jerry Goldsmith has been signed to score TIMELINE, the movie version of Michael Crichton's time travel adventure, set mostly in 14th century France, which will be Richard Donner's first film as a director since Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998. Donner and Goldsmith famously worked together 26 years ago on The Omen, which gave Goldsmith his only Oscar® and put Donner on the map as an A-list feature film director.

Readers may remember that earlier this year we had a poll asking who should score Timeline, and Goldsmith came in second with a slightly suspicious 771 votes. First place was Hans Zimmer, with an even more suspicious 1608. I don't doubt that there are 1608 Zimmer fans on the Internet; I just doubt they spend a lot of time at filmscoremonthly.com.

On October 1st, Varese Sarabande will release soundtracks to two new action films. John Debney and Christophe Beck scored the new Jackie Chan comedy THE TUXEDO, wherein Chan plays the chauffeur of a James Bond-like character (played by Timothy Dalton lookalike Jason Isaacs) who discovers that it's his boss's high-tech tuxedo that gives him all his superspy powers.

Don Davis wrote the score to BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER, based on a videogame, in which two competing agents (Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu) are forced to team up, something that I think has never been seen before in a major motion picture. The Varese website says that the CD will include "selections" from the score, along with several electronica cues by other artists, so it is not known at this time how much Davis music will be featured on the CD. What is known is that Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is arguably the worst movie title of the year. Yes, I know, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is plenty cringe-worthy, but at least that was based on a best-selling novel so they pretty much had to keep the title.

Nonesuch will release Philip Glass's score to THE HOURS. RCA will release James Horner's score to THE FOUR FEATHERS on September 17th. Silva will release a CD of the late Paul Giovanni's score to THE WICKER MAN on September 24th. This CD is taken from the original stereo music master tapes, unlike an earlier CD which featured the film's music-and-effects-track.

Also on September 24th, Rounder Records will release the soundtrack to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER's musical episode, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, with music and lyrics by the show's creator Joss Whedon. The disc will also feature cues from the episodes "Restless," "Hush," and "The Gift" by Christophe Beck.

The Canadian mail order outlet Disques CinéMusique has formed a brand new CD label. Their first two releases are Serge Franklin's scores for the TV movies UNE PETITE FILLE PARTICULIERE, and LE PRINCE DES IMPOSTURES, and Georges Delerue's score for Un Homme Amoreux, released in the U.S. as A MAN IN LOVE. A Man in Love is a drama, from the acclaimed French director Diane Kurys (Entre Nous), about the romance between an American movie star (Peter Coyote) and an aspiring writer (Greta Scacchi). The film, to be frank, was pretty lousy, but was made bearable at times by Delerue's typically lovely score and first-rate supporting performances by Peter Riegert and Jamie Lee Curtis.

In November, the label will release Delerue's PROMISE AT DAWN, and Carolin Petit's music for the TV movies SANS FAMILLE and MADAME DE. The label's discs can be ordered from their website at http://www.disquescinemusique.com as well as at Intrada and Screen Archives.

Above and Beyond - Hugo Friedhofer - Film Score Monthly
The Gypsy Moths - Elmer Bernstein - Film Score Monthly
Night of the Living Dead - Paul McCollough - Numenorean
One Hour Photo - Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil - Superb
Un Homme Amoreux (A Man in Love) - Georges Delerue - Disques CinéMusique
Une Petite Fille Particuliere/Le Prince Des Impostures - Serge Franklin - Disques CinéMusique

September 10
City by the Sea - John Murphy - Varese Sarabande
Invincible - Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt - Milan
Lathe of Heaven - Angelo Badalamenti - Milan
Rebecca - Franz Waxman - Varese Sarabande
Spirited Away - Joe Hisaishi - Milan
September 17
The Four Feathers - James Horner - RCA
Trapped - John Ottman - Varese Sarabande
September 24
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: Once More With Feeling - Joss Whedon, Christophe Beck - Rounder
Red Dragon - Danny Elfman - Universal
The Wicker Man - Paul Giovanni - Silva
October 1
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever - Don Davis/songs - Varese Sarabande
The Tuxedo - John Debney, Christophe Beck - Varese Sarabande

Fear Dot Com - Nicholas Pike - Score Album available on Varese

ONE HOUR PHOTO - Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek

"The outstanding electronic score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek helps channel the various moods in subtle ways."

Todd McCarthy, Variety

POSSESSION - Gabriel Yared

"Gabriel Yared's score bolsters the dramatic/romantic context."

Todd McCarthy, Variety

SERVING SARA - Marcus Miller

"The further composer Marcus Miller gets from his jazz roots, the more unsure his music."

Robert Koehler, Variety

Commentary on film music from the writings of Pauline Kael:

BLADE RUNNER

Vangelis gives the picture so much film noir overload that he fights Scott's imagery; he chomps on it, stomps on it, and drowns it.

(from Taking It All In, published by Henry Holt & Co.)

Even Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the score, falls down on the job. Maybe he got bored producing the musical trickery that makes directors look better than they are, or maybe his contempt for the assignment got out of hand, because he just throws in noise this time. When [director Don] Siegel's gruesome sequences need suspense, Schifrin just beats your ears.

(from Reeling, published by Warner Books)

Like Barwood and Robbins, they're all sorcerers' apprentices. So is Alex North, whose Mahler-esque score is a beauty. When the dragon belches smoke or shakes the earth, the sound editors work the voices and sounds into the fabric of the music. At times, the music and the fiery dragon seem one.

(from Taking It All In, published by Henry Holt & Co.)

The music that John Williams has written for E.T. is dulcet and hushed -- it allows for the full score that the movie gets going in your imagination.

(from Taking It All In, published by Henry Holt & Co.)

[Director Edward Zwick] uses James Horner's (sometimes intrusive) orchestral score and the Boys Choir of Harlem to compensate for the moviegoer's tendency to see battle scenes simply as exciting spectacle. And this musical equivalent to the righteousness of the men's cause can work on you even if you try to fight it.

(from Movie Love, published by Plume)

The orchestral score, by Gabriel Yared, is soft and lyrical, but with an exciting overlay of electronic discord - of something deafening.

(from Vincent and Theo, published by Plume)

The World That Only Lovers See
(Love Theme from the 20th Century Fox Film The Chairman)
Lyrics by Hal Shaper, Music by Jerry Goldsmith

There were flow'rs shining somewhere
In a world where love was new
Was the sky frost or a crystal fire
Or was I lost in a warm desire
For you?

Now you're gone like the autumn
Gone from me like summer snow
And I know there's a world somewhere
Only two can share
Are you there in that lovely world
Only lovers see?

Originally published by Fox Fanfare Music, Inc.

This week's fraternal twins are two immensely talented Academy Award winners, greatly respected by their peers but yet to achieve the household name status they deserve - Hugo Friedhofer and David Shire.

Ace in the Hole - All the President's Men
An Affair to Remember - The Promise
The Bishop's Wife - Oh God! You Devil
Geronimo - Tecumseh: The Last Warrior
Homicidal - Rear Window
Lifeboat - The Hindenburg
The Marrying Kind - Marriage: Year One
One Eyed Jacks - Streets of Laredo
Vera Cruz - Last Stand at Saber River

I returned safely from Alaska last Friday night, came home, and immediately logged onto the Internet to read the FSM mailbag. At the top of the stack, even before all the inevitable "penis enlargement" offers (and yes, thank you, I appreciate your interest, but my name is not actually "mailbag" so I suspect that it's not actually me you have in mind), was a letter entitled "BORING," complaining about the low quality of my columns and comparing them unfavorably to Lukas's old Film Score Friday pieces.

Alas, the writer wrote "Not For Publication" in his e-mail, so I cannot in good conscience reprint it here, much as I would love to take him apart piece by piece and mock his spelling errors. However, if any other readers feel that there is something missing in my columns (besides the presence of Lukas himself, who understandably gets more satisfaction spending his time producing CDs like The Towering Inferno, The Omega Man and I Spy than in paraphrasing the latest Varese press releases), please let me know. And remember, spelling counts.

From: "Nicolas Barbano" <barbano@image.dk>

Subject: TASTE THE SCORES OF DRACULA

Missing on your list of vampire film scores is Søren Hyldgaard's symphonic music for Shaky Gonzales' Silver Méliès Award winning NATTENS ENGEL [US-title: The Angel of Night] (1998), a score + songs cd was issued on Emi-Medley.

Two different soundtrack CDs have been issued featuring Popol Vuh's music for NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE, the shorter (based on the LP) from Spalax Music. Incidently, beware of typo in your listing ("VAMYPRE").

From: Preston Jones <pjones@fulpat.com>

Please permit me a small correction of today's compendium. Not surprisingly, HOUSE OF DRACULA has some Salter music tracked in from earlier films, but this climax to Universal's original monster series was the only major film in the bunch with which Hans was not directly involved. The musical director was Edgar Fairchild, and, being a noted pianist, he was probably the performer who improvised the wonderful transmogrification of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" for the scene in which Carradine's Dracula seduces Martha O'Driscoll, (if I'm remembering her name correctly). To recall the names of the other composers who were tracked in besides Skinner and Salter, I'd have to look at the filmography in my Cinefantastique cover story of many years back, "The Ghost of Hans J. Salter;" but if memory serves, Paul Sawtell was included in the mix.

Italian director Mario Bava's BLACK SABBATH was released in the U.S. in 1963, not 1960. BLACK SUNDAY (another Bava film, AKA 'MASK OF SATAN') was released in 1960, also with a score by Les Baxter, and also replacing the original Nicolosi. Baxter's BLACK SUNDAY is paired with his BARON BLOOD on the CD release, on the Citadel label. Nicolosi's score for BLACK SUNDAY has never seen a release. This is the second time I've seen this mistake regarding the two film scores. Years ago Tony Thomas released Baxter's score to BLACK SUNDAY on LP, a limited pressing, but the cover stated it was the soundtrack to BLACK SABBATH. Thomas responded to my inquiry by saying many had noticed the error. Also, you might want to mention that the Shefter and Sawtell's score for THE LAST MAN ON EARTH is a reworking of their score for RETURN OF THE FLY (1959).

The "whistling" theme for "The Night Stalker" that opened that show was included on one of TVT's horror/sci-fi compilations.

I didn't include Kolchak in the Vampire Scores list because only one of the twenty episodes involved a vampire, the cleverly titled "The Vampire."

Since it's never too early to start discussing next year's Oscars®, here are my predictions for the movies already released this year most likely to receive Best Score nominations (in order of likelihood). And remember, you read it here first.

1. Road to Perdition - Thomas Newman
2. Minority Report - John Williams
3. Signs - James Newton Howard
4. The Sum of All Fears - Jerry Goldsmith
5. Attack of the Clones - John Williams

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com