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I know some of you have been waiting a while for me to get around to doing this as a follow up to my similar threads on Goldsmith, Rozsa, and Poledouris, and I guess I finally did...partially. I'll get around to going back before 1979 sooner or later...
Active for longer (in film at least) and almost as prolific as Goldsmith, for some reason Elmer Bernstein is apparently not as popular with film score collectors (well, who is, really?) and so has many more unreleased/unexpanded titles in comparison. He's one of my favorite composers, though, so I hope we start getting an increased flow of Bernstein soon before the CD goes kaput! This past year has been a pretty decent one in getting unreleased Bernstein, including classics like Intrada's excellent The Carpetbaggers (film and album tracks) and LLL's release of the original True Grit recording all the way to an unreleased 90s work (in collaboration with his son, Peter) Canadian Bacon, thanks to Quartet Records. For some time it seemed hopeful that we might get a complete re-recording of The Ten Commandments, from Tadlow, but then James Fitzpatrick backed off from it saying a label was planning to release the complete original tracks. That was some time ago and it was finally revealed that Intrada has been working with the tapes for some time, so perhaps 2014 will finally be the year we get a good complete presentation of this masterpiece. Of course, since the demise of FSM, Kritzerland has been carrying the torch for Bernstein with many great releases, which they will hopefully continue with in the coming year.
As usual, I will list Varese 90s-on titles first since they are the only label who can possibly expand them, holding the rights in perpetuity. However, if MV at LLL can be believed, we're in for a deluge of Varese Club releases this year so perhaps one or two of these will get expanded after all:
Far From Heaven
Buddy
Bulletproof
Last Man Standing (rejected score)
Frankie Starlight
The Cemetery Club
Lost in Yonkers
Mad Dog and Glory
A Rage in Harlem
Oscar
The Grifters
The Field
My Left Foot (end of the 80s so not certain but probable)
Stars & Bars rejected score (ditto)
Da (ditto)
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The Rising of the Moon, Taking the Wheel -- Bernstein is credited for the two short films at IMDb; Bob DiMucci adds, "I believe that Taking the Wheel is original, since there are two pages of sketches for it in the Elmer Bernstein Collection at the U.S.C. Cinematic Arts Library. On the other hand, there is nothing in the Collection for The Rising of the Moon." Bernstein certainly did his share of scoring short films over the course of his career -- does anyone know anything further about them?
Keeping the Faith -- I've never heard of the film but it's got a fascinating eclectic cast (Edward Norton, Ben Stiller, Jenna Elfman, Anne Bancroft, Eli Wallach, Ron Rifkin, Milos Forman...) There was an almost 50 minute soundtrack release on Hollywood Records but it was roughly half score and half songs. If there's more recorded score to release, Intrada would be our only hope because in addition to the record company being owned by Disney, Disney's Touchstone was involved in production.
Chinese Coffee -- This totally unreleased score may be accessible through Fox, who distributed the independent film (starring Al Pacino and Jerry Orbach!) This might be so obscure that only Bruce at Kritzlerland might give it a chance, but I certainly hope he does look into it!
Bringing Out the Dead -- The soundtrack album on Sony had only songs and none of Elmer's original score, but might be a licensing issue anyway, which would limit a release to either LLL or Intrada. The film was released on DVD (and co-produced) by Paramount, so possibly Bruce at Kritzerland might get to it, if the fact that it was also co-produced by Touchstone (Disney) doesn't relegate it to only an Intrada possibility. And if it's just too complicated for anyone to do, at least there *was* an official "For Your Consideration" Academy Promo release of the score (SoundtrackCollector has a photo of the cover)...if it's the entire score was included on that it's a brief one, less than 22 minutes.
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge -- Four short (totaling 7 minutes) but lovely cues were included on the RCA Victor (ie. Sony Music) soundtrack release. The film was released on HBO instead of theatrically. I haven't seen it so I'm unaware how much more music there might be but I'd be interested in an actual score album if there is enough to justify one.
The Deep End of the Ocean -- Brief 30 minute score release on Milan; as LLL has expanded others from them perhaps they might tackle this one? Any additional cues would be licensed from Columbia / Sony Pictures.
Twilight -- Great score for an overlooked film (no relation to the horrible vampire series but rather a modern noir with classic stars). I can't remember how much more music is in the film besides the 39 minutes included on the Edel score album. Paramount would be dealt with for any additional tracks.
Puppies for Sale -- short film for which Elmer is credited on IMDb...Bob DiMucci adds, "U.S.C.'s Bernstein Collection has one page of sketches" so it's confirmed as an actual work of his. Anyone seen it?
Digging to China -- Score credited to Cynthia Millar, with Elmer credited for conducting only. Perhaps he also helped out on the score some? Could be a nice score either way...
The Rainmaker -- the film was distributed by Paramount, who would presumably be dealt with for any additional music, but the almost 50 minute score album is on Hollywood Records (Disney-owned), so any expansion if necessary would have to be done by Intrada at this point.
Hoodlum -- The original score album on RCA Victor (ie. Sony Music) is almost 54 minutes, so I'm not sure if an expansion is necessary -- is it perhaps the complete score? In any case an expansion probably wouldn't be too difficult for LLL or Intrada, as they have a relationship with Sony and any additional cues would be licensed through MGM, who's very easy to deal with.
Rough Riders -- Elmer provided a theme/additional music for this FANTASTIC score mostly composed by his son, Peter Bernstein. The Intrada release is now a top collectible fetching high prices on the secondary market, and considering the quality of the music it's understandable. It'd be great if Intrada could put out a new edition, especially if there's any unreleased music they could add.
Devil in a Blue Dress -- I'll defer to my fellow Bernstein fan Dana Wilcox for some details: "There is quite a lot of music on the b**t beyond the 7 minutes [3 cues] on the Columbia soundtrack. Obviously the studio guys decided to substitute old blues and jazz pieces for most of Bernstein's composed tracks, but some of it did stay in the film. This is one of Bernstein's finest scores EVER, and how I would love to toss out the you-know-what in favor of a complete-as-recorded original tracks release. This may be the best one of the lot."
The film is Columbia so Intrada or LLL should both have access to additional cues for a future release. (The latter has actually expressed interest in putting this out.)
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies -- As per Bob DiMucci's post below, "1995 TV documentary...produced by Miramax, and so probably now resides with Filmyard Holdings." Is Filmyard Holdings owned by anyone our specialty labels deal with?
Search and Destroy -- I don't know anything about this film (from IMDb it appears to be an independent production; Bob DiMucci below determined it should be owned by Universal now) but the score by Bernstein is totally unreleased so perhaps worth looking into?
Roommates -- Hollywood Pictures and Hollywood Records, so expanding this 40 minute album program (assuming there's much more music) would definitely only be a job for Intrada.
I Love Trouble -- rejected score apparently available on a 70+ minute unmentionable, final David Newman score released by Varese so they may hold the rights.
The Age of Innocence -- one of Bernstein's most famous scores, this would be ripe for a reissue if there's any significant music still missing. Epic (ie. Sony Music) released the existing album, so LLL (or Intrada) might be our best bet. Additional cues would have to be licensed from Columbia Pictures.
The Good Son -- a nice 45 minute program was put out on the short lived Fox Records label, but as several of the scores from that label have been getting reissued lately, I'd say this is a good one to expect to see again, remastered and with any remaining music.
The Babe -- MCA Records (Universal Music Group) put out a CD with 30 minutes of score; if anyone wanted to release it complete they'd have to negotiate with Universal Pictures as well.
A River Runs Through It (rejected) -- I heard some of this score in a rejected score suite performed at a live concert at USC when I was going to school there (this concert was recorded and put online at one point so some of you may be familiar with how excellent it was!). Mark Isham's lovely replacement score was released by Milan, and I'd flip out if LLL would give us both complete scores by Bernstein and Isham on a two disc set!
Rambling Rose -- a Carolco picture, so possibly from Intrada? I confess I'm only familiar with the theme from a compilation, but it's a fantastic theme and I'd love to hear the complete score. The original album would possibly have to be licensed from Virgin (EMI) if they got rights in perpetuity.
Cape Fear -- adaptation/conducting of Herrmann's original score for the 60s film. Universal-distributed...I'm holding out hope Intrada or LLL might get around to either or both of these
Murder in Mississippi -- rejected score to a TV movie credited at Soundtrack Collector; anyone know more?
Slipstream -- Perseverance gave us the (apparently not fully licensed) LP album mockup, and will probably be the only available choice unless someone can negotiate with the currently uncooperative film company and locate the complete score tapes. Still, we can hope.
One Day in Dallas -- from looking at the IMDb page this seems to have been a family affair, as the people involved in this short film mainly seem to have the last name Bernstein. More details from Bob DiMucci below: "a production of the Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies of the American Film Institute, and the rights are held by the AFI. "
The Good Mother -- this totally unreleased score was for a Touchstone film directed by Leonard Nimoy! I'm not familiar with it so would welcome comments but it seems like a good possibility for Intrada to tackle!
Funny Farm -- another totally released score, this time for a Warner Bros. film directed by George Roy Hill (his last, in fact). Considering the great work Bernstein did for Hill on such varied projects as Hawaii, The World of Henry Orient, or his only Oscar winner, Thoroughly Modern Millie, I really salivate at the prospect of getting this one, now that WaterTower has opened up to licensing previously unreleased Warner Bros. scores to LLL and Intrada...
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon -- Varese released the Bill Conti score in their Club series, but Soundtrack Collector seems to think non-US prints of the film had an original score by Bernstein. Has anyone here heard it?
Trust Me -- a credit at Soundtrack Collector that doesn't show up at IMDb...from Bob DiMucci below: "The U.S.C. Bernstein Collection has 80 pages of sketches for a project titled "Trust Me," so perhaps this is another rejected Bernstein score. And the score may well have been recorded, because the Collecdtion contains another 5 pages of "music editing notes."
If there is a recording, it's probably controlled by the film's production company and copyright claimant, Trust Me Productions, and the film's producer (George Edwards) and director (Bobby Houston)."
Leonard Part 6 -- totally unreleased comedy score from Columbia -- perhaps Intrada? Henry Mancini also wrote an apparently rejected score; if that's available to include imagine the possibilities!
Amazing Grace and Chuck -- recently released remastered but not expanded in the Varese Encore series...who knows if that means they hold perpetuity rights (though the date of release is from before they did that regularly)?
Three Amigos -- much like The Witches of Eastwick by John Williams, this might come out complete from LLL *after* its LP reissue has sold out from Perseverance...
Legal Eagles -- Intrada premiered the MCA album recording on CD a couple years ago, but the film recording remains unreleased (and would require an additional license from the film studio).
Spies Like Us -- released by Varese in the U.S. and T.E.R. in Britain, this would be great to see expanded from LLL or Intrada! It's for a Warner Bros. John Landis comedy but played straight and epic.
Marie Ward -- can anyone confirm if the Varese Club release is complete?
Gulag -- a totally unreleased HBO TV movie score
Ghostbusters -- LLL has in the past strongly hinted at wanting to produce a definitive two disc set...hopefully this is the year they bring it about. (Since this was a Varese Club limited release they shouldn't have perpetuity rights.)
Thriller -- Like Horner's Captain EO, considering the Michael Jackson estate who knows if this could ever come out
Class -- another totally unreleased Bernstein 80s score, this time from Orion which I believe is owned by MGM at the moment. Perhaps a good possibility for Bruce at Kritzerland to tackle, considering how he champions all Bernstein!
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone -- can anyone confirm if the Varese Club release is complete?
Ripley's Believe It Or Not! -- though IMDb doesn't credit him, it mentions Henry Mancini, Robert Prince, Craig Safan, Joseph Weiss, and Morton Stevens. Soundtrack Collector credits Mancini, Prince, Bob Summers, Lee Holdridge (!), Lalo Schifrin (!!), and yes, Bernstein (!!! if true) Even if Bernstein didn't work on it, I'd be curious about a release of music from this series...from Justin Boggan below there appears to be one Bernstein score from season one: http://tvscoring.150m.com/Ripleys.html
Merlin -- I believe this was a Broadway show he wrote, but completely unreleased. According to Bob DiMucci below, a bootleg recording was made. Perhaps someone might clean that up and license it? On the other hand, some posters below who are familiar with the music don't seem to think it was very memorable...
Five Days One Summer -- another unreleased 80s Bernstein score, and refreshingly not a comedy but a drama, an independent production distributed by Warner Bros. I originally asked, "Who knows if tapes survive?" and board member finder4545 replied below that he had a 48 minute, 26 track version in his collection, which he confirmed on a viewing of the film was indeed the complete score (read his post for further details on the score itself). It'd be great to have an official release! Justin Boggan further notes that Carl Davis recorded a score which was rejected, which would be a great thing to include on any release of the Bernstein score.
Genocide -- who knows if any tapes survive for Intrada to expand/remaster their 46 minute album? (or is it the complete score?)
Today's F.B.I. -- Bernstein is the only composer credited for this series at IMDb, though no mention of it at Soundtrack Collector...
The Chosen -- who knows who owns the rights to this now, or if tapes survive?
Honky Tonk Freeway -- totally unreleased as far as I know; Bob DiMucci comments, "For "Honky Tonk Freeway," the U.S.C. Bernstein Collection contains a copy of the original full score in the hand of arranger David Spear, which runs 114 pages. For comparison, the original full score for "Ghostbusters" in the hand of David Spear and Peter Bernstein runs 83 pages. The Varese "Ghostbusters" CD runs 61 minutes (not counting bonus tracks), so it's probably fair to say that there's at least an hour of music written for Honky Tonk Freeway.
An American Werewolf in London -- though James Fitzpatrick gave us a re-recorded cue, I wonder if we might someday get whatever music Bernstein recorded (probably not very much, but maybe more than we think if some was unused in the film)
The Blues Brothers -- probably unlikely that Bernstein's single cue would get tacked on to another release. Probably the only hope might it be it getting re-recorded and included on a compilation somehow.
This Year's Blonde -- an unreleased score for a TV movie about Marilyn Monroe from Warner Bros.; probably hope if tapes survive...
Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones -- unreleased score to a well-regarded TV miniseries. Not sure about tapes or rights, however.
Zulu Dawn -- anyone know if the LLL/Cerebrus CD program was complete? In any case, since BSX reissued it this past year with no additional music perhaps that's all that survives.
Meatballs -- unreleased on CD, there was an LP release on RSO Records (according to Bob DiMucci below, most -- but not all -- of their album rights now below with UMG). Paramount was involved in the film production/distribution so perhaps this one is a possibility if tapes can be found...
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This is as far back as I have time to do right now, but stay tuned for further updates, bringing the list further back than 1979, all the way to Bernstein's start in the industry...
Yavar
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There is quite a lot of music on the b**t beyond the 7 minutes on the Columbia soundtrack. Obviously the studio guys decided to substitute old blues and jazz pieces for most of Bernstein's composed tracks, but some of it did stay in the film. This is one of Bernstein's finest scores EVER, and how I would love to toss out the you-know-what in favor of a complete-as-recorded original tracks release. This may be the best one of the lot.
Dana, thanks for the details! Do you mind if I cut and paste your comments on this title into the main post, since you're so much more familiar with it? I welcome anyone else familiar with specific scores to post contributions here and let me know if I can add them to the main post...
About TKaM, I was going to include this info when I got further back in time, but I guess I'll link it here for you so you're up to date. It's not good news, I'm afraid:
"We tried to do TKAM. Even got the original elements and restored them, but got thrown a curve ball when the licensor turned out to be the film's producer who refused to consider licensing the rights." -- Roger on the Intrada board here: http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4977&hilit=mockingbird&start=45
So the elements of the film recording are out there at least, and Intrada even spent the money to restore them. (Presumably they would've come out in the new Universal branded series.)
Yavar
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Posted: |
Dec 18, 2013 - 2:09 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Meatballs -- unreleased on CD, there was an LP release on RSO Records (not sure who owns rights to the album if anyone still does). Paramount was involved in the film production/distribution so perhaps this one is a possibility if tapes can be found and the LP release doesn't cause a licensing problem...
RSO (Robert Stigwood Organisation) was a London-based company that managed the careers of several superstars (Bee Gees, Yvonne Elliman, Eric Clapton, Andy Gibb), and, as a record label, released the soundtracks to "Fame," "Sparkle," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," "Times Square," "Grease" (over 25 million copies sold worldwide), and "Saturday Night Fever" (over 30 million copies sold worldwide).
By 1981, Stigwood had ended his involvement with the label, which ceased operations in 1983. With the major exceptions of the Star Wars and Bee Gees albums, which went elsewhere, most of the RSO catalog was bought out by Polygram, and should currently reside with Universal Music Group.
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Yavar, you can read all about JIMMY REARDON here -
http://www.williamrichert.com/jimmy-reardon.html
As I've mentioned before somewhere on this forum, Bernstein's music was retained in European and Australian prints of the film. It would seem also that the director Bill Richert intended the song sung by Johnny Mathis ("I'm Not Afraid to Say Goodbye" lyrics by Don Black) to be played at the beginning of the film; in the event it is heard over the end titles.
- James.
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Yavar, how many of these are you listing because you believe them to have significant music missing that deserves a release? Many of these scores are small scores (not a knock, I love them), so don't let some short-ish running times fool you into believing there's a ton of missing music. A score like "Da" is very, very slight (and charming).
I don't recall if there was more music in "Far From Heaven" than the 45 minutes Varèse released. I do know that that is one of my favorite scores of this millennium. And yet I find the current presentation completely satisfying, and wouldn't be interested in an expansion.
Actually, I'm listing *everything* that I don't know for *sure* has had a complete release. (I can usually rule out releases done in the past 10-12 years by our beloved specialty labels.) Then as people chime in and tell me the original releases are in fact complete, I'll remove them. I'm less knowledgeable about Bernstein's total output (ie. the obscure stuff) than I am about Goldsmith, Poledouris, or Rozsa, so this post will require much more refining than those three did.
So if, for example, you're reasonable sure that the little bit of Da that Varese released is in fact the complete score recorded for the film, I'll take it off the list. Varese perpetuity titles I set aside at the top anyway, as the chances of them getting expanded are pretty slim, since only Varese can do them.
So yeah...I hope everyone keeps the information coming! If I have a few hours tomorrow I'll try and finish the post, or at least extend it before 1979. It'll get tricky with a lot of the TV work though, so I might need someone who's knowledgeable to help me fill things in (ie. like what John Williams got with that excellent Williams's TV Jungle thread).
Yavar
P.S. Thanks for the Meatballs LP info, Bob. I'll add it to the main post.
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THE BOGIE MAN can be scratched from your list - it was a BBC TV film starring Robbie Coltrane that just happened to use music from THE CARPETBAGGERS and SOME CAME RUNNING (along with snatches of JG's ALIEN) on it's soundtrack.
- James.
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Yavar, you can read all about JIMMY REARDON here -
http://www.williamrichert.com/jimmy-reardon.html
As I've mentioned before somewhere on this forum, Bernstein's music was retained in European and Australian prints of the film. It would seem also that the director Bill Richert intended the song sung by Johnny Mathis ("I'm Not Afraid to Say Goodbye" lyrics by Don Black) to be played at the beginning of the film; in the event it is heard over the end titles.
Thanks for the link. The most important part I found was this: "Bernstein’s score is a wonder, lush and evocative and wistful." Can anyone on this forum share their thoughts on the score if they've seen the version of the film with Bernstein's?
I think it's kind of strange that Varese, big Bernstein fans as they are, didn't think to release an album with both Bernstein's and Conti's scores for the film, electing instead only to put out Conti's with two other scores of his. Perhaps the tapes couldn't be found...
I heard a bit of his rejected score for A River Runs Through It on the same USC suite. I'd love to hear the whole score.
Thanks, Yavar, for all this detailed information.
You're welcome Joan -- It's my pleasure, really...just trying to promote releases of his music and provide a service for all my fellow Bernstein enthusiasts. This may be the last of these threads I do, though. They're time consuming.  (And yes, wasn't that bit of A River Runs Through It just lovely?)
"Merlin" ran 199 performances and was nominated for five Tony awards, so I suppose it's possible that a cast recording was made, but just wasn't released. Someone did make a live mono recording of the show (perhaps during a rehearsal), which has surfaced on an unmentionable disc.
Good to know, Bob. Like I said, if anybody will put the time and effort into an official release of this, it'll be Bruce at Kritzerland.
Yavar
P.S. Thanks James for the info on Bogie Man. Consider it scratched off!
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I'm not so sure. I saw it many years ago, on cable. I do recall that the score was very sparse, and there wasn't anything I noticed that wasn't on the album, though there may have been small bits here and there. I'm just saying that (unless Bernstein recorded tons of material not used in the film) a desire for more music from this film (and others) would be more a factor of an obsessive compulsive disorder than because there was more memorable music to be heard.
Well, these threads of mine are a little OCD I admit, so if that bothers you you might want to steer clear. A lot of other people seem to appreciate them though.
If I start leaving stuff off the list because I (or you) judge that "enough" music has been released, it becomes subjective. I'd originally left Poltergeist II off of my Goldsmith list, and then because a fan put up a post asking for a complete release I decided I should've had it on in the first place and added it. Shortly after Kritzerland released the complete score (though I was more grateful it got a revisit for sound quality than for the four short cues missing.)
My goal with this list is for it to be accurate and *not* subjective. Many scores on it will probably never be released complete for one reason or another, and for some of them that may be okay. But I'm not going to take something off the list until I'm pretty sure it's been released complete.
Yavar
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