 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
La-La Land is clearing off its stock of unsold product and one of the treasures that went virtually ignored is Alfred Newman's gorgeous score to "A Certain Smile".
Do you LIKE Newman? You'll love what you hear on this recording. It's one of the prizes of my collection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At that price, I'll definitely be picking it up when Matrix 3 comes out later this month.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It is too bad indeed - I'm an occasional golden ager, if there is such a thing,
and I'll try this.
Thanks to the sadly short lived FSM cd club, I was introduced to
more things beyond the essential Gerhardt & Korngold, Rozsa, Herrmann titles
that EVERYone should have, to things I would have never tried.
Including Newman.
I always assumed his style wasn't for me, but fell in love with Prisoner Of Zenda
& Best Of Everything (of all things!), then The Robe hit, loved that one, the rest is
history.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes indeed, this is a gorgeous score. I wish it had received a better reception. Then, perhaps, we would be seeing more golden age titles from Lalaland. I am still looking forward to more Tiomkin,as promised, and Franz Waxman.
MV said their other Golden Age titles were doing much better; he was just stunned at how awful this one did, sales-wise.
As a Newman completist I'm EXTREMELY grateful but surprised that the following things didn't stop them from doing this title, aside from it being Golden Age:
1. Not a score for an epic/western/sci-fi/fantasy/other genre which has popular scores that sell well. (At least it wasn't a comedy, which I think is the genre that generally does worst...)
2. Not a score for a particularly well-regarded or remembered film.
3. In fact, the film was never even released on home video, so film fans would have HAD to have been alive at the time it was released in theaters, and even most of those people, IF they went to the film, don't remember it...
4. The score had been previously released on LP, which had/has a different rights holder, which required more money and effort to get a separate license for the album and the complete score (from the film company).
5. This particular licensor required they press 2500 copies so they had to do *at least 1000 more copies* than they could have possibly hoped to sell. And this was with them negotiating for a while or it would've had to have been 3500 copies!
Given all of these factors, I think it's remarkable that they released it. As it is, I think they've reduced the retail price below their own cost on the title, because the licensing and such were on the more expensive end. EVERYBODY who likes gorgeous orchestral music should support the title at this generous price.
Hopefully Sony in the future will be willing to reduce their quantity requirement to 1000 units (or at least 1500) on Golden Age titles so that LLL can continue to take a chance on more obscure ones. I don't think they've written off Golden Age releases at this point; just ones of such obscurity. Bruce at Kritzerland and occasionally Intrada will still do these of course.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for that, Yavar.
Folks, this film aired on "Saturday Night at the Movies" back in the 1960s. That's the first and last time I saw it. It is a beautiful soap opera filmed on location in Paris and on the Riviera. Fox's CinemaScope cameras were -- at that time -- capturing some of the most stunning travelogue-like images for their location shooting. Films like "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Love is a Many-Splendored Think", "Woman's World" (gorgeous vistas of New York City and upstate New York) and "Boy on a Dolphin" (the Aegean has never been more beautiful on film) were the "norm" on CinemaScope screens and "A Certain Smile" was a worthy entry into those ranks.
Newman's score, proper, is pure gold. And what he does with the song is amazing.
For $9.98, you, too, can have one of the most amazing scores of the 1950s.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I hope this move helps the release reach more welcoming ears. It was a title that we worked hard to restore and which required La-La Land to work things out with Sony for the original album content. It is no less satisfying a release than any Alfred Newman title.
Mike
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ordered, + 2 more.
pp312: Re: Has anyone mentioned the title as a cause? It's a horrible, sappy title. Just ink out the title and call it "West of Diablo" or "Slaughter in the Jungle" or something--no one will know the difference. Remember that almost all soundtrack buyers are male, and only girlie men would buy something called "A Certain Smile."
Don't tell me that you too have joined Ado's old boys' club of bashing anything that doesn't reek of manliness???
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've just ordered this, I can't understand how this sneaked under my radar.
Thanks Ron, for bringing this beautiful score to my attention,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
