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Posted: |
Jul 12, 2016 - 3:36 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Always on the lookout for old horrors, I came across one last night which I'd never seen before - DR. RENAULT'S SECRET, a rather splendid minor movie in the "mad doctor" category. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Good performances (George Zucco, J. Carroll Naish), fine stark photography, and a failrly nutty plot which crams loads into its 58 minutes running time.
But the thing that really stood out from the outset was the music score. Now, I had "forgotten" that Raksin did this, but it immediately called my attention by being so.... different (?) from what I would have expected from a run-of-the-mill horror-thriller from 1942. Bold, complex, dramatic and actually musically interesting! All the way through! I was reminded of Friedhofer in some ways - I sometimes detect something in common between the two. At the risk of mentioning "Hindemith" again, a lot of DR. RENAULT'S SECRET seems to fall into the same category as Friefohofer's THE LODGER, with long-lined themes gaining most of their weight from chordal interjections and from balancing high-register instruments against growling tubas etc. Is that a Hindemith characteristic?
Well, I mentioned Hindemith, but apart from that, much of the score backs up scenes of mayhem, so it's largely an exciting and busy work, and very reminiscent of the wonderfully inventive fugal "fire" and "chase" scenes in something as musically top-notch as FOREVER AMBER. It really is that good, and it came out of the blue in my case.
A couple of questions. Emil Newman is credited on-screen alongside Raksin. I'm not familiar with Emil Newman's writing, but it sounded all Raksin to me. Anyone know his involvement?
I see that in the same year, Raksin and Emil Newman collaborated on THE UNDYING MONSTER. I've just watched the opening titles on YT, and it sounds pretty good, but not quite as immediately arresting as DR RENAULT. Anyone care to comment on that one?
Final question - DOC RENAULT'S SECRET (and UNDYING MONSTER) are both Fox titles. Could these tapes still exist? In Kritzerland's "Preminger at Fox" CDs, which were mostly Raksin, the earliest scores were from '44 and '45. Doc Renault was only two years earlier. Any chance?
Despite that last paragraph, I'm not actually waiting for a CD of this, although it would be great. I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for something which caught me very pleasantly offguard last night.
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Posted: |
Jul 14, 2016 - 4:22 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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As a kind of companion piece to DOC RENAULT'S SECRET, I watched THE UNDYING MONSTER last night. Same studio (Fox), same year ('42), and same composer credit (Raksin and Emil Newman). I didn't enjoy the film quite as much as the wonderfully batty DOC RENAULT (it's kind of pedantic, as if it were a Sherlock Holmes lesson in logic - not that it's that logical), but it's wonderful to look at. Great photography, and some striking touches throughout from John Brahm (foreshadowing 1944's THE LODGER).
And again a very good Raksin score. Not as energetic as RENAULT (it's a stuffier film than that), but with wonderfully atmospheric touches. There's a kind of ghostly, plodding inevitability to some of it, which reminded me of... wait - I think it's actually realy similar to parts of WHIRLPOOL (probably my favourite on the Kritzerland "Preminger at Fox" CDs). And again I wondered about Emil Newman's contribution. I'll restate my questions from the opening post in light of the recent viewing -
Anyone know about Emil Newman's working relationship with Raksin on those two scores? It sounds all Raksin to me, although I must admit that I've never been able to identify an "Emil Newman sound" in anything yet.
These two scores would make a great CD release. I wonder if they're lost... I think that Freidhofer's THE LODGER from 1944 is gone, isn't it? Still, anyone know for sure?
And if we can't have a CD, never mind! The films themselves are well worth watching, above all for the atmospheric photography and truly outstanding music scores.
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I've often heard of DR. RENAULT'S SECRET, but so far I've never seen it. For what it's worth, for some reason Raksin liked to refer to his Fox monstrosity movies as "grue and horror pictures."
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I appreciate you posting all this, Graham. Never heard of Renault's before, just found the video on Dailymotion, and by gum, that sure is aces Raksin in the main titles. I'll give this a look in a while. I just adore the FSM set - especially Kind Lady and The Man with a Cloak - both in this "grue and horror" territory - but so elegantly done!
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I can't live without more Raksin, so thanks for pointing it out. I'll listen to both.
I noticed when I watched the titles that Raksin and Newman switched billing on the 2 films, and the films were the same year. Interesting.
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Intrada is deleting their 2014 Friedhofer disc (with 3 scores) from their catalog ...
I'm glad I got this set when they had their 25% off sale! I bought it because I thought it would be unlikely to be re-issued in the future.
Thanks for the reminder, Z.
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- for the bleedin' umpteenth time - what's Emil Newman's signature style(s) anyway?
I wish I knew so I could sort him out from Friedhofer on HONDO.
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Are there any musical elements available in the Paramount vault for the 1952 film CARRIE starring Jennifer Jones and Laurence Olivier with a beautiful score by David Raksin ?
The question also is: Where did those two excerpts from CARRIE on the "Wonderful Inventions" double LP come from? I suppose that they came from Raksin's private tapes/acetates. Can anyone confirm this?
Therefore I suppose that even if Paramount doesn't have the original tapes anymore, there should at least exist these tape copies. Are they now owned by the Library of Congress or by the Film Music Society (as is the case with SEPARATE TABLES)?
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- for the bleedin' umpteenth time - what's Emil Newman's signature style(s) anyway?
I wish I knew so I could sort him out from Friedhofer on HONDO.
According to Friedhofer himself, the Hondo score is 100% his own. Emil Newman was the conductor only. Some sort of legal schemegal.
I don't recall him saying this in the book about him. Where did you hear or read it?
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Are there any musical elements available in the Paramount vault for the 1952 film CARRIE starring Jennifer Jones and Laurence Olivier with a beautiful score by David Raksin ?
The question also is: Where did those two excerpts from CARRIE on the "Wonderful Inventions" double LP come from? I suppose that they came from Raksin's private tapes/acetates. Can anyone confirm this?
Check I will if the LP/book says their provenance....
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Check I will if the LP/book says their provenance....
I have the double LP (with the book) myself. And no, it doesn't say their exact provenance. The text on the back cover is:
"The mono phonic originals are glass base acetate transcription discs or acetate base magnetic recording tapes - every effort has been made to produce the best sound that can be obtained from them."
So for me this sounds as if the source was Raksin's private collection.
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Dear CODY 1949,
Instead of wishing, why don't you call or e-mail Marilee at the Society and actually communicate with her? She's a very nice person. (So is her husband, Jon Burlingame). Tell her I said "Hi."
PS: If you do e-mail her, why not include a link to this thread?
PNJ
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