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Kritzerland is proud to present three scores on two-CDs at a one-CD price, all from the brilliant films of Samuel Fuller:
FULLER AT FOX
including
HELL AND HIGH WATER
Composed and Conducted by Alfred Newman
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET
Composed by Leigh Harline Conducted by Lionel Newman
HOUSE OF BAMBOO
Composed by Leigh Harline Conducted by Lionel Newman
Samuel Fuller began his working relationship with Daryl F. Zanuck and Twentieth Century Fox in 1951 with Fixed Bayonets! That film was quickly followed by the three films whose scores are included in this set – Hell and High Water, Pickup on South Street, and House of Bamboo.
For Hell and High Water, Fuller assembled a first-rate cast, including Richard Widmark, Victor Francen, Cameron Mitchell, David Wayne, Gene Evans, Richard Loo, and, as Denise Girard, and newcomer Bella Darvi. The film’s handsome photography was by Joseph MacDonald and the music was by Alfred Newman, the head of the Fox music department, who by the time of Hell and High Water had already won six Oscars.
Newman, of course, turned in an exemplary score, highlighting all the action, suspense, and romance in his usual brilliant way. The score is yet another Newman classic from an era in which he simply could do no wrong.
The year prior to Hell and High Water, Fuller made a noir classic for Fox, Pickup on South Street, which starred Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Richard Kiley, and the extraordinary Thelma Ritter (who was nominated for an Oscar for this film). The score was written by Leigh Harline. At that point, Harline had already won an Oscar for Best Song with “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (lyrics by Ned Washington), and one for Best Original Musical Score for that film. Harline’s music is top-notch, starting with his propulsive main title music, which really sets the mood for what’s to come – jagged, bluesy, and jazzy. The film’s music perfectly defines its characters, drama, and milieu. It’s a great score for one of Fuller’s finest films.
Finally, we have House of Bamboo, starring Robert Ryan, Robert Stack, Shirley Yamaguchi, Cameron Mitchell, Brad Dexter, Sessue Hayakawa, DeForest Kelley, and Biff Elliot. The film is classic Fuller and while it takes place in Japan it more often takes place in Fullerland. Once again, Fuller turned to Leigh Harline for the score and Harline turned in what was and is one of his best scores. It is lush with melody and orchestral color, and the Fox orchestra has rarely sounded more beautiful. Harline remains one of the most under-appreciated of the Golden Age composers, but hopefully with each CD release, new fans will emerge and people will appreciate just how great he was.
All three scores have had previous releases but are long out of print. For this release, Hell and High Water has received a loving upgrade from Mike Matessino, and he has newly mastered the other two scores. We are thrilled to follow up our release of Preminger at Fox with this tribute to one of the most interesting and one-of-a-kind directors in all of cinema – Fuller at Fox – with the music of two wonderful composers who knew exactly what Samuel Fuller and his films were all about.
Fuller at Fox is limited to 1000 copies only and priced at $19.98, plus shipping. CDs will ship by the third week of October, but never fear, we’ve actually been averaging three to five weeks early in terms of shipping ahead of the official ship date. To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com.
ATTENTION INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTORS: FOR THIS RELEASE – IF YOU WANT TO OPT-OUT OF RECEIVING IT YOU WILL NEED TO SEND US AN E-MAIL OPTING OUT PRIOR TO THE DATE IT SHIPS – SEND TO kritzerland@gmail.com. IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE IT, YOU DON”T NEED TO DO ANYTHING. IF YOU ARE NOT AN INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTOR, ORDER AS YOU NORMALLY WOULD. THANK YOU.
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Apologies for no cover art, but tiny pic, where we hosted photos is completely useless and will not upload photos anymore and I don't have any luck with the other hosting places. So, if anyone has any ideas feel free to grab the cover art from Kritzerland and share here - it's also up on Facebook, of course.
You'll note no audio samples yet for Hell and High Water - Mike Matessino has been working on it and is just putting final touches on it, then they'll be up. But it will definitely be an upgrade from the original release. 
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Most of the second batch shipped, I think - a few left to go - we ran out of boxes but they came in today
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Will listen samples from Intrada (for more experience, 'cause I trust to Mike and I KNOW that this will sounds even more fantastic, than now), when return home. But something tells me that I'll get this album
ps Am I right that all but PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET are in stereo?
Yes, the other two are wonderful stereo. Mike is working very hard on Hell and High Water - the original release had many issues and we want to fix them in the best way, so I told him not to rush it, although he'll probably be done in the next few days - but listen to the samples from Intrada - it's a great Newman score. We've also broken up the longer combined cues so those will play better now. I love these films and scores, and while it's been a long time coming from the Preminger at Fox set, there will be more of these director compilations - in fact, if this does well there will be a volume two of Fuller.
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in fact, if this does well there will be a volume two of Fuller.
I hope that the music material for CHINA GATE and FORTY GUNS has been preserved at Fox and will therefore be on that planned volume two.
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Maybe Paul Dunlap's SHOCK CORRIDOR?
If the second volume will also be a "Fuller at Fox" CD set, then SHOCK CORRIDOR will certainly not be included as this was an Allied Artists production. As David Schecter has all the surviving Dunlap tapes, SHOCK CORRIDOR - provided that something still exists at all - would probably be rather something for MMM.
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Maybe Paul Dunlap's SHOCK CORRIDOR?
If the second volume will also be a "Fuller at Fox" CD set, then SHOCK CORRIDOR will certainly not be included as this was an Allied Artists production. As David Schecter has all the surviving Dunlap tapes, SHOCK CORRIDOR - provided that something still exists at all - would probably be rather something for MMM.
Well, he may have Paul Dunlap's surviving copies but he most certainly can't do anything with anything Fox owns of Mr. Dunlap's - in fact, we may do one of those scores by Mr. Dunlap as soon as I find a suitable pairing for it. Shock Corridor is something else - can't remember who owns Allied Artists' films now.
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Bruce, I just compared track-lists (Kritzerland VS. Intrada) and have some questions
1) If I understand correctly, Disc 1 bonus tracks are from both Hell And High Water (“Don’t Fence Me In” & The Atom Bomb (revised) and from House of Bamboo (House of Bamboo (Song), House of Bamboo (Demo) & House of Bamboo (Instrumental)?
2) I found that Intrada's version of House of Bamboo also contain one track between Mariko's Escape & Meeting Place - Mariko's Story. Is it just typo on site or this track was really omitted from Kritzerland edition?
3) Intrada's version of Hell And High Water also contain another 2 bonus tracks - Wild Bomb Mushroom Effects. I don't know this score, maybe they are not so interesting, so you decided not to include them?
Thanks
Answers: Yes, in order to make all the material fit, we had to move the three House of Bamboo demos to disc one, as you can see.
2) Yes, just a typo - the track is, of course, on the CD and we'll fix the typo on the website.
3) Yes, those are just basically effects tracks, the kind of extraneous stuff that labels sometimes use to fill out the run time of a CD.
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All things are possible, but more possible more quickly depending on sales.
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This set is worth it for Harline's marvelous House Of Bamboo score alone, although Pickup On South Street is fine as well (haven't heard Hell And High Water).
Hell and High Water is terrific Alfred Newman, really top-notch. Pickup on South Street is a fantastic movie with a great score. And House of Bamboo is as good as anything Harline wrote and that's saying something. And no one is going to tell me that everyone on this board just happened to have purchased these before - many did, yes, but we know there are all kinds of new people who didn't. And the upgrade on Hell and High Water, which had a lot of issues on the original release, will sound better here - the source material has always been problematic, but anyone who knows Mike Matessino knows that he makes every effort to improve - and with today's technology that can be mighty impressive.
I was really going to up the price on this, and we may do so once we're closer to shipping, because this is a giveaway at this price and I'm just a bit tired of doing these two-CD sets at a one-CD price as are most of the labels. So, be forewarned that the price will probably go up to 23.98 and it will probably do so without any warning.
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I agree with you Bob, and I won't be prioritizing this release myself because I own the previous issues. That said, I'm still definitely tempted by the Mattesino touch! But undoubtedly if there was a previously unreleased score to include with the two released ones (even just a short one like on Bruce's excellent Friedhofer three-fer -- which had two expanded scores and a premiere) I think Bruce should have done that to more substantially entice people like me.
All that said, anyone who doesn't have Harline's House of Bamboo needs to get this. I like Harline a lot but he honestly normally doesn't hold a candle to Alfred Newman in my pantheon...except for perhaps House of Bamboo, which is just an incredibly gorgeous score and for me the highlight of this extremely generous bargain of a set. Listen to the sound clips, folks.
Yavar
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![](http://<A HREF="http://www.kritzerland.com/KR_FullerFox_cov_600x600.jpg" TARGET="_BLANK">http://www.kritzerland.com/KR_FullerFox_cov_600x600.jpg</A>)
