I was home on a gloomy day last week and pulled out my beautiful AAP print of BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. This has been a favorite of mine since the WNEW Movie Greats days and I hadn't run it in quite a few years.
My first reaction after revisiting the picture was "where was Mike Curtiz when we needed him." Edward Blatt's direction was pedestrian at best, both in visual approach and in his handling of the actors. I think probably the finest moment in the film belongs to Dennis King as the reverend. His reassurance scene in the last act is simple and beautiful. The rest of the supporting cast is very good. Faye Emerson had some very hackneyed lines and Gilbert Emery's role should have been played by someone with a bit more gravitas.
Of course, what stands heads above everything else in BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is Korngold's score. Gad, what a beautiful, often delicate achievement. It's too bad he couldn't have written and recorded the score first. It may have guided director Blatt to a more successful picture. Don't get me wrong, it still has much going for it and, after then watching OUTWARD BOUND, I think it is an improvement on the original.
I only wish Mauceri hadn't included that damn air raid siren in his otherwise splendid Decca recording. It's kind of jarring when playing the record for the uninitiated!
Ray, I was listening to Mauceri's recording last night. Agree with your assessment of the music and the recording completely - it's a spectacular effort even for Korngold.
What is it about re-recording film music that makes record producers want to add sound effects? It's happened a number of times...
BTW is a favorite of mine too, and Korngold's score is among his best. The piano writing is especially good. And I agree that it's an improvement over OUTWARD BOUND. Plus, I'd like to give a shout out to Isobel Elsom who was always so good at playing spoiled society women. On the other hand, I think Eleanor Parker overacted a bit. In later years she learned to tone down all that emoting.
Thanks for posting this. I'm not familiar with this but after listening to a few bars of the clips on iTunes it was an instant purchase. Love the sound quality too. Great low end!
Yes, Parker was young and needed reigning in. All of the actors needed more shaping and guidance in several scenes. Warners should not have entrusted such an important picture to a newbie (Blatt).
Elsom was one of the greats to be sure. And while Gilbert Emery did have a pathetic quality about him, there simply was nothing behind his tired exterior.
The real tragedy is that only about 13 minutes of the optical music tracks survive, in contrast to most of Korngold's other Warner scores which survive nearly intact.
I like the inclusion of the siren at the start of Track 2. Seems to me it serves as a valid intro "fanfare" kind of thing, like the shofar call does immediately before the exodus in The Ten Commandments. And the way it is presented in the recording, it sounds like it could be an integral, live "instrument" in the score, rather than a pasted stock recording of a wartime siren.
The real tragedy is that only about 13 minutes of the optical music tracks survive, in contrast to most of Korngold's other Warner scores which survive nearly intact.
That is indeed a tragedy, though it's also a tragedy, if most of Korngold's Warner scores survive nearly intact, that none of them except for King's Row & The Sea Wolf on FSM have received the great releases they deserve to bring them to the film music public...
That is indeed a tragedy, though it's also a tragedy, if most of Korngold's Warner scores survive nearly intact, that none of them except for King's Row & The Sea Wolf on FSM have received the great releases they deserve to bring them to the film music public...
Absolutely. And not only a tragedy, but also a disgrace.
I have been told that this was korngolds favorite of his scores.
A great score it is too. I felt Mauceri missed some of the romanticism and held back. It would be nice to have a complete recording and also a complete Escape Me Never.
It's also been said that the human conflict and mystical twists in BETWEEN TWO WORLDS most resembled Korngold's operas or the type of story he would've turned into an opera.
In all his scores, Korngold seems to be more than a mere composer - he seems like a co-director or co-storyteller. His music informs character, speeds or slows the narrative and generally makes bland film-making come alive. If the actual film is good, the combination is unbeatable. If the film is bad, his artistry keeps us invested despite the poor production values (at least that's what happens when I look at the lesser productions scored by him). I remember being unconcerned about the blah directing job on BETWEEN TWO WORLDS because I was watching a KORNGOLD film!
I am definitely in the camp that would like to see the surviving Korngold music for Warners restored and released.
