Man, this is the film that started it all for me. Back in 1968 I watched it over and over and over, just to hear that melancholic main theme and ending. This is the U.K. edition of the film. The DVD release in the U.S.A. (under the title, THE HIGH COMMISSIONER) was terrible, as far as the main title music goes. It was mostly garbled. Thanks for sharing one of my personal Delerue treasures. Unfortunately the 6-CD Delerue set included a DIFFERENT version of the main title; there was an off-putting jangling counterpoint running throughout.
So what are the chances of seeing this score released? There's a good amount of music on the film and I assume the tapes exist, since a suite from the score was on the Delerue 6 CD set.
I've watched this film over the weekend. For the first time ever. The film is well cast all around imo. It is so rare to see a much older actress (Lili Palmer) cast as the wife of much younger actor (Christopher Plummer). She was about 15 years older than he was. Usually it's the other way round in films, or even more extreme (think of Roger Moore and Tanya Roberts, igitt).
I love Delerue's main title music. It's so melancholic and beautiful. His music enhances the clichéd sightseeing tour-like Aussie Rolls hovering through London.
Actually, I think there isn't that much of dramatic music in this film. Maybe 20 minutes or so. The action music is not particularly interesting for my taste. I've never considered these moments to be Delerues forte. But the main theme is really wonderful. There's also some source music, and I wonder if Delerue wrote that, too.
