There are those who might argue it would make a better soundtrack CD than it did a film. In addition to Morris' swashbuckling score, it's got some catchy English music hall numbers, and performances by the irreplaceable Madeline Kahn.
The comic-musical grand finale, in fact, might not be by John Morris but rather by Giuseppe Verdi: a re-lyricized scene from Verdi's opera "A Masked Ball" may be one of the cleverest such scenes filmed. The newly translated lyrics are supposedly authored by Dom DeLuise's character, a crude egotistical opera star with a shaky grasp of the English language. Kahn really gets a chance here to show off her operatic training:
If you liked her in that, try this, which I ran across by accident just now:
This score is a great deal of fun, like most John Morris scores. I would definitely pick it up if it were to be made available. Morris' music has proven to be quite engaging when separated from the films; Clue and Yellowbeard were both wonderful.
I, too, would buy a CD of this wonderful score. It should be noted that this Morris score was one of the 10 on the short list for the best original score Oscar for 1975. So was his score for 1976's "Silent Movie."
You know, the only thing I remember from this film was at the end when there is a genuinely serious and threatening moment between Wilder and McKern. And it's AMAZING.
