Every couple of years or so, I find and view this film over again. The superb Direction by Fred Zinneman and the acting by the positively luminous Audrey Hepburn ground the film for me. Also adding tremendous strength is the Oscar nominated score by Franz Waxman. One of my favorite cues is 'The Haircutting/Gran Coro' (as labled on The Stanyon Records cd). Here is the scene in the film, you'll have to be patient as the scene doesn't actually occur for about 4 minutes into it, but then Waxman delivers the musical goods. Beautifully scored.
Great film, great performance (curiously neglected in all the Hepburn eulogies), and great score. LP and CD both had some distortion -- inherent in the masters? Perhaps a new extended suite would be preferable to an ST reissue.
Waxman wrote and recorded thescore in Rome. Thehall was reverberant, but Warners LP added even more reverb for the LP. the dCC CD had the master Rome tapes minus the extra album reverb.
The director cut a lot of music out of the film from the Rome sessions.
The whole gang was called backto Hollywood. Jack warner complained therewas not enough music left in the film. Somemusic was restored, large chunks of music were rerecorded with the Wrners hollywood Orchestra and Waxman wrote even morenew music in Hollywood.
The Hollywood sessions have never been released (they exist only in mono but withgreat sound).
I too have the Stanyon as well as a 2 cd version in mono which may be a B**T. That said the sound leaves a lot to be desired. I find the 8-10 minute suite on one of the Waxman rerecordings to be the best sounding but certainly not best performed version of the score. An extended suite is indeed the best way to go here...(unless that unreleased mono original does have good mono sound).
Do you know if the additional material recorded in Hollywood was newly-composed material? Or was it retakes/reworkings of the same music performed in Italy?
The whole gang was called backto Hollywood. Jack warner complained therewas not enough music left in the film. Somemusic was restored, large chunks o f music were rerecorded with the Wrners hollywood Orchestra and Waxman wrote even morenew music in Hollywood.
Too bad about Auntie Mame and the possibly destroyed WB Music Storage vault.
Excellent! And I loved the fascinating Steve Hoffman story in your link above!
As for the original posting here by Montana Dave, this isn't my favorite Franz Waxman soundtrack, and the cue "Haircutting - Gran Coro" not particularly memorable for me (I only gave it 2 stars out of 5 when I first listened to it). For Waxman fans, check out "Sayonara" and even "My Geisha," and lots more .. but "The Nun's Story"? The Stanyon CD, despite valiantly overcoming the deplorable conditions cited by Hoffman, is often shrill and a challenge for some of us to enjoy. But what a story Hoffman tells!!! So here's that link again:
As for the soundtrack for "The Music Man," I've never had a problem with the initial CD they released, and my Blu-ray, as i recall, sounds fine, but now I want to put it on and listen to it closely with the big speakers! But I WILL say this: There has always been a slight delay between the soundtrack songs and the people singing them on this show, something I've noticed occasionally when playing movie musicals on Blu-ray -- which I never noticed with DVDs, and I have a TON of musicals on DVD.
I'm responding to the original post. THE NUN'S STORY, for me, is one of only two Audrey Hepburn films, where her acting doesn't bother me. The other is BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S where, although completely miscast, she is presented as such an icon (not really a person), that the whole silly thing works. However, it's THE NUN'S STORY, where she shines as an actress. Yes, she's still got that beautiful face, but that's not what she relies on. She's really, truly acting, and I believe her as Sister Luke. Not to say that I don't like other films she's in, just that I never think she's much of an actress. She get by, purely on her screen presence. In a lot of films, I'll take that over ability and no presence, so it's okay by me.
