Along with their previously announced CD of Henry Jackman's score for the current number one hit CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, next week Intrada plans to release Bruce Broughton's exciting action adventure score for 1988's THE RESCUE, about a group of teenaged children of Navy Seals who try to save their captured fathers, and a CD pairing two scores by Michael Small -- one of director Sidney Lumet's most atypical projects, the 1972 film version of the stage thriller CHILD'S PLAY (no relation to the killer doll franchise), starring two acting greats, James Mason and Robert Preston, as teachers at a boys' school where sinister things are afoot; and Michael Apted's underrated 1984 domestic drama/thriller FIRSTBORN, about two young brothers (Christopher Collett and Corey Haim) who try to protect their irresponsible mother (Teri Garr) from her untrustworthy new boyfriend (Peter Weller), with a supporting cast including Sarah Jessica Parker and an 18-year-old Robert Downey Jr.

On May 13, Varese Sarabande will release the score to DAN CURTIS' DRACULA (also known as Bram Stoker's Dracula or just Dracula), the producer-director's 1974 TV remake of Stoker's classic novel, with a clever script by the great Richard Matheson and a cast including Jack Palance as the Count, Simon Ward as Arthur, Fiona Lewis as Lucy, and Nigel Davenport as Van Helsing. The score, as with nearly every project produced or directed by Curtis, was composed by Robert Cobert (Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, The Winds of War). And in news that will probably be of much less interest to our readers, on April 22 the label will be releasing the LP tracks from the song soundtrack to 1985's PORKY'S REVENGE.

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

A Pugni Nudi - Franco Bixio - CSC
The Comfort of Strangers - Angelo Badalamenti - Quartet
Concorde Affaire 79 - Stelvio Cipriani - CSC
Cuore di Cane - Piero Piccioni - Beat
Eleonara - Bruno Nicolai - Beat
I Tre Del Colorado - Carlo Savina - Beat
Il Mio Nome E' Shanghai Joe - Bruno Nicolai - GDM
Il Pistolero Dell'Avemaria - Franco Micalizzo, Roberto Pregadio
Immagini Di Un Convento - Nico Fidenco - Kronos
In Einem Wilden Land [In A Wild Country] -  Karim Sebastian Elias - Alhambra
King of Devil's Island - Johan Soderqvist - Caldera
La Bella Societa - Paolo Vivaldi - Beat
Lair - John Debney - La-La Land
Le Avventure Di Pinocchio - Fiorenzo Carpi - Digitmovies
L'Etrusco Uccide Ancora - Riz Ortolani - Digitmovies
L'Industriale - Andrea Morricone - Beat
L'Ultimo Cacciatore - Franco Micalizzi - CSC
Ocho Apellidos Vascos - Fernando Velazquez - Quartet
Only Lovers Left Alive - Josef Van Wissem, Squrl - ATP
Orgsasmo Nero - Stelvio Cipriani - CSC
Partners - Georges Delerue - Quartet
Placido Rizzotto - Agricanto - Intermezzo Media
Rio 2 - John Powell - Sony
Sette Baschi Rossi - Gianni Marchetti - Kronos
7 Volte 7 - Armando Trovajoli - GDM
Tom at the Farm - Gabriel Yared - Quartet
Toto E Peppino Divisi A Berlino - Armando Trovajoli - Digitmovies
The Unknown Known - Danny Elfman - La-La Land
Vita Di Michelangelo - Bruno Nicolai - Kronos
Zombi Holocaust - Nico Fidenco - Beat

IN THEATERS TODAY

Bad Country - Jeff Danna
Cuban Fury - Daniel Pemberton - Song CD on Decca (import) with two Pemberton cues
Draft Day - John Debney - Score CD due April 22 on Lakeshore
Go with Le Flo - Bright Blue Gorilla
Joe - Jeff McIlwain, David Wingo - Score CD due April 22 on Milan
Oculus - The Newton Brothers - Score CD due April 22 on Varese Sarabande
Only Lovers Left Alive - Josef Van Wissem, Squrl - Score CD on ATP
Perfect Sisters - Carmen Rizzo
The Railway Man - David Hirschfelder - Score CD due May 13 on Varese Sarabande
Rio 2 - John Powell - Score CD on Sony

COMING SOON

April 15
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Henry Jackman - Intrada/Disney
Child's Play/Firstborn - Michael Small - Intrada Special Collection
Divergent - Junkie XL - Interscope
Need for Speed - Nathan Furst - Varese Sarabande
The Rescue - Bruce Broughton - Intrada
Walk of Shame - John Debney - Lakeshore
April 22 
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Hans Zimmer - Sony
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Deluxe Edition - Hans Zimmer - Sony
Dennis the Menace - Jerry Goldsmith - La-La Land
Draft Day - John Debney - Lakeshore
Joe - Jeff McIlwain, David Wingo - Milan
Oculus - The Newton Brothers - Varese Sarabande
The Stepford Wives - David Arnold - La-La Land
April 29
Grand Piano - Victor Reyes - MovieScore Media/Kronos
The Raid 2 - Joseph Trapanese, Aria Prayogi, Fajar Yuskemal - Spacelab2
Real Humans - Rikard Borggard - MovieScore Media/Kronos
May 6
The Double - Andrew Hewitt - Milan
The Quiet Ones - Lucas Vidal - Varese Sarabande
May 13
Belle - Rachel Portman - Varese Sarabande
Calvary - Patrick Cassidy - Varese Sarabande
Dan Curtis' Dracula - Robert Cobert - Varese Sarabande
The Railway Man - David Hirschfelder - Varese Sarabande
May 20
Bates Motel - Chris Bacon - Varese Sarabande
House of Cards: Season Two - Jeff Beal - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
Anne & Alet - Mark R. Candasamy - MovieScore Media/Kronos
The Best of John Barry: The Definitive Collection (re-recordings) - John Barry - Silva
Che Fare? - Luis Bacalov - Quartet
The Curse of Dracula - Joe Harnell, Les Baxter - Buysoundtrax
El Lado Oscuro De La Luz - Gus Reyes - MovieScore Media/Kronos
Muppets Most Wanted - Christophe Beck - Intrada
Nel Nome Del Padre - Nicola Piovani - Quartet
One-Eyed Jacks (re-release) - Hugo Friedhofer - Kritzerland
Professione Figlio - Ennio Morricone - GDM
Relentless Justice - Chuck Cirino - Buysoundtrax
Shadowbuilder - Eckhart Seeber - Keepmoving
Summit - Mario Nascimbene - Quartet
Three Days (of Hamlet) - Jonathan Beard - Buysoundtrax
To the Ends of Time - Eckhart Seeber - Keepmoving
Victor Young at Paramount - Victor Young - Kritzerland
The Wedding Date (The Reception Edition) - Blake Neely - Buysoundtrax

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

April 11 - Herbert Stothart begins recording his score to Dragon Seed (1944)
April 11 - John Williams wins his fourth Oscar, for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial's score; Jack Nitzsche wins his only Oscar for Officer and a Gentleman's song "Up Where We Belong"; Henry Mancini wins his fourth and final Oscar, for Victor/Victoria's song score (1983)
April 11 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Cong Su win Oscars for their Last Emperor score (1988)
April 12 - Russell Garcia born (1916)
April 12 - Edwin Astley born (1922)
April 12 - Ronald Stein born (1930)
April 12 - Herbie Hancock born (1940)
April 12 - David Raksin begins recording his score for Right Cross (1950)
April 12 - Hugo Friedhofer begins recording his score to Soldier of Fortune (1955)
April 12 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to Lust For Life (1956)
April 12 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for One Little Indian (1973)
April 12 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score to Eloise at the Plaza (2003)
April 13 - Vladimir Cosma born (1940)
April 13 - Bill Conti born (1942)
April 13 - John Addison wins his only Oscar, for Tom Jones's score (1964)
April 14 - Shorty Rogers born (1924)
April 14 - John Barry wins his third Oscar, for The Lion in Winter score; Jerry Goldsmith, nominated for groundbreaking Planet of the Apes score, probably bitterly disappointed (1969)
April 14 - Georges Delerue wins his only Oscar for A Little Romance's score; David Shire wins song Oscar for Norma Rae's "It Goes Like It Goes" (1980)
April 15 - Gert Wilden born (1923)
April 15 - Michael Kamen born (1948)
April 15 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score to The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
April 15 - Francis Lai wins the score Oscar for Love Story (1971)
April 15 - John Greenwood died (1975)
April 15 - John Williams records his score for the Amazing Stories episode "Ghost Train" (1985)
April 15 - Arthur Morton died (2000)
April 16 - Charles Chaplin born (1889)
April 16 - Henry Mancini born (1924)
April 16 - Perry Botkin Jr. born (1933)
April 16 - Chaz Jankel born (1952)
April 16 - David Raksin records his score for Pat and Mike (1952)
April 16 - Basil Poledouris begins recording his score to Quigley Down Under (1990)
April 17 - Jan Hammer born (1948)
April 17 - David Bell born (1954)
April 17 - Recording sessions begin for Bronislau Kaper's score for The Power and the Prize (1956)
April 17 - Ernest Gold wins his only Oscar, for the Exodus score (1961)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

NOAH - Clint Mansell

"But even though the scale of this film -- the size of its budget and the breadth of its themes -- is larger than anything this director has attempted before, 'Noah' is less an epic than a horror movie. There are some big, noisy battle scenes and some whiz-bang computer-generated images, but the dominant moods are claustrophobia and incipient panic. The most potent special effects are Mr. Crowe’s eyes and the swelling, discordant strains of Clint Mansell’s score. Once the waters have covered the earth and the ark is afloat, a clammy fear sets in, for both the audience and the members of Noah’s family: We’re stuck on a boat full of snakes, rats and insects, and Dad’s gone crazy."

A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Starting with the ominous string hits that accompany its opening title cards, it’s clear 'Noah' isn’t messing around. Darren Aronofsky’s film aims to strip all hokiness from the story of a guy who loads a bunch of animals onto a giant ark so they can survive a flood. Make no mistake, this is a tale of violence from both humans and their creator. It is about the struggle to do the right thing, and the difficulty of knowing exactly what that is."

Jeremy Mathews, Paste Magazine

"Yet the bad decisions far outweigh the good: Start with those rock Transformers, towering stone-covered creatures known as 'Watchers,' who speak in the stentorian bassos of Frank Langella, Mark Margolis and Nick Nolte. They’re meant to be a fantastical representation of the fallen-angel race known as Nephilim, but they come off like rejects from a Peter Jackson superproduction who are mainly there to up the fanboy-kewl quotient. (Aronofsky proves himself extremely ill-suited to battle scenes, so Clint Mansell’s histrionic score picks up the slack by offering plenty of speaker-shattering gooses.)"

Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

"After the flood passes though, and the film settles down into the claustrophobia of the Ark, Aronofsky reveals how quickly he can betray his lead characters. A quick narrative turn flips the character of Noah into such a laughable and left-field form that any tension or fear for him or his family quickly evaporates. Even as two family members approach their potential deaths, one is left wondering how we arrived at this melodramatic point only ten minutes before. And Clint Mansell’s deafening score doesn’t help: throughout, the usually reliable composer filters what sounds like unused score fragments from 'The Fountain' and jacks it up to a deafening volume. In the latter half, his overbearing orchestral stabs only worsen the content."

Charlie Schmidlin, The Playlist

"Yet 'Noah' combines audacity, intelligence and spectacle in ways that often do seem monumental. (The cinematographer was Matthew Libatique. The production designer was Mark Friedberg. Michael Wilkinson designed the ancient-chic costumes. Clint Mansell composed the music.)"

Joe Neumaier, Wall Street Journal

"All of these questions have been pondered on screen many times before, but refreshingly, and a little depressingly, 'Noah' offers up no easy answers. What some might call a happy ending ('Be fruitful and multiply,' Noah says, while soaring music plays), to me had a troubled air to it, as we know that humans were definitely on their way to multiplying, but just how fruitful have we really been?"

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

"Seemingly there to balance off the story's more spectacular tangents, the simplistic villain epitomizes many of the bigger shortcomings throughout 'Noah': a ponderous score that overstates every dramatic moment; stagey showdowns between virtually every member of the cast; monochromatic costumes and pale backdrops of empty jungles and muddy fields that look like the idiot's guide to biblical milieu."

Eric Kohn, IndieWIRE

"For all its visual flourishes, 'Noah' offers an equally dynamic sonic experience, with immersive, multilayered effects designed to take full advantage of the new Dolby Atmos sound system, and a richly orchestrated score by regular Aronofsky music man Clint Mansell that alternates thunderous percussive beats with New Age-y twangs and hums."

Scott Foundas, Variety

"The ark was built, of all places, on a 5-acre grassy field in a state park in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and there is no faulting the film's outstanding technical achievement. Production designer Mark Friedberg came up with a boxy, barge-like conception for the ark rather than the more conventional bowed vessel, and its rough-hewn, homemade look is entirely of a piece with the rugged overall approach. Varied Icelandic landscapes provide fantastic backdrops for much of the early action. Some of Michael Wilkinson's costumes trend noticeably toward the modern, while Matthew Libatique's muscular cinematography seamlessly incorporates live-action and abundant CGI elements. Clint Mansell's score is entirely in sync with the director's intentions, which means that it repeatedly crosses the line between the intensely dramatic and the bombastic."

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter

THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.

Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS, American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.

April 11
BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (Shirley Walker) [Nuart]
BREWSTER MCCLOUD (Gene Page) [UCLA]
EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (Ennio Morricone) [Silent Movie Theater]
LAST TANGO IN PARIS (Gato Barbieri), REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (Toshiro Mayuzumi) [New Beverly]
SABOTAGE (Louis Levy), NUMBER 17 [Cinematheque: Aero]

April 12
THE BREAKING POINT, UNDER MY SKIN (Daniele Amfitheatrof) [UCLA]
CANNIBAL FEROX (Budy &  Maglione) [New Beverly]
LAST TANGO IN PARIS (Gato Barbieri), REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (Toshiro Mayuzumi) [New Beverly]
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (Arthur Benjamin), SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Dimitri Tiomkin) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (Air) [Silent Movie Theater]

April 13
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (John Williams) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
MR. & MRS. SMITH (Edward Ward), RICH AND STRANGE (Hal Dolphe) [Cinematheque: Aero]
ON THE WATERFRONT (Leonard Bernstein), THE APPALOOSA (Frank Skinner) [New Beverly]
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Lennie Hayton) [UCLA]
3 WOMEN (Gerald Busby), COME BACK TO THE 5 & DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN [UCLA]

April 14
LAURA (David Raksin) [Silent Movie Theater]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Arclight Hollywood]
ON THE WATERFRONT (Leonard Bernstein), THE APPALOOSA (Frank Skinner) [New Beverly]

April 15
BEDTIME STORY (Hans J. Salter), A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG (Charles Chaplin) [New Beverly]
GOING MY WAY (Robert Emmett Dolan) [LACMA]
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (John Wiliams) [Arclight Hollywood]

April 16
THE CHASE (John Barry), SAYONARA (Franz Waxman) [New Beverly]
HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (Dee Barton), PALE RIDER (Lennie Niehaus) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SORCERER (Tangerine Dream) [Silent Movie Theater]

April 17
THE CHASE (John Barry), SAYONARA (Franz Waxman) [New Beverly]
SORCERER (Tangerine Dream) [Silent Movie Theater]

April 18
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART III [LACMA/AMPAS]
DERSU UZALA (Isaak Swartz) THE SEVENTH SEAL (Erik Nordgren) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
DONNIE DARKO (Michael Andrews), THE EVIL DEAD (Joseph LoDuca) [Cinematheque: Aero]
LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (Francis Seyrig), WILD GRASS (Mark Snow) [New Beverly]
ROBOCOP (Basil Poledouris) [Nuart]
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (Nigel Godrich) [New Beverly]
WILD AT HEART (Angelo Badalamenti) [Silent Movie Theater]

April 19
CITIZEN KANE (Bernard Herrmann), STAGECOACH (Richard Hageman, Frank Harling, John Liepold, Leo Shuken) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
COUNTDOWN (Leonard Rosenman) [UCLA]
LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (Francis Seyrig), WILD GRASS (Mark Snow) [New Beverly]
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (Bernard Herrmann), UNDER CAPRICORN (Richard Addinsell) [Cinematheque: Aero]
SORCERER (Tangerine Dream) [Silent Movie Theater]

April 20
KING KONG (Max Steiner) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Lennie Hayton) [Arclight Sherman Oaks]
SORCERER (Tangerine Dream) [Silent Movie Theater]
STRIPES (Elmer Bernstein), GROUNDHOG DAY (George Fenton) [New Beverly]