I just picked up a mint Technicolor print of A PRESIDENT'S COUNTRY. I've done a telecine and uploaded it to youtube. Hope you Tiomkin fans will enjoy this long-unseen featurette. The USIA was prohibited from showing it in the US, so it only received distribution in other countries. You will notice the credits cut off a bit. This film was originally shot in 35mm Panavision. The print I acquired is a flat contact print with the focus on the center of the original Panavision frame.
I just picked up a mint Technicolor print of A PRESIDENT'S COUNTRY. I've done a telecine and uploaded it to youtube. Hope you Tiomkin fans will enjoy this long-unseen featurette. The USIA was prohibited from showing it in the US, so it only received distribution in other countries. You will notice the credits cut off a bit. This film was originally shot in 35mm Panavision. The print I acquired is a flat contact print with the focus on the center of the original Panavision frame.
I just picked up a mint Technicolor print of A PRESIDENT'S COUNTRY. I've done a telecine and uploaded it to youtube. Hope you Tiomkin fans will enjoy this long-unseen featurette. The USIA was prohibited from showing it in the US, so it only received distribution in other countries. You will notice the credits cut off a bit. This film was originally shot in 35mm Panavision. The print I acquired is a flat contact print with the focus on the center of the original Panavision frame.
Ray,
What was the reason for the film being prohibited?
Wow, Bob, very many thanks for this! One of those titles I have l-o-n-g wondered about but never thought I'd ever get the chance to see. Marvelous!!
I'm Ray. People always get us mixed up! And now, back to Wally Ballou in Times Square.....
D'oh! Apologies Ray, I was just off the phone last night after a lengthy conversation with my mate Bob. The mind is a strange thing. Anyway, it gives me the opportunity to thank you again for posting this fascinating Tiomkin document!
What was the reason for the film being prohibited?
John.
John -- Ray probably hasn't seen your question yet, but I did some googling and found this article that explains a little more specifically why the film wasn't shown in the U.S. (if the link works):
Sorry, didn't see the query. As indicated by the article, films made by the USIA were, by law, only permitted for export exhibition. A print is on deposit at the National Archive (I assume a 35mm Panavision print) and can, apparently, be viewed on site.
I think I heard a little of the "This, then, is Texas" tune from Tiomkin's "Giant" in there, and later on, "The Green Leaves of Summer" from "The Alamo". Then the theme from "Rawhide" and "Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin'" from "High Noon."
Is the whole score a sort of "Tiomkin's Greatest Western Hits" pastiche? Did I miss any themes I should've recognized?
I watched the documentary. I enjoyed the music, but what a snoozer of a film. I live in Texas, and the most exciting sequences were watching Air Force One land and take off. But I'll have to admit I liked Lady Bird's wild flowers.
There was a similar USIA film called John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums. It was made in 1964 and given, by special exception, a theatrical release in 1966. It's on YouTube now. For some reason I thought the music was by Elmer Bernstein. Not so. The filmmaker Bruce Herschensohn took credit for a score of his own. His later government work included service in the Nixon and Reagan administrations. He even ran in California for the U.S. Senate in 1992. I don't see any musical studies in his background.
A PRESIDENT'S COUNTRY was previously available on a Unicorn recording conducted by (of all people) the late David Willcocks, best known as a master of the English choral tradition. When the album was announced, I actually thought it was a joke! See this description by Bruce Eder http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-film-music-of-dimitri-tiomkin-mw0001684149
There was a similar USIA film called John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums. It was made in 1964 and given, by special exception, a theatrical release in 1966. It's on YouTube now. For some reason I thought the music was by Elmer Bernstein.
You're probably confusing that film with the 1963 David L. Wolper television documentary "The Making of The President: 1960," which had Kennedy as one of its prime subjects. Bernstein scored that documentary.
