Quartet Announces: Music from Paramount Motion Picture
DARLING LILI (2CD)
Music by Henry Mancini Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
QUARTET RECORDS CELEBRATES HENRY MANCINI AT 100!
Release 2/4
DARLING LILI (2-CD SET)
Remastered and expanded Deluxe Edition Composed and Conducted by Henry Mancini Lyrics by Johnny Mercer Produced and Mastered by Chris Malone Liner notes by John Takis
Quartet Records, in association with Paramount Pictures, Sony Music, the Henry Mancini Estate and the Johnny Mercer Estate, presents a remastered and extensively expanded deluxe edition of Blake Edwards’ 1970 big-budget musical-war-romantic comedy DARLING LILI, starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson.
DARLING LILI is not a conventional musical in which characters burst into song as a narrative substitute for speech or interior monologue. Rather, director Blake Edwards has taken pains to describe it as “a romantic comedy with music.” Inspired by the life of Mata Hari, the film tells the story of supposedly British singer Lili Smith (Julie Andrews), who triumphs in France during World War I. In reality, she’s a German citizen named Lili Schmidt, working for German military espionage.
The film was a resounding failure at the box office and led to a several-year hiatus in the relationship between Blake Edwards and Henry Mancini, due to some disagreements and misunderstandings during postproduction. But it was also the movie where Edwards met Julie Andrews, who became his wife for the rest of his life. It was also the first collaboration between Julie Andrews and Henry Mancini, two musical souls destined to meet.
Henry Mancini and his favorite lyricist, Johnny Mercer, wrote a number of wonderful songs for the picture, including “Whistle Away the Dark,” one of their most beautiful creations, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Song in 1970. Mancini also wrote a powerful symphonic and dramatic score that has never been heard outside of the movie. The score and songs were also nominated in the Best Music Original Songs Score category.
This edition has been painstakingly produced, restored and mastered by Chris Malone, working from the first-generation album master and mono and stereo elements provided by Paramount Pictures. It includes the historic RCA album with the original songs beautifully performed by Julie Andrews, Mancini’s complete underscore for the film, plus some curious extras such as the demos played by Johnny Mercer before filming that include two unreleased Mancini-Mercer songs that were not included in the film. Instrumental versions of the songs round out the program.
A treat for fans of Julie Andrews, Henry Mancini and the Mancini-Mercer songs. The lavishly designed package includes a 24-page booklet with extensive liner notes by film music writer John Takis.
Tracklist
DISC 1. The RCA Album recording
1. Overture 4:06 Henry Mancini And His Orchestra And Chorus 2. Whistling Away The Dark 3:47 Julie Andrews / Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 3. The Little Birds (Les P’tits Oiseaux) 2:58 Henry Mancini and His Orchestra, with Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles Children’s Choir 4. The Girl In No Man’s Land 3:36 Julie Andrews / Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 5. Gypsy Violin 3:21 Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 6. I’ll Give You Three Guesses 3:35 Julie Andrews / Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 7. Darling Lili 2:51 Henry Mancini, His Orchestra And Chorus 8. Smile Away Each Rainy Day 2:29 Julie Andrews / Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 9. The Can-Can Café 2:07 Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 10. I’ll Give You Three Guesses 2:06 Julie Andrews / Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 11. Skäl (Let’s Have Another On Me) 1:43 Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 12. Your Good-Will Ambassador 2:14 Gloria Paul / Henry Mancini And His Orchestra 13. Whistling Away The Dark 3:45 Henry Mancini, His Orchestra And Chorus
The Henry Mancini Underscore
14. Overture 4:05 15. Red Cockpit / Nazi Mess Call / Up Your Zeppelin / Up Your U-Boat 2:12 16. The Can-Can Café 2:03 17. Picnic Sequence / Best Time, No Ants 2:57 18. Darling Lili 1:43 19. Some Kind Of Spy 2:12 20. Strolling In The Sun 1:40 21. Gypsy Violin (Mother Machree) 1:41 22. Plot Thickener / Wet Job / Warm Water Job 1:51 23. Entr’acte 3:04 24. The Great Escape 2:54 25. Get The Car 1:10 26. Tear Jerker 1:28 27. Sour Kraus And Kessler / Hands Up—Kraus Down 2:26 28. Message To R-5 / Anybody Here? 1:08 29. Showdown 1:29 30. Drop The Hankie / Temporary Peace 1:50 31. Finale And End Titles 1:43 32. Exit Music 3:04
Total Disc Time: 79:17
DISC 2. The Johnny Mercer Demos
1. Darling Lili (Demo) 1:56 2. Whistling Away The Dark (Demo) 3:02 3. Piccadilly Circus (Demo) 2:39 4. The Girl In No Man’s Land (Demo) 2:21 5. Skäl (Let’s Have Another On Me) (Demo) 1:35 6. I’ll Give You Three Guesses (Demo) 2:17 7. The Little Birds (Les P’tits Oiseaux) (Demo) 3:27 8. Steal Two Eggs (Demo) 1:24 9. Your Good-Will Ambassador (Demo) 2:26 10. Smile Away Each Rainy Day (Demo) 2:16 11. Whistling Away The Dark 3:48 French Version 12. Henry Mancini Piano Ballad 3:10
Instrumental Versions
13. Whistling Away The Dark 3:39 14. Main Title Medley 2:30 15. The Girl In No Man’s Land 3:34 16. Smile Away Each Rainy Day 1:36 17. Skäl (Let’s Have Another On Me) 1:00 18. It’s A Long, Long Way To Tipperary 1:18 19. Mademoiselle From Armentieres 1:06 20. French Montage 1:49 21. Lili Of The Roses 3:25 22. I’ll Give You Three Guesses 3:25 23. The Little Birds (Les P’tits Oiseaux) 2:16 24. Your Good-Will Ambassador 2:30 25. I’ll Give You Three Guesses (Strip Version) 2:26
Everytime I see that title, I think of Mark Knopfler's song "Darling Pretty", and hum it in my head. But anyways, I don't own this. I'm definitely curious to hear the OST of this, in remastered sound, as my first listen.
Good on Quartet with this batch, in this Mancini centential year.
Whistling Away The Dark is probably my favourite Mancini tune (more so than even Moon River and Days Of Wine And Roses, both of which I love). There's a really nice version of it with Johnny Mathis on the album they did together. I only got the original soundtrack when I bought that Mancini boxset a few years ago, so I'll have to get this for the score. I don't mind the film either, it has some good moments.
From the number of posts I gather this is the least favourite of the three releases ... not surprising given the number of vocals and musical style ... but, just as Thomas has posted: this score includes what is possibly my favourite Mancini melody ... Whistling Away the Dark (a close tie with Two for the Road from the film of the same name).
And this release had me grabbing the DVD from the shelf to check as I was convinced that the playout version of this song was a different take from the opening version.
However, having played them both I now think that the vocal by Julie Andrews is the same recording but Mancini's arrangement for the second version includes choral accompaniment during the instrumental break which gives the song more impetus. If you've seen the film and become involved with the characters this small change makes a marked difference ... the sign of a superb arranger.
So, on this expanded all-in 2CD release ... where is this take? The run-time being the same, is it Disc 2, tr.11 "French version" included in the Johnny Mercer demos ... seems unlikely.
As for the Johnny Mercer vocals ... if they are all as good as his demo of this song (CD 2, tr.2) then they'll be most welcome. He may not have been a great singer to the standard of, say, Frank Sinatra or Nat Cole but he could carry a tune wonderfully well and I enjoy all but one of the 18 recordings I have.
As for the film ... I think it's great entertainment, let down by the inclusion of Inspector Clouseau antics.
Add'l: perhaps Amer would kindly remove the excess "L" in the thread title - thanks
I gained an appreciation for this music one September night at the Hollywood Bowl when John Williams was conducting a Hank Mancini tribute with Julie Andrews presenting. The orchestra played Whistling Away to the beautiful film opening clip with Julie’s vocal. My first time hearing the song, and an indelible experience. I’ll gladly order this along with Pink Panther and Molly Maguires.
I gained an appreciation for this music one September night at the Hollywood Bowl when John Williams was conducting a Hank Mancini tribute with Julie Andrews presenting. The orchestra played Whistling Away to the beautiful film opening clip with Julie’s vocal. My first time hearing the song, and an indelible experience. I’ll gladly order this along with Pink Panther and Molly Maguires.
This performance was televised as a PBS Great Performances episode. Really fine.
The odd thing about this release is we're not getting the actual film performances of the songs, but rather the album versions. And it appears instead we're getting "instrumental" versions of the songs, which I suppose are the music tracks without the vocals.
That said, the album performances are so close to what's in the film, it's not worth arguing about. Just interesting choices. Ordered!
The odd thing about this release is we're not getting the actual film performances of the songs, but rather the album versions. And it appears instead we're getting "instrumental" versions of the songs, which I suppose are the music tracks without the vocals.
It‘s exactly as you decribe it. I‘ve got the CD yesterday, and it‘s marvellous. The unreleased Tracks are in mono, but sounding very good…
Whistling Away The Dark is my favorite Mancini composition too!
I saw the film on TV years ago, but have never owned it, although I show people the "Whistling Away The Dark" scene on YouTube all the time as one of my favorite film stagings of a song:
It's stunning in its simplicity, letting Andrews control the camera in a mesmerizing way.
I see that the US DVD of the film is the much shorter 1992 director's cut, but Wikipedia says some overseas DVDs contain the full theatrical cut.
Can any members tell me which foreign DVD is best for the 1970 theatrical cut?
Another question, it appears the full theatrical cut is available in HD on Amazon digitally. That would probably look a a bit better than a DVD, though I'm not usually a fan of how compressed digital versions of movies are compared to discs, and they sometimes change the aspect ratio too. Does anyone own the Amazon version? It says it's 2hrs 23mins.
I saw the film on TV years ago, but have never owned it, although I show people the "Whistling Away The Dark" scene on YouTube all the time as one of my favorite film stagings of a song:
It's stunning in its simplicity, letting Andrews control the camera in a mesmerizing way.
Aside from the beautiful song and performance, the more astonishing thing is this sequence is one shot--no edits. I'm still not quite sure how they did it. Maybe the camera was suspended from above?
Another question, it appears the full theatrical cut is available in HD on Amazon digitally. That would probably look a a bit better than a DVD, though I'm not usually a fan of how compressed digital versions of movies are compared to discs, and they sometimes change the aspect ratio too. Does anyone own the Amazon version? It says it's 2hrs 23mins.
I don't think I'd trust the Amazon listing on this. Even Paramount doesn't know what it's offering. Look at this listing on the Paramount website:
It shows a picture labeled "Director's Cut" (which we know is 107 minutes), but says that the film runs "2h 16m" (136 minutes). Then it includes links to the Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video pages, both of which say that the film runs "2 h 23 min" (143 minutes).
Apparently, the 143-minute time includes overture and exit music; the 136-minute time does not. But whether you will get either of those, as opposed to the Director's Cut, is questionable.
Another question, it appears the full theatrical cut is available in HD on Amazon digitally. That would probably look a a bit better than a DVD, though I'm not usually a fan of how compressed digital versions of movies are compared to discs, and they sometimes change the aspect ratio too. Does anyone own the Amazon version? It says it's 2hrs 23mins.
I don't think I'd trust the Amazon listing on this. Even Paramount doesn't know what it's offering. Look at this listing on the Paramount website:
It shows a picture labeled "Director's Cut" (which we know is 107 minutes), but says that the film runs "2h 16m" (136 minutes). Then it includes links to the Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video pages, both of which say that the film runs "2 h 23 min" (143 minutes).
Apparently, the 143-minute time includes overture and exit music; the 136-minute time does not. But whether you will get either of those, as opposed to the Director's Cut, is questionable.
Gotcha. It sounds tricky then. No telling which version I get digitally in HD, and the standard def DVDs of the longer cut are all unauthorized. Ugh.
Aside from the beautiful song and performance, the more astonishing thing is this sequence is one shot--no edits. I'm still not quite sure how they did it. Maybe the camera was suspended from above?
Yep, I've always suspected it was shot with a camera hung from some sort of crane, with an operator walking it around the stage, since there were no steadicams back then and there's no track visible for the camera on the stage in the widest moments of the single shot.
It's a gorgeously shot sequence, everyone I show it to is always floored by it.
