Intrada is releasing two new CDs this week, featuring three scores by two composers.
The critical and commercial success of The Ipcress File, director Sidney J. Furie's 1965 film version of the first in Len Deighton's series about an unnamed spy (dubbed "Harry Palmer" for the films), led to two feature sequels based on Deighton's novels, with Michael Caine returning to play Palmer (for politeness sake, we can ignore the two miserable cable movies that later featured Caine as in the role). Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Evil Under the Sun) directed the second and hugely underrated Palmer film, FUNERAL IN BERLIN, which featured one of the most wonderfully complicated plots ever to grace a thriller and brought back some key personnel from Ipcress, including actor Guy Doleman, cinematographer Otto Heller and the master himself, production designer Ken Adam. One newcomer to the series was composer Konrad Elfers, whose lively, droll score is in somewhat in the vein of Dominic Frontiere's The Stunt Man. Intrada's CD, with liner notes by Jeff Bond, features the score tracks featured on the original LP plus a handful of previously unreleased cues including the film's opening.
Three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre is represented by a CD pairing two previously unreleased scores from wildly different films -- his music for director Richard Fleischer's controversial plantation drama MANDINGO, including the song "Born in This Time," co-written by Jarre and performed by Muddy Waters; and his brief score for Neil Simon's comedy PLAZA SUITE, with Walter Matthau in multiple roles.
The latest re-recording by Prometheus/Tadlow, due on November 25, is the first commercial release of John Barry's score for the 1978 film of Harold Robbins' novel THE BETSY. Daniel Petrie directed the all-star cast including Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Lesley Anne Down, Katharine Ross, and the stars of Petrie's Barry-scored TV hit Eleanor and Franklin, Jane Alexander and Edward Herrmann. Despite the impressive cast, the film is no lost classic, but Barry remarkably managed to stay awake through the scoring process and contributed a typically melodic and varied work, a welcome addition the expanding Prometheus/Tadlow repertoire of new recordings.
Varese Sarabande plans to announce their latest batch of CD Club releases on December 1.
La-La Land currently plans to announce five new CD releases on November 28, aka "Black Friday" -- two individual CDs, one two-disc set, and two four-disc sets (whew!).
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Camp X-Ray - Jess Stroup - Phineas Atwood
Daniele e Maria - Nicola Piovani - Quartet
Flower - Vincent Diamante - La-La Land
Funeral in Berlin - Konrad Elfers - Intrada Special Collection
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer - Watertower
Joshua Then and Now - Philippe Sarde - Quartet
Kite - Paul Hepker - Phineas Atwood
Mandingo/Plaza Suite - Maurice Jarre - Intrada Special Collection
Messi - Joan Valent - Saimel
Metello/Secret of the Sahara - Ennio Morricone - GDM
Miracle on 34th Street/Come to the Stable/Miracle on 34th Street - Cyril Mockridge, Bruce Broughton - La-La Land
Night of the Shooting Stars - Nicola Piovani - Quartet
Postman Pat: The Movie - Rupert Gregson-Williams - Phineas Atwood
The Rover - Antony Partos, Sam Petty - Phineas Atwood
Sharknado - Ramin Kousha - Phineas Atwood
Socom 3: U.S. Navy Seals/Socom: U.S. Navy Seals Combined Assault - James Dooley - La-La Land
Trophy Heads - Richard Band - Little Gems
IN THEATERS TODAY
All Relative - Didier Rachou
Extraterrestrial - Blitz/Berlin
Food Chains - Gil Talmi
Happy Valley - H. Scott Salinas
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 1 - James Newton Howard - Score CD due Nov. 25 on Republic
The Invisible Front - Olafur Arnalds
The Mule - Mikey Young, Cornel Wilczek
Reach Me - Tree Adams
COMING SOON
November 25
Allies - Philippe Jacko - MovieScore Media
The Betsy (re-recording) - John Barry - Prometheus/Tadlow
Big Hero 6 - Henry Jackman - Disney
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - James Newton Howard - Republic
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat - Sony
The Little Mermaid - Alan Menken - Disney
One on One - Charles Fox - Varese Sarabande
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History - David Cieri - PBS
'71 - David Holmes - Touch Sensitive (import)
December 2
The Better Angels - Hanan Townshend - Lakeshore
Exodus: Gods and Kings - Alberto Iglesias - Sony
Far Cry 4 - Cliff Martinez - Invada
Warning Sign - Craig Safan - Invada
December 9
Elmer Bernstein: The Wild Side - Elmer Bernstein - Varese Sarabande
Fulci 2 Fulci: Live at Union Chapel - Fabio Frizzi - Beat
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies [single disc] - Howard Shore - Watertower
The Homesman - Marco Beltrami - Varese Sarabande
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon - Varese Sarabande
Penguins of Madagascar - Lorne Balfe - Sony (import)
Rosewater - Howard Shore - Howe
Song of the Sea - Bruno Coulais - Mercury (import)
December 16
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: Special Edition - Howard Shore - Watertower
Into the Woods (1- and 2-disc editions) - Stephen Sondheim - Disney
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande
January 6
The Dance of Reality - Adan Jodorowsky - Real Gone
Sharknado 2: The Second One - Chris Ridenhour, Christopher Cano - Phinas Atwood
January 13
At the Devil's Door - Ronen Landa - Phineas Atwood
February 3
John Carpenter's Lost Themes - John Carpenter - Sacred Bones
Date Unknown
Cartouche - Georges Delerue - Disques CineMusique
Cherchez Hortense, et al - Alexei Aigui - Music Box
Collapse - Vincent Gillioz - Howlin' Wolf
The Dead 2 - Irmin Ahmad - Howlin' Wolf
Die Hebamme - Marcel Barsotti - Alhambra
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor/The Time of the Doctor - Murray Gold - Silva
Falling in Love - Dave Grusin - Kritzerland
Fantome Avec Chauffeur - Wojciech Kilar - Disques CineMusique
I Tre Volti - Piero Piccioni - Legend
The Jerry Goldsmith Collection Volume Two: Piano Sketches - Jerry Goldsmith - Buysoundtrax
The Light at the Edge of the World - Piero Piccioni - Quartet
The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo - Gianni Ferrio - Quartet
P.J. - Neil Argo - Kronos
Summer Song - Andrew Holtzman, Peter Bateman - Kronos
To Kill a Priest - Georges Delerue - Music Box
Viy - Anton Garcia - Kronos
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
November 21 - Malcolm Williamson born (1931)
November 21 - Hans Erdmann died (1942)
November 21 - The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York (1946)
November 21 - Magnus Fiennes born (1965)
November 21 - Don Ellis begins recording his replacement score for The Seven-Ups (1973)
November 21 - Ralph Burns died (2001)
November 22 - Benjamin Britten born (1913)
November 22 - Craig Hundley aka Craig Huxley born (1954)
November 22 - W. Franke Harling died (1958)
November 22 - Carlo Giacco born (1972)
November 22 - Francois de Roubaix died (1975)
November 23 - Jack Marshall born (1921)
November 23 - Johnny Mandel born (1925)
November 23 - David Spear born (1953)
November 23 - Bruce Hornsby born (1954)
November 23 - Ludovico Einaudi born (1955)
November 23 - Jean-Michel Bernard born (1961)
November 23 - Ennio Morricone begins recording his score for White Dog (1981)
November 23 - John Scott begins recording his score for Shoot to Kill (1987)
November 23 - Clifford Vaughan died (1987)
November 23 - Irwin Kostal died (1994)
November 24 - Manuel De Sica born (1949)
November 24 - Pino Donaggio born (1941)
November 25 - Virgil Thomson born (1896)
November 25 - Stanley Wilson born (1915)
November 25 - Daniele Amfitheatrof begins recording his score for The Last Hunt (1956)
November 25 - Maurice Jarre begins recording his score for Grand Prix (1966)
November 25 - Michael Small begins recording his score for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1980)
November 26 - Jerry Fielding begins recording his score for The Killer Elite (1975)
November 26 - Bernardo Segall died (1993)
November 27 - Stanley Black died (2002)
November 27 - Richard Stone born (1953)
November 27 - Arthur Honegger died (1955)
November 27 - Bernard Herrmann marries Norma Shepherd, his third and final wife (1967)
November 27 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You (1969)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
ST. VINCENT - Theodore Shapiro
"In the case of 'St. Vincent' we find Bill Murray in the familiar old-guy role, but because it’s Murray, the details are more extreme. He’s not just unpleasant but bitter and hateful, in addition to being an alcoholic, and a chronic gambler in debt to loan sharks. One of the great things about Murray is that, more than any comedian since W.C. Fields, he has been able to convey middle-aged misery in an unvarnished way. His pessimistic gaze has a way of looking past his co-stars straight into the abyss. So it’s a particular shame to see that quality distorted here and pushed in the direction of fake sentiment. This push can actually be felt in the obtrusive soundtrack, which suggests life just bouncing along, playfully, wistfully, but always bouncy, heading toward a bouncy finish. There’s nothing bouncy about Bill Murray. He wasn’t bouncy when he was 27."
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"When it comes to feel-good clichés, 'St. Vincent' has it all: an irascible old man with secrets, a needy and precocious kid, a hard-working single mom trying desperately to keep it together, a pregnant stripper with a heart of gold, a misunderstood bully who winds up becoming his victim's best friend, a wry and twinkly priest, a tense and tear-jerking hospital montage, and a school pageant that brings all the characters together for one last gooey love-fest. Substitute a pampered cat for the adorable mutt, and you've pretty much hit the boo-hoo trifecta, all supplemented with a manipulative and obvious score by Theodore Shapiro ('The Secret Life of Walter Mitty')."
Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
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, Arclight, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.
November 21
THE BLACK CAT (Heinz Roemheld), RUTHLESS (Werner Janssen) [LACMA/AMPAS]
GALAXY QUEST (David Newman) [Nuart]
SABOTEUR (Frank Skinner), A WALK IN THE SUN (Fredric Efrem Rich) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE SPY WITH MY FACE (Morton Stevens), ONE SPY TOO MANY (Gerald Fried) [New Beverly]
November 22
BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS [LACMA/AMPAS]
5TH WORLD (Corey Allison) [UCLA]
THE SHINING (Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE SPY WITH MY FACE (Morton Stevens), ONE SPY TOO MANY (Gerald Fried) [New Beverly]
WATERSHIP DOWN (Angela Morley)[Silent Movie Theater]
November 23
LIMELIGHT (Charles Chaplin, Raymond Rasch, Larry Russell) [Cinematheque: Aero]
THE PLAGUE DOGS (Patrick Gleeson) [Silent Movie Theater]
THE VENETIAN AFFAIR (Lalo Schifrin), HICKEY & BOGGS (Ted Ashford) [New Beverly]
November 24
THE VENETIAN AFFAIR (Lalo Schifrin), HICKEY & BOGGS (Ted Ashford) [New Beverly]
November 25
JADE CLAW (Frankie Chan) , KUNG FU EXECUTIONER [New Beverly]
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Adolph Deutsch) [LACMA/AMPAS]
November 26
RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT, RICHARD PRYOR LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP (Harry R. Betts) [New Beverly]
November 27
DANCES WITH WOLVES (John Barry) [New Beverly]
November 28
FORTUNE AND MEN'S EYES (Galt MacDermot), SHORT EYES (Curtis Mayfield) [New Beverly]
JURASSIC PARK (John Williams) [Nuart]
SHOCK WAVES (Richard Einhorn) [Silent Movie Theater]
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Lennie Hayton) [Cinematheque: Aero]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [Cinematheque:Egyptian]
November 29
FORTUNE AND MEN'S EYES (Galt MacDermot), SHORT EYES (Curtis Mayfield) [New Beverly]
GONE WITH THE WIND (Max Steiner) [Cinematheque: Aero]
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Maurice Jarre) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
November 30
CINEMA PARADISO (Ennio Morricone) [Cinematheque: Aero]
ROUSTABOUT (Joseph J. Lilley), TICKLE ME (Walter Scharf) [New Beverly]
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