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Ray: Re your "I think with CD's, it's easy for folks to reprogram their playback." A few months back someone made a comment about reprogramming playback, and I wrote then that I wasn't even aware that CD players still could do that. I remember the very first generation Sony (which was ridiculously expensive for so few features!), but it was still utter magic to so many of us. Later I bought a second generation Sony, just a bit cheaper but fancier, plus you could program it to play in whatever order you wanted (and you could skip some tracks and repeat others). Later they would add the ability to play a track from a certain point to another, such as starting at the 2:13 mark and stopping at 4:22. But I wasn't aware that CD players nowadays were being made with the ability to reprogram the playback order. Of course most of us have our MP3 players, and, as I've already written, I don't hesitate to make playlists in my own preferred order. Indeed, when I added some of "Those Calloways" to my long Max Steiner playlist, I did some slight rearrangement, then squeezed them in between a cue from "A Distant Trumpet" and several from "Gone With The Wind." Once again, I understand the desire of many that soundtracks be arranged in the very same order as the music was heard in the film. It just doesn't matter that much to me.
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2015 - 9:00 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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ORDER NOW AT: http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/26122/THOSE-CALLOWAYS/
All right rabbit, you've convinced me. CD ordered. Not to mention DVD so I can re-watch movie first (hey, I have an ultra-orthodox reputation to keep). I mean what the hey, anytime M. Steiner's name is attached attention must be paid, ya know?
Both the CD and DVD remained under wraps all this time [playing a lot of catch-up lately ] but I have broken a seal and my rule and listened to the soundtrack first, starting over a meal or 2 and finishing on a drive. Oh, my. What an embarrassment of riches. Steiner with all the trimmings; a little waltz, a little schmaltz, a shift to the jaunty and oh, the catchiest rendition of You Were Meant for Me that had me waxing warm and sentimental like I did over the Beau Hunks' Little Rascals recordings. And yet it had the fox trot beat and orchestral ambiance, too, of Mary's Buffalo Gals record in It's A Wonderful Life, if memory serves. In that vein, orchestrations/arrangements of other cues were quite reminiscent of A Summer Place but hey, that's understandable what with the Murray Cutter connection and all.
The lovely theme a/k/a Angel that must underscore the Vera Miles character is so beautiful. We get the patented violin, viola and cello solo renditions over the course. There is a main theme that I assume underscores the Calloway family. It's a 6-note phrase that strikes me as quite Avalonish, the old standard, in the first 5 notes ["I found my love in..."] before veering off on the 6th. It recurs often and I'm not complaining. Nice variety of incarnations.
I haven't read the liner notes but that will be remedied as well. It's funny, I was a youngster when the film came out and Brian Keith was a familiar face all over those early viewing years. Appreciation for Brandon DeWilde would take place years later. And who was Tom Skerritt? My childhood and only memory of that day in the cinema consists of 3 scenes: (1) the mother crying after receiving a shawl or something that almost put me in tears as it made me think of my own Mom; (2) Brandon punching away at a bag of grain that finally burst; and (3) nasty "Whit Turner"or something like that and the audience cheering when Brandon finally got even and gave him his just desserts. I know now, of course, Whit or whoever was a young Mr. Skerritt!
I've perused the other threads and can't wait to see it again after all them years to put the soundtrack to the images. And see if the old memory is on target or if I'm just plain full of it heh heh I dunno.
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Posted: |
Apr 10, 2015 - 3:58 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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The old memory is still right on target. It scares me sometimes. And two additional scenes hit the target as well: Cam busting his leg and Whit dancing with Bucky's girl.
I have just rewatched the film fifty years from that initial theatrical viewing. It's funny, too, coming back to it on the heels of giving Wonderful Life the full treatment, for it shares much with the latter: Depression era (or close to it) setting, small-town life, lots of great character actors, family, courtship resistance, dark elements, and sentimentality. I loved movies like this when I was a kid. It was a great time to go to the movies as a kid. And it is easy to see now why I loved Those Calloways, Big Red, and In Search Of The Castaways among everything else connected with Disney.
A treat it was to match the visuals to the music. The geese theme is a real keeper, a perfect marriage between film and music. I did not pick up on the Smile thing until rereading this thread. That's a good sign, I think, because for me it was masked well in orchestration and waltz/cut-time arrangement.
I am finally going to read the CD booklet and confirm or correct any other impressions. This is a beautiful work coming from a master film music composer. It undoubtedly will accompany many a future drive, especially ones out in the country.
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It would be great also to see a release of Spencer's Mountain(1963) if any tapes still exist?
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You can tell I've been working in Network Television for too long!!! 
