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I have just watched this film and the score is superb. I know that an 'Overture' has been released but I think this is a score that is overdue for a release or new recording. _ someone please.
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For years we’ve been told this is a lost score. Now...it’s possible that new tech might make a difference to that assessment, as it recently did for another Fox score (albeit from two decades later): Goldsmith’s Take Her, She’s Mine. But last we’d heard there was nothing usable in the Fox vaults for this, even though other Newman scores from roughly the same era have survived.
The Roy Budd suite is very good and points the way to the best answer: a brand new recording of the complete score. Anyone want to try a Kickstarter? 
By the way, he went uncredited but Hugo Friedhofer co-composed this score with Newman.
Yavar
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For years we’ve been told this is a lost score. Now...it’s possible that new tech might make a difference to that assessment, as it recently did for another Fox score (albeit from two decades later): Goldsmith’s Take Her, She’s Mine. But last we’d heard there was nothing usable in the Fox vaults for this, even though other Newman scores from roughly the same era have survived.
The Roy Budd suite is very good and points the way to the best answer: a brand new recording of the complete score. Anyone want to try a Kickstarter?
By the way, he went uncredited but Hugo Friedhofer co-composed this score with Newman.
Yavar
While I prefer original recordings as far as Newman is concerned, this and the original 1937 arrangements for The Prisoner of Zenda (which Friedhofer also helped compose according to the notes for FSM’s release of the Conrad Salinger arrangements) would definitely be my go-to choices for a re-recording should one of our labels decide to record a Newman score.
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I would love an album of this. I read somewhere that Freidhofer composed the uptempo motif that is used throughout the movie.
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Movie score fans need more respect for the compositions of Hugo Friedhofer. That respect can be shown when a Hugo Friedhofer CD is announced for purchase.
I must admit I certainly need to brush up on my Friedhofer, though if Intrada ever gets around to doing a re-recording of Joan of Arc l, that will be an immediate Day One purchase.
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Though I would dearly love a new recording of practically any Newman score, unfortunately, the market for it is minimal. For whatever reason, Newman just doesn’t sell.
Should a Friedhofer score be re-recorded, the best bet is for JOAN OF ARC, which has received more interest over the years than most any other Golden Age score.
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Though I would dearly love a new recording of practically any Newman score, unfortunately, the market for it is minimal. For whatever reason, Newman just doesn’t sell.
This is *not* strictly speaking true. Given the right genre and prominence of title, Newman *does* sell -- witness LLL's 2CD release of The Robe selling out 2000 copies even though it was a reissue! (The Varese Club Deluxe Edition release preceding it also sold out at quite a few copies though I forget the exact number.) I suspect that the expanded edition of The Diary of Anne Frank which LLL also has in the works will also sell well.
And Kritzerland did a series of Newman Fox reissues over several years, which clearly did well *enough* sales wise or Bruce would not have continued releasing them, with everything culminating in a 5 CD set of Newman at the end! I mean, Bruce put out Billy Goldenberg's Busting, and that release was sadly a bust... subsequently, no more Goldenberg from Kritzerland (similar happened with a couple other composers as well). I mean, Bruce might have pushed forward some Newman premieres if he could, but for scores that were already released and "out there" thanks to other labels like FSM and Intrada, he had no reason to continue reissuing those if he was taking a financial loss.
Should a Friedhofer score be re-recorded, the best bet is for JOAN OF ARC, which has received more interest over the years than most any other Golden Age score.
I'd question what your evidence is for this claim as well. I think the best case that exists is Intrada's poll from a couple years ago:
http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7967
Friedhofer placed an impressive fourth (out of eight) in that poll. "Impressive" however because it was the expected names that beat him in the poll: Herrmann, Rozsa, Goldsmith -- and all arguably Golden Age scores, as well (1959's Face of a Fugitive is probably the most "Golden Age" feature score Goldsmith ever wrote, despite 1957's Black Patch being earlier).
The Mark of Zorro wasn't included in that poll, so we don't know how it would have fared vs. Joan of Arc, but if your case is that Friedhofer is more likely to sell than Alfred Newman, I think you're going to have a hard time making it. Over the years he's (sadly) had just as much of a reputation as being a poor seller for the labels (though again, well enough of a seller for them to keep putting out most of his surviving Fox material). I know my friend John Morgan said that the Marco Polo album he and Bill Stromberg put out of Friedhofer scores was one of their poorest sellers. I'm fairly certain their Alfred Newman album with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beau Geste (two Newman scores I would also LOVE to have new *complete* recordings of) sold better. Heck, I think their Roy Webb album sold better! (So let's bring on that new recording of Sinbad the Sailor 1947, eh?)
But hey, if you think Friedhofer's name is a bigger draw than Alfred Newman's, I say The Mark of Zorro is a damn good compromise because it should have both their names on the cover. That said, the reason why I think that score has decent sales potential compared with maybe anything else in *either* composers' output is because of a third name that would be on the cover: ZORRO. I think the character has a following and a fan base, and this film with Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone is very well regarded and fondly remembered with general film fans, to boot.
And even if someone isn't particularly a fan of the character, I still think it makes a film music fan more likely to buy the score, because it recognizably promises, "exciting music here!" Let's take the case of Korngold: I guarantee you over the years any recording of Robin Hood has outsold all other Korngold scores (even though I've heard it said many times that Korngold tends to sell well in general). IMO Korngold's work on The Sea Hawk is far superior and more complex (and more original, not being largely based on a previous concert work of his). I also think the film is better...and while it is well remembered and fondly regarded, it can't compete with Robin Hood. The character, the NAME...is iconic. Maybe not enough to make a Marc Streitenfeld score sell (though maybe it helped, I have no idea), but I'll bet you that Michael Kamen's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves score is also one of his best-selling, over the years. Zorro is in a similar league, I think.
Yavar
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Posted: |
May 20, 2020 - 12:00 PM
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By: |
JohnnyG
(Member)
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Though I would dearly love a new recording of practically any Newman score, unfortunately, the market for it is minimal. For whatever reason, Newman just doesn’t sell.
This is *not* strictly speaking true. Given the right genre and prominence of title, Newman *does* sell -- witness LLL's 2CD release of The Robe selling out 2000 copies even though it was a reissue! (The Varese Club Deluxe Edition release preceding it also sold out at quite a few copies though I forget the exact number.) I suspect that the expanded edition of The Diary of Anne Frank which LLL also has in the works will also sell well.
And Kritzerland did a series of Newman Fox reissues over several years, which clearly did well *enough* sales wise or Bruce would not have continued releasing them, with everything culminating in a 5 CD set of Newman at the end! I mean, Bruce put out Billy Goldenberg's Busting, and that release was sadly a bust... subsequently, no more Goldenberg from Kritzerland (similar happened with a couple other composers as well). I mean, Bruce might have pushed forward some Newman premieres if he could, but for scores that were already released and "out there" thanks to other labels like FSM and Intrada, he had no reason to continue reissuing those if he was taking a financial loss.
Should a Friedhofer score be re-recorded, the best bet is for JOAN OF ARC, which has received more interest over the years than most any other Golden Age score.
I'd question what your evidence is for this claim as well. I think the best case that exists is Intrada's poll from a couple years ago:
http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7967
Friedhofer placed an impressive fourth (out of eight) in that poll. "Impressive" however because it was the expected names that beat him in the poll: Herrmann, Rozsa, Goldsmith -- and all arguably Golden Age scores, as well (1959's Face of a Fugitive is probably the most "Golden Age" feature score Goldsmith ever wrote, despite 1957's Black Patch being earlier).
The Mark of Zorro wasn't included in that poll, so we don't know how it would have fared vs. Joan of Arc, but if your case is that Friedhofer is more likely to sell than Alfred Newman, I think you're going to have a hard time making it. Over the years he's (sadly) had just as much of a reputation as being a poor seller for the labels (though again, well enough of a seller for them to keep putting out most of his surviving Fox material). I know my friend John Morgan said that the Marco Polo album he and Bill Stromberg put out of Friedhofer scores was one of their poorest sellers. I'm fairly certain their Alfred Newman album with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beau Geste (two Newman scores I would also LOVE to have new *complete* recordings of) sold better. Heck, I think their Roy Webb album sold better! (So let's bring on that new recording of Sinbad the Sailor 1947, eh?)
But hey, if you think Friedhofer's name is a bigger draw than Alfred Newman's, I say The Mark of Zorro is a damn good compromise because it should have both their names on the cover. That said, the reason why I think that score has decent sales potential compared with maybe anything else in *either* composers' output is because of a third name that would be on the cover: ZORRO. I think the character has a following and a fan base, and this film with Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone is very well regarded and fondly remembered with general film fans, to boot.
And even if someone isn't particularly a fan of the character, I still think it makes a film music fan more likely to buy the score, because it recognizably promises, "exciting music here!" Let's take the case of Korngold: I guarantee you over the years any recording of Robin Hood has outsold all other Korngold scores (even though I've heard it said many times that Korngold tends to sell well in general). IMO Korngold's work on The Sea Hawk is far superior and more complex (and more original, not being largely based on a previous concert work of his). I also think the film is better...and while it is well remembered and fondly regarded, it can't compete with Robin Hood. The character, the NAME...is iconic. Maybe not enough to make a Marc Streitenfeld score sell (though maybe it helped, I have no idea), but I'll bet you that Michael Kamen's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves score is also one of his best-selling, over the years. Zorro is in a similar league, I think.
Yavar
1. Makes you lose faith in our community that an album with Hugo Friedhofer's music from THE LODGER, RAINS OF RANCHIPUR, SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD and MARCO POLO doesn't sell... 
2. Nah, SEA HAWK is not a better film than ROBIN HOOD (...where's Olivia de Havilland? ) - the latter is pure magic, my favorite adventure film set in a period background alongside RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK!
(The score is indeed more elaborate but that doesn't make it necessarily better than ROBIN's.)
P.S.: Yes, Korngold sells well in general - and how happy I am to witness the ongoing Erich Wolfgang revival! Chandos's latest recording of his Violin Concerto and String Sextet was the fourth best-selling album on the Presto Classical Chart last month and the CD of his Symphony in F-Sharp on the same label was also one of Presto's top sellers a few months back.
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I'd buy a full score re-recording in a second.
There was also a 1974 TV movie also called The Mark of Zorro, with Frank Langella and Ricardo Montalban which used this 1940's score themes throughout. I remember watching that TV movie as a kid and loving the very catchy theme. I was shocked when I saw the 1940 film later and heard the same score.
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