SOUNDTRACK NEWS

Film Score Monthly has released another pair of fine Silver Age Classics soundtrack CDs: Maurice Jarre's score for John Huston's 1972 oddball Western The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and Leigh Harline's music for George Pal's 1964 fantasy classic, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.

The release of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean marks only the second time that FSM has released music by the relatively prolific Maurice Jarre in their hundred and forty-disc history.

The film's a bit of a curate's egg, blending a standard John Ford-style Western with author John Milius' inclination to mythologize its eponymous protagonist. Jarre might seem an odd choice to score a Western, but he already had several to his credit by the time Huston picked him to score The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, including Villa Rides, Richard Brooks' The Professionals and the hybrid Samurai Spaghetti Western Red Sun.

In any case, Jarre's poetic score isn't one you'd immediately associate with the Coplandesque Old West. Instead we have Jarre's gift for off-kilter melody expressed through atypical instruments like the French horn and church organ.

The disc features a vocal version of one of Jarre's themes: Marmalade, Molasses and Honey, sung by Andy WIlliams (who, for no-doubt contractual reasons, gets more prominent billing on the CD cover than Jarre). This was a pastiche of Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, from then-recent hit Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. An instrumental version of Marmalade, Molasses and Honey - not used in the film - is included as a bonus track.

The CD version greatly expands on the LP version, from Columbia Records, and, as is usually the case for FSM, presents the score in chronological order, with bonus tracks at the end (including a ten-minute dissonant cue, That Man on Horseback, which did make the film, but would have spoilt the musical flow of the main program). The score was re-mastered from the half-inch three-track stereo masters; Marmalade, Molasses and Honey was remixed from the sixteen-track two-inch studio master tape.

The disc comes with extensive background and track-by-track notes, by label boss (and disc producer) Lukas Kendall.

Although not as flashy as The Professionals (Jarre's definitive Western score), there's much to commend The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and it's a fine addition to FSM's library.

7 Faces of Dr. Lao is one of my favourite films, so I was thrilled to find that FSM were going to release the score, especially as the master tapes were thought to be long gone. (La-La-Land Records' 2004 compilation The Fantasy Film Music of George Pal compilation featured a few cues from the film, but they obviously weren't sourced from the original masters).

Harline was the ideal choice of composer to score 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. His background at Disney (where he composed music for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and numerous short films) had given him just the right type of experience, and, indeed, had brought him not inconsiderable acclaim (including two Academy Awards, for his score for Pinocchio, and its featured song, When You Wish Upon A Star).

7 Faces of Dr. Lao, the tale of a small Old West town which is visited by a mysterious circus run by enigmatic oriental Dr Lao, is a film that works on many levels. Viewed as a child, it has the glitzy appeal of Tony Randall's portrayal of the apparently-scatterbrained title character, an array of monsters (including Jim Danforth's wonderful stop motion animated Loch Ness Monster), and a homely setting. Later viewing reveals a finely-written morality fable; one with touches of real darkness (the blunt, brutally-truthful predictions made by the circus's blind Greek fortune teller, Appolonius, for example) and raw sexuality (the lustful seduction byPan!)

Harline's music is equally complex, headlined by a jaunty theme for Dr. Lao himself, but also encompassing several different styles, to reflect the film's odd mixture of elements. Harline used a small chamber orchestra and some exotique instrumentation to achieve the variety of cues required for the film, which include a couple of variations of Bach organ pieces, and a melody of bagpipe tunes.

FSM's disc contains the complete score, in stereo, remixed from the original three-track 35mm scoring masters, and it sounds just dandy. After nearly fifty minutes, there are a selection of bonus tracks - about ten minutes' worth - which include raw build-up material, sound effects, pre-recorded tracks (so that the actors had music to perform to on set) and unused cues.

The disc's extensive sleeve and track notes, by Jeff Bond, Harline expert Ross Care and Lukas Kendall, are the icing on the cake, revealing, for example, that Peter Sellers was attached to the film at one point, perhaps on the strength of his multiple disguises in 1957's The Naked Truth, and 1962's Lolita. (Sellers would  go on to play three entirely different characters in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove..., which was released the same year as Dr. Lao). The disc is offered as a limited edition of 3000 copies.

More information about the discs, including track lists and Realaudio samples, can be found at the website of FSM's trading partner, Screen Archives Entertainment. Click here for The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, or here for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.

IMAX NEWS

I attended the press screening of Open Season - 3D at the IMAX cinema at Waterloo this morning.

The film is likeable enough, but there's very little to set it apart from the slew of mediocre talking animal CGI extravaganzas that have been released recently (Madagascar, The Wild, etc). There are a couple of nice set-pieces, though, including an elaborate dam bursting sequence, but the plot is feeble; the characters are sketchy (and, Billy Connolly's McSquizzy aside) ill-served by some unremarkable voice-acting. Oh, and the jokes just ain't funny.

But, as a 3D spectacle, it's highly entertaining, to be watched with gleeful joy as the titles stand proud of the background, and foreground objects end up in your lap. The kids at the screening seemed to have a great time, so if you have toddlers in tow, it would be a fine treat.

Here are the booking details:

For information on tickets and showtimes, please call 0870 787 2525 or visit the website at www.bfi.org.uk/imax Tickets are priced at £12.00 for adults, £8.00 for children (up to and including age 14) and £9.75 for concessions. The reduced rate for groups of 10 people or more is £11.00 for adults and £8.75 for concessions.