Malcolm Arnold - The Heroes Of Telemark (1965)

EM/f.PC/LP 0038
THE HEROES OF TELEMARK (1965)
LES HEROS DE TELEMARK
Real. Anthony Mann
Mus. Malcolm Arnold
Dir. Mus. Malcolm Arnold


LP Mainstream Records S/6064 – Stereo (USA)

Side 1. 

1. Main Title (2:50) 

2. Stupid Fool (1:55) 

3. Must Get To England (3:15) 

4. German Army Band (1:05) 

5. Love Theme (« Anna ») (3:30) 

6. Fall Astern (4:26)

Side 2. 

1. Silent Night (1:57) 

2. Listen (1:48) 

3. Knute Skiing Away (2:45) 

4. Ferry Leaving Harbor (4:21) 

5. Destruction of Plant (4:10) 

6. Heroes of Telemark and End Titles (2:29)

Malcolm Arnold - Nine Hours To Rama (1963)

EM/f.PC/LP 0037
NINE HOURS TO RAMA (1963)
A NEUF HEURES DE RAMA
Real. Mark Robson
Mus. Malcolm Arnold
Dir. Mus. Malcolm Arnold

LP Decca LK 4527 – Mono (UK)

Side 1. 

1. Train Coming Into Delhi / The Astrologer Predicts 

2. Das Warns Gandhi 

3. Natu’s Father Dies 

4. Natu and Prahlad/Natu Meets Rani 

5. Wedding Dance 

6. Rani’s Theme 

7. Natu Tells Rani of His Oath

Side 2. 

1. Indian Concert 

2. Malabar Hill (Rani’s Theme) / The Swiss Hotel (Natu and Rani) 

3. Mourning Gandhi 

4. The Fire 

5. Indian Concert – Drums

Produced by Peter Attwood

Malcolm Arnold - The Lion (1962)

EM/f.PC/LP 0036
THE LION (1962)
LE LION
Real. Jack Cardiff
Mus. Malcolm Arnold
Dir. Mus. Malcolm Arnold

LP Decca 820300-1 – Stereo (UK)

Side 1. 

1. Opening Title Music 

2. Tina’s Theme (Love Theme) 

3. Drum Dance – Tina at Night

Side 2. 

1. King Dance of Happiness 

2. Tina’s Theme – End Title

Notes Back Cover

Robert Hayward (William Holden), an American lawyer whose wife, Christine (Capucine), has left him to marry a famous white hunter, John Bullit (Trevor Howard), arrives in Kenya, East Africa, in response to his ex-wife's plea that help is needed in rearing their 11-year-old daughter, Tina (Pamela Franklin).

Howard begins to understand what the child's mother meant when he discovers that Tina has become a child of nature, whose playmates are wild animals and whose best friend is a full grown lion whom she treats like a puppy. Tina lives by and accepts the law of the jungle, including its cruelties such as the native custom of leaving their old and sick out to die. As Christine has before him, Hayward realizes that his daughter is not being prepared for life in a more civilized society.

Around this central situation there are other currents: Tina and her stepfather are in perfect rapport and Tina resents the intrusion of her real father. Hayward and Christine find a re-awakened tenderness for each other and Bullit quickly becomes aware of it- and, naturally enough, resents it.

This increasing tension comes to climax at a native dance when a young chief, Oriunga (Paulo Oduiori), claims little Tina as his bride. Child brides are a commonplace of African custom, but, of course, the adult Europeans react in horror. Between this rebuff and because he has been denounced for pretending to chieftainship without having killed a lion, Oriunga dashes off to slay King, Tina's playmate.

An epic battle develops between the warrior and the lion, with Tina urging the lion to kill. The three adults come upon the scene and Hayward is clawed while pulling Tina away from the fight. Bullit shoots the lion, but not before he has fatally mauled Oriunga. The shot, though, also kills the relationship between Tina and her stepfather and makes the child want to leave her now ruined Eden. Bullit sees the futility of reconciling his way of life with either Tina or her mother and leaves Hayward and Christine and Tina to fly off together-presumably into a future together.

Malcolm Arnold - The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

EM/f.PC/LP 0035
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
LE PONT DE LA RIVIERE KWAI
Real. David Lean
Mus. Malcolm Arnold

LP Columbia CS 9426 – Stereo (US)

Side 1.  

1. Overture (4:24) 

2. The River Kwai March : Colonel Bogey 

    Int. Mitch Miller and His Orchestra  (2:26) 

3. Shear’s Escape (4:01) 

4. Nicholson’s Victory (4:43)

Side 2.  

1.  Working on The Bridge (3:00) 

2. Trek to The Bridge (8:29) 

3. Camp Concert Dance (1:20) 

4. Finale (2:12)

Notes Back Cover

The stirring music in this Original Sound Track Recording album is from one of the most exciting and distinguished films of recent years, THE BRIDGE OF THE RIVER KWAI. Based on the novel of the same name, and starring William Holden, Alec Guiness and Jack Hawkins, the movie builds to a genuinely thrilling climax in its story of the construction of a great bridge across a jungle river during World War II. Set in Siam, the story fascinatingly  weaves together the fates and philosophies of these remarkable men, and their daring feats during the Japanese occupation of the peninsula.

The album opens with the Overture, the mighty bridge. Next comes the celebrated Colonel Bogey March, depicting the proud whistling of captured British soldiers as they march into a Japanese compound, and its counter-theme The River Kwai March. (Mitch Miller and his Orchestra and Chorus have recorded this music). The third selection portrays Holden's escape from the camp. Then follows music depicting Alec Guiness'efforts to establish international law in the camp, then the joyous celebration at his victory. The fifth selection brings a moment of peace to the drama.

Next is heard the music following the construction of the great bridge. The Trek to the Bridge follows Holden, Hawkins and Horne through the countryside with their native guides. Camp Concert Dance shows the brave efforts of the captured British soldiers to entertain themselves during imprisonment, and the suite closes with the exultant return of the march.

The composer, whose score is preserved on this record, is Malcolm Arnold, the British composer-conductor whose many scores have included music for the film "Trapeze", and several noted overtures and symphonies. Here, as in his other works, he has underlined the emotions and tensions of the characters with notable feeling and at the same time produced some memorable music.

Malcolm Arnold - Trapeze (1956)

EM/f.PC/LP 0034
TRAPEZE (1956)
Real. Carol Reed
Mus. Malcolm Arnold
Dir. Mus. Muir Mathieson

LP CBS LSP 15856 – Stereo (ESP, 1986)

Side 1. 

1. Entry of The Gladiators (Pucik) 

2. Juke Box 

3. Tino’s Arrival in Paris 

4. Blue Danube (J. Strauss - Arr.: M. Arnold) 

5. Above The Ring 

6. Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa)

Side 2. 

1. Prelude 

2. Lola’s Theme 

3. Fanfare and Elephants’ Waltz 

4. Mike and Lola’s Love Theme 

5. Trapeze (P. Elie) 

6. Washington Post March (Sousa)

Notes Back Cover

One of the most exciting motion pictures of 1956, Trapeze offered not only the built-in thrills of the circus, but a high-voltage team of stars, Burt Lancaster, Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis, along with direction by Carol Reed and a lavish production. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie was its use of music, composed and assembled by Malcolm Arnold, to underline the atmosphere of the Parisian circus and the drama crackling among the principal players. Some of the high spots of the score have been collected in this recording taken from the soundtrack, demonstrating not only Mr. Arnold's skill and craftsmanship, but the building suspense of the film as well.

Against the fantastic and colorful background of the circus, the suspenseful drama traces the career of Tony Curtis as a young trapeze artist, and his training by Burt Lancaster, himself a former circus performer in real life. Gina Lollobrigida portrays a volatile acrobat whose scheming sets off a blaze of excitement leading to the thrilling climax. Throughout the story, Malcolm Arnold has provided music to heighten the drama, including many memorable themes.

Among these are Lola's Theme for Miss Lollobrigida, Mike and Lola's Love Theme for the romance between Mr. Lancaster and the beautiful Italian star, and Tino's Arrival in Paris, delineating Mr. Curtis'first appearance. Along with these and other notable moments of original music, Mr. Arnold has included a number of traditional circus pieces, including Johann Strauss' Blue Danube as the theme for many of the trapeze sequences, and two marches by John Philip Sousa, the Washington Post March and Stars and Stripes Forever. There is also that timeless circus favorite, the Entry of the Gladiators, by Julius Fucik. Much of the international flavor of Trapeze and its circus surroundings (American and Italian stars, along with the Mexican Katy Jurado, a British director, a Parisian setting) is echoed in this music, an authentic and delightful souvenir of the production.

Mr. Arnold, one of Britain's foremost young composers, is well-known for his many films scores, as well as for symphonic works in many forms. For the Diamond Jubilee of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in 1953, he was commissioned to write a symphony, his second, which in the words of Malcolm MacDonald is "gay and uninhibited... a frolic resolutely refusing to carry the world's sorrows on its shoulders". Sim larly gay and uninhibited is Mr. Arnold's music for Trapeze, as indeed music for such a film should be. Here, then, are moments reflecting some of the moods of Trapeze, exhilarating, romantic, brooding, exciting, a mirror, in fact, of the kaleidoscopic circus life so vividly presented in a fascinating film.  

Harold Arlen - Gay Purr-ee (1962)

EM/f.PC/LP 0033
GAY PURR-EE (1962)
CHAT C'EST PARIS
Real. Abe Levitow
Mus. Harold Arlen
Dir. Mus. Mort Lindsay


LP Warner Bros 1479 - Mono (US)

Side 1. 

1. Gay Purr-ee Overture (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Judy Garland and The Chorus  

2. Mewsette (Arlen-Harburg)  

    Int. Robert Goulet  

3. Little Drops of Rain (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Judy Garland 

4. The Money Cat (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Paul Frees and The Mellow Men 

5. Portraits of Mewsette - Orchestra 

6. Take My Hand Paree (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Judy Garland

Side 2. 

1. Paris is a Lonely Town (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Judy Garland 

2. Bubbles (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Robert Goulet, Red Buttons and The Mellow Men 

3. Roses Red, Violets Blue (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Judy Garland 

4. Little Drops of Rain (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Robert Goulet 

5. Variation-Paris is a Lonely Town (Orchestra) 

6. The Horse Won’t Talk (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Paul Frees 

7. The Mewsette Finale (Arlen-Harburg) 

    Int. Judy Garland, Robert Goulet and The Chorus


Notes Back Cover
For what is unquestionably the finest original film musical score since "Gigi", Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg have created for "Gay Purr-ee" a set of brand new songs rich in soaring melody and deft in lyric romance. With its off-camera company of musical comedy stars to provide the singing and speaking voices for Mewsette, Juane-Tome, Robespierre, Meowrice, and Mme. Rubens-chatte, the feline stars of the film, "Gay Purr-ee" posseses one of the most distinguished sound tracks of the decade.
"Gay Purr-ee" is one of a relatively new breed of films, the full-length, animated (cartoon) musical comedy. Produced by UPA, the much-honored studio that revolutionized cartoon making through its "Gerald McBoingBoing" and "Mister Magoo" series, "Gay Purr-ee" tells through story and, most especially, through song, the story of Mewsette, a lovable kitten with a set of eccentric pals. The complete, original sound track of the music for "Gay Purr-ee" is included in this album, together with stellar performances of the Harold Arlen-Yip Harburg songs by Judy Garland and a distinguished company of co-stars.


JUDY GARLAND portrays the role of the film's heroine, Mewsette, a naive, provincial kitten who hops a train to Ze Beeg Seety, Paree, in search of adventure. Miss Garland has proved again and again that she is one of the leaders in that rare elite in show business whose personal magnetism and ability to communicate the pure heart in a song make them the brightest of stars. At home on a Hollywood musical sound stage (where she practically grew up singing Arlen-Harburg songs), her more recent TV, concert, and film successes have made Miss Garland just about the most highly-prized vocalist in America.
ROBERT GOULET takes the part of Mewsette's strapping boy friend, the ever-devoted Juane-Tom ("the greatest mouse catcher in the world"), who seems to devote the better part of his youth to rescuing Mewsette from her Parisian adventures. Possessed of one of the most dramatic and hearty singing voices in years, Goulet skyrocketed to prominence in Broadway's "Camelot".
RED BUTTONS, who enacts Robespierre, Mewsette's faithful and tiny companion through her scrapes with the Cat-nappers, is well known to TV and film audiences. He joins Miss Garland in the distinction of having won an Academy Award Oscar for acting, he for "Sayonara".
HERMIONE GINGOLD takes the role of Mme. Rubens-chatte, proprietor of a feline beauty salon which transforms drab kittens into glamorized cats worthy of the richest, most discriminating Tom. A favorite of many film fans, Miss Gingold is best known for her film musical parts in "Gigi" and "The Music Man".
PAUL FREES portrays the suave, city-slicker Meowrice, the dastardly villain who abducts Mewsette in order to sell her off to a rich, old, Pittsburg coal cat. Frees, whose voice has been heard in thousands of commercials, on TV, and in film productions, has been termed the "busiest voice in Hollywood", having proved his vocal versatility in every field of the entertainment media.


The co-authors of the score to UPA's cartoon feature, Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, probably possess a longer string of hit songs and shows between them than any other team writing today. Author of "Over the Rainbow", Judy Garland's by-now theme song, Harburg can be easily identified by a few of the dozens of scores he has created: "Wizard of Oz", "Finian's Rainbow", "Bloomer Girl", "Cabin in the Sky", and many others. Harburg joins the ranks of other Oscar winners in this album, having pulled down two, for "Over the Rainbow" and "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe".
Long-time collaborator (and co-Oscar winner) Harold Arlen's compositions are equally notable. His credits run from the '30 "Cotton Club" revues, including such songs as "Stormy Weather", "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues", and "I've Got the World on a String", to Broadway's "Bloomer Girl" and "St. Louis Woman", to original scores for a host of celebrated Hollywood musicals, including "Wizard of Oz", "Cabin in the Sky" and "Out of This World". From his scoring pen have flowed the melodies for such songs as "Paper Moon", "Blues in the Night", "That Old Black Magic", "Come Rain Come Shine", "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", and many others.
A Harburg-Arlen score invariably bespeaks of the highest quality and distinction in musical comedy. Sung by such a perfectly cast company of voices as those in "Gay Purr-ee", this collection will undoubtedly be one of the treasured phonograph albums of today as well as of the future. "Gay Purr-ee", with its treasure of songs and performances, deserves that high regard.

Harold Arlen - A Star is Born (1954)

EM/f.PC/LP 0032
A STAR IS BORN (1954)
UNE ETOILE EST NEE
Real. George Cukor
Mus. Harold Arlen
Lyrics: Ira Gershwin
Dir. Mus. Ray Heindorf

LP CBS 31695 - Stereo (UK, 1978)

Side 1.

1. Gotta Have Me Go With You (Arlen-Gershwin) 

    Int. Judy Garland (2:44)

2. The Man That Got Away (Arlen-Gershwin) 

    Int. Judy Garland  (3:39) 

3. Born in a Trunk (Gershwin) 

   Int. Judy Garland (14:12) 

   Medley containing : 

  (a) I’ll Get By (Turk-Ahlert) (b) You Took Advantage of Me (Hart-Rodgers) (c) The  BlackBottom (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson) (d) Peanut Vendor (Sunshine-L.W.Gilbert-Simons) (e) My Melancholy Baby (G.A. Norton-Watson-E.Burnett) (f) Swanee (Caesar-Gershwin)

Side 2.  

1. Here’s What I’m Here For (Arlen-Gershwin) 

    Int. Judy Garland (3:09) 

2. It’s A New World (Arlen-Gershwin) 

    Int. Judy Garland  (2:41) 

3. Someone at Last (Arlen-Gershwin) 

    Int. Judy Garland  (6:42) 

4. Lose That Long Face (Arlen-Gershwin) 

    Int. Judy Garland  (3:56)


Notes Back Cover
For the out-and-out Garland fans, "A Star is Born" remains, forever, her finest single achievement of the many successes she chalked up via the silver screen. Typical of the Garland-Club. Sephton, who considers Judy's performance, musically as well as acting-wise, her very best. "She was so moving, yet at the same time so funny", he says. "Vocally, she was at her peak. Female vocalists of her age-she was about 32 at the time of making the film - are usually considered to be at their peak. And certainly, Judy was at her peak during 'A Star is Born'! You've only to listen, again, to her singing The Man That Got Away - my personal highlight from the film - to appreciate this. Of course, the music was just right for her, written by someone who had worked with her-most successfully-on previous occasions".
It says much for the perennial popularity of 'A Star is Born" that since its initial release in 1954 it has been re-released at regular intervals. This situation seems hardly likely to change in the future. Thankfully, too, the soundtrack album - including the two "lost" Garland numbers-has proved to be well-nigh indispensable. Thus, the uniformly excellent musical sounds to be found within this sleeve are available now for the fourth time. Proof-if indeed proof were needed-that Garland's singing, like the praiseworthy Arlen-Gershwin score, retains its quality of timelessness and overall excellence.
The two best-known Garland performances from the film are, of course, The Man That Got Away and Born In A Trunk. Frankly, the latter is nothing less than pure kitsch. Aside of a wholly convincing vocal from Judy, it is saved from complete anonymity by the clever interpolation of snippets from the standards I'll Get By, You Took Advantage Of Me, The Peanut Vendor, My Melancholy Baby, and Swanee. (Incidentally, the person responsible for the spoken command - "Play Melancholy Baby!" - is no less a personage than the one-and-only Humphrey Bogart. Originally, Bogart, who had become most enthusiastic about the film during its production- as well as about Judy's personal contributions-was one of an incredible short-list of possible choices to play Norman Maine. The others ? Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck and Cary Grant). The Man That Got Away remains the individual musical stand-out from the film. A tasty muted trumpet, together with Judy's wordless vocal introduction, leads into a performance which must rank with any of the lady's entire career. Tenor-sax, clarinet and piano, in turn, add their sympathetic obbligati as Judy unfolds the song's sad, sad story. Apart from projecting the lyric of this superior torch song with devastating conviction, she builds to a series of climaxes before the restrained, almost wistful, final bars.
Soothing strings provide a suitable backdrop for It's A New World. Judy sings the delightful Gershwin verse with a fetching tender quality. The refrain, in comparison, is more gutsy and emotive. Judy sings her heart out during this latter section of the song. Proving that it isn't necessary to go over the top in order to convey the joyful, exhilarating message implicit in the lyric. Rather, Judy's singing here is memorable as much for its sensitive under-statement as for its emotional content. The best singers, we are told, are invariably superb actors. A fact which this extraordinary entertainer proves, most expressively, during the finely constructed Someone At Last. Her spirited rendition of a woefully neglected song is a further admirable definition of her vocal art. Assisted by a mixed vocal chorus, she sings-act the lyric in truly inimitable way. A brash big band, and what appears to be an all-male back-up vocal group, is present during a joyful Gotta Have You Go With Me: one can scarcely hope for a more freewheeling, carefree example of her singing than this...
Of special interest-as much because of their absence from the film's actual soundtrack - are Lose That Long Face and Here's What I'm Here For. For the latter, strings act as a perfect complement to what is, technically speaking, Judy's finest vocal outing of all the items from 'A Star is Born'. Emotionally, too, there is little or nothing at which to complain. More jazz-tinged big-band accompaniment, together with some choice Basie-type piano work, helps Judy to make Lose That Long Face yet another winner. If her reading of the song's verse is fine, then her delivery of the refrain is exceptional.
So much more to write about the contents of this LP. Not necessary. Just slip the record from its inner sleeve, place carefully on your turntable, then assail your ears - in the nicest way... it won't be long before you'll want to repeat the same procedure... again, and again..


**The author of these notes wishes to acknowledge the help of Ken Sephton (Garland Club) and writer Ron Haver.


- Stan Britt