/ Soundtracks

Everybody knows the music of Henry Mancini, whether the slinky jazz of “The Pink Panther Theme,” the wistful nostalgia of “Moon River” or the jaunty charm of “Baby Elephant Walk.”  But thanks to the dedication of labels like Intrada, Kritzerland, La-La Land and Quartet Records, more and more listeners are getting to know Henry Mancini the musical dramatist.  2012 saw a staggering number of Mancini soundtracks on CD – many appearing for the first time in complete form - arguably making him the

When producer Carlo Ponti and director Vittorio De Sica, both giants of Italian cinema, sought out Henry Mancini to score their 1970 film I Girasoli (or Sunflower, in English), the American composer jumped at the opportunity.  Though creative differences between producer and director plagued the production of the film starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, Mancini turned out one of his strongest, most romantic scores.  Thanks to the team at Quartet Records, Mancini’s absorbing work on

Kritzerland strikes gold with another pair of archival soundtracks, released earlier today. One is a resurrected reissue of a Jerry Goldsmith score - the label's first - and the other pairs two scores by Alfred Newman on one disc, one expanded and the other never before released. Breakheart Pass was a hearty Western adventure starring Charles Bronson as an undercover agent attempting to uncover a villainous plot aboard a steam train hurtling toward an Army post. Alistair MacLean of The Guns of

Well, this one snuck up on us like a pack of velociraptors: in honor of its 20th anniversary and impending 3-D theatrical reissue, Geffen has quietly snuck out an expanded, albeit digital-only, reissue of John Williams' score to the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park. Michael Crichton's 1990 technothriller novel asked an astounding question for a new decade of popular science: what if geneticists could extract preserved DNA of dinosaurs and recreate them in the present day? As is typical of

Four never-before-released scores by three veritable legends of film music are the latest releases from Intrada over the past three weeks. Works by Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Conti and Max Steiner (with some help from a pair of Disney Legends!) are the order of the day! Jerry Goldsmith perhaps enjoyed no greater relationship at one film studio than at 20th Century-Fox, where he composed some of his greatest works, from Planet of the Apes to Alien. Intrada's latest title showcases two scores from

After more than 15 years as one of the most reputable and trailblazing film soundtrack reissue labels, Film Score Monthly unveiled its 250th and final release today with a triple-disc expansion of Jerry Fielding's score to the iconic Western The Wild Bunch. Sam Peckinpah's gritty tale of a gang of aging outlaws (including William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Warren Oates) angling for one last score in the last days of the Old West is known for both its shocking (for its time) bloody violence and

Kritzerland has a thing for Shirley MacLaine. The label has just announced its ninth release of a score from a film featuring the Academy Award-winning actress and current Downton Abbey star.  Franz Waxman’s score to the 1962 Paramount film My Geisha is the latest to get the Kritzerland treatment. As the titular geisha in a madcap, disguise-filled romp, MacLaine starred opposite Yves Montand, Robert Cummings, and Edward G. Robinson.  Norman Krasna (White Christmas, Let’s Make Love) brought his

Goodbye, Laura.  Goodbye, my love… Director Otto Preminger’s 1944 film Laura remains one of the film noir dramas against which all others will be measured, the rare picture that transcended its troubled behind-the-scenes production to become an all-time classic.  All the elements came together, from the cast (Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Prince, Judith Anderson) to the screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt (based on Vera Caspary’s novel) to,

This week, Intrada's shaking off the dust on some little-heard, unreleased scores by two big names in film composing. We've heard and seen composer Basil Poledouris and director John Milius enjoy great success with their movie collaborations, namely Conan The Barbarian and Red Dawn in the early '80s. For this 1991 Vietnam War flick (a favorite topic of the outspoken Milius), Poledouris was again on hand to create a rousing, militaristic action score. Never before released on CD, this disc

Following a strong 2012 release slate, La-La Land Records looks to be keeping the spirit of catalogue soundtracks alive with their first releases of the new year: one an expansion of a score to a modern comedy classic, the other a premiere release of the music to a '90s sci-fi flick. Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) is a simple businessman with a bizarre trait: he's the spitting image of the President of the United States of America. When that president falls ill, his team decides to use Dave to their