The World Of Henry Orient (Limited Edition CD Soundtrack)
Sound:
B Music: B
Elmer
Bernstein was on a roll when he did the music for the George Roy Hill comedy The World Of Henry Orient in 1964 and
Peter Sellers had this, Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita
and the first two Pink Panther films
under his belt for the year. In what is
an interesting score that grows on you the more you listen, it should be said
that this holds true, even when you try to write it off as politically
incorrect.
As for
whether the film is or is not will wait for the DVD review, though this is film
that gives Sellers great co-stars like Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Phyllis
Thaxter, Tom Bosley, Al Lewis, and John Fiedler. Bernstein’s score certainly has the right
off-kilter tone, and the touches of what would be thought of as stereotypical
Asian-representative signature is not as trivial as it is in the
purposely-intended-to-emulate-older-films moment from Peyton Reed’s Down With Love (2003). Instead, it is part of a greater collage of
ideas of musical-off-centeredness. This
is tempered with many styles and some more serious and contrastingly “standard”
moments, which are all eventually foiled by the wackier goings-on that the
music accompanies in the film narrative.
That makes it enjoyable indeed.
The PCM
CD 2.0 sound is here in its original stereo from the original session masters
and has no major problems throughout. The
always-great booklets included in all Film Score Monthly FSM releases continues
in this release, limited to only 3,000 pressing, and in this case explains that
this sounds so good as one of the only masters to survive from being destroyed
as most United Artists films (despite the fact that they had a record label,
mind you) made at the Samuel Goldwyn Stage were thrown out (!!!) in one of the
many ownership changes the studio has gone through since 1969. It proves why retaining original materials
are so important, because this master has survived nicely and the joy of listening
to this CD will always be a constant reminder of that.
The same
materials will hopefully be used to restore and preserve the actual film, but
in the meantime, all FSM CDs are exclusive to the Film Score Monthly website
and can be ordered at www.filmscoremonthly.com
along with a few other hundred (so far) such exclusives the magazine has to
offer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
