Atlantis – The Lost
Continent/The Power (Limited
Edition CD)
Sound: B Music:
B+/ A
Russell Garcia’s score for George Pal’s 1961 film Atlantis
– The Lost Continent is a Classical Hollywood-sounding score with a
sweeping romantic theme, swirling strings indicating the perilous journey, and
a beautiful fanfare that immediately sets in startling images of a perfect
world. As with The Thing From
Another World CD release, Atlantis is another great release from
Film Score Monthly in their FSM Soundtrack collection billed The Silver Age
Classics. This release is complete with
a great full color booklet with linear notes on the film itself, as well as
notes on every track on the disc. Also
included in this release is Miklos Rosza’s score to Pal’s 1968 thriller The
Power.
The score to Atlantis is a fantastic retrospective into
another window of cinema. Trumpets
signify both impending danger and often even accenting a beautiful romantic
theme. The strings can be either quick
and snappy, jumping all over the place, or calmer and more passive for the
lighter and more intent moments of the score.
Some notable tracks on Atlantis are Main Titles/The Chase,
Lost/Hallucinations, Kidnapped/Slavery, War/Decision/Map,
and Stabs/Rumbles/Madness.
As mentioned in the linear notes, this release is remixed
from the original 35mm three-track magnetic masters. Prior releases consisted of 6:59 suites of themes, which Garcia
re-recorded in 1987 when he was re-recording The Time Machine. This release has many passages that were not
heard in the finished film due to the re-cutting of the film, this being the
first time the COMPLETE score for this film has been released.
The Power is an action packed soundtrack
and a great contrast to Bernard Herrmann’s score to North By Northwest
(1959) which itself has been issued many times in various audio formats. As with that soundtrack, we have thrilling
strings and exciting brass leading us into a fun and dangerous spy world. The Prelude sets the tone for the
film and gives us a great insight onto the action to come leading us out of
that theme into a calmer and more passive string melody. From track two, we’re into another dimension
entirely, with an otherworldly mysterious motif. My favorite thing about this score is the over-excited strings
and brass that are fantastic for thriller or adventure films of any kind. Some notable tracks from The Power are Prelude,
First Manifestion/Hallison Dies/Death in the Centrifuge/Recognition, The
Merry Go-Round, and Babble Pit/The Revolver.
This is another excellent release from Film Score Monthly,
and there are so many great things to say about both of the releases I got from
them in the Silver Screen Classics Series.
Kudos to FSM for again not only re-issuing these lost albums but giving
the love and respect that these great scores need. Be sure to visit www.filmscoremonthly.com
to order this and other great CD soundtrack titles, as like previous releases,
this is limited to 3,000 copies. Downloadable
sound clips and ordering details can be found there.
- Jamie Lockhart
