Room 222/Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies

        (Limited Edition Soundtrack CD)

 

Sound: B     Room 222 Music: B     Ace Eli Music: B-

 

 

Jerry Goldsmith’s two more atypical scores can be found on the double feature of scores on a single CD that features TV’s Room 222 and feature film Ace Eli on a new set of those original recording offered by the FSM label of the magazine Film Score Monthly exclusively.  It is some of Goldsmith’s more passive work.

 

Room 222 was a hit show that began in 1969, created by future Mary Tyler Moore co-creator/writers James Brooks and Allan Burns, set around a high school with the twist of then new to TV multi-ethnicity.  The casting was groundbreaking, but EastmanColor prints gone bad (as the still from the back of the CD case shows), and very choppy editing have made the once well-syndicated show a time-capsule of the past in many ways.  Goldsmith’s main music for the show remains memorable, though the theme sounds a bit like The Beatles’ “Fool on the Hill”, but that actually makes some sense in the show’s attempt to be subtly hip.

 

This section runs just over 12 minutes, even repeating the theme in variations, but it helped sell the show.  It is the kind of theme song that makes you remember the fine cast and ambitious attempt on the part of the series to move television forward in some way.  It is also one of the most well known of Goldsmith’s laid-back works.

 

Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973) was a belatedly-issued and cut-down feature film that happens to represent the first professional sale (story) of Steven Spielberg, a sort of less abrasive Paper Moon, but nowhere nearly as good, organized or memorable.  Goldsmith’s music here is not a disaster, but it is choppy, reflecting the nature of the film, set during WWI, and its mixed ambitions.  The score is well recorded and produced, but it ultimately winds up being an interesting curio not unlike the film it was meant for.

 

The sound on the CD is not bad, except for “wow” and warping at times from archiving that failed.  This affects the monophonic Room 222 somewhat, but is so bad at times on Ace Eli that the final seven bonus tracks are included for completists, since they are in such damaged shape.

 

It is those completists who will ultimately want this CD the most, especially with its pressing limited at 3,000 copies.  The website to order is www.filmscoremonthly.com for this and many other hard-to-get soundtrack CDs, which always include well researched, informative booklets.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo