Saddle The Wind (Limited Edition CD Soundtrack)
Sound: B-
Music: B
After a few key transitional Western films arrived (High
Noon (1950) and Johnny Guitar (1954) among them), the genre turned
more thoughtful and one of the less recognized films to do so was Robert
Parrish’s Saddle The Wind (1958).
Written by Rod Serling and on the dawn of his peak success with the
original Twilight Zone TV series, and many of the people on this film
were also TV veterans. Though the film
has not yet been issued by Warner Bros. on DVD in all its CinemaScope and
MetroColor (it was an MGM film) glory, Film Score Monthly has issued a limited
edition CD of the music score.
In this case, there are two scores. One is the final score by Elmer Bernstein,
while the other is Jeff Alexander’s equally impressive version the studio
replaced when the film was cut down severely.
Maybe Warner ought to include both versions on separate soundtracks when
they get to that DVD, which would mean a longer version as well as the
theatrical cut, but the scores are here now on this CD. Alexander’s score suggest a fuller storyline
in keeping with Serling’s writing at its best, while Bernstein’s score is not
the more typical kind he is so closely associated with from The Magnificent
Seven, which he has repeated at times and was only two years away. Without knowing it (he did not know he was
doing a replacement score), Bernstein came up with as thoughtful a score,
proving both composers understood that Serling was trying to make another
Western with a difference.
The PCM 2.0 CD sound is monophonic for the most part,
except the title song, which is here in stereo as sung by Julie London. This is an alternate recording form the
original 3-track stereo 35mm master.
The rest of the score comes from the original 17.5mm magnetic mono
master, which is a change from the awful situation of so many MGM scores
starting in stereo, only to be saved in mono copies while stereo masters were
trashed! In both versions, there is
some slight warping here and there, but the materials are in good shape for the
most part. The is also the usually
excellent booklet that tells about the film and its music with nice stills, but
only 3,000 copies have been pressed. If
you are interested and want to learn more about the album and even download
music clips, go to www.filmscoremonthly.com
for more details. You’ll find dozens of
great music exclusives and much, much more.
- Nicholas Sheffo
