The Glass Slipper (1955, Limited Edition CD Soundtrack Set)

 

Sound: B     Music: B     Extras Music: B

 

 

Charles Walters is a journeyman director with a mixed record, but was ambitious and trusted with some interesting productions like Lili.  Like that 1953 MGM production, Film Score Monthly.com’s FSM soundtrack label has issued the soundtrack to his later 1955 Cinderella adaptation The Glass Slipper, which offers two CDs because there was so much extra material.  The film may not have been as successful or endured as Lili has, but the music is still very top notch.

 

Once again, Bronislau Kaper is the composer and more than any other composer, FSM has continuously showcased his work and with each release reaffirm his importance in the cannon of Golden Age studio composers.  The first CD Has the over 71 minutes he composed for the 94 minutes long feature.  Without going into the film, which we will try to do with its DVD release at another time including the Lili cast reunited here for the most part, the music is strong, balletic, classical, rich and layered as is always the case with all Kaper’s great works.  CD 2 has 9 alternate versions of this music that are as rich and effective as what did land up on the big screen, then there are 4 bonus tracks including guest Miklos Rozsa talking with Kaper.  Rozsa conducted his score in this case.

 

This is a must-have set for fans and another historical release for FSM, as event he original score never had a formal soundtrack release.  Well, a half-century later is better than never.

 

The PCM 2.0 16Bit/44.1kHz sound very much on the stereo side throughout.  The majority of the tracks are stereophonic here for the most part, though the liner notes do not give us the usual technical masters information.  FSM has tried to make those tracks as close to stereo as possible, while the actual stereo tracks that survived shows how nice the stereo actually was for the time, even with any clean up the team did here.  We could not confirm at posting time whether the film was a 4-track magnetic stereo release, but it was not a scope or large-frame format release.  The set also includes another very thorough and informative booklet with fine illustrations and text.  This CD is limited to only 3,000 copies however, so be sure to go to www.filmscoremonthly.com to hear samples of this and many others of their exclusive releases among other goodies they offer.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo