The Buccaneer (CD Soundtrack)
Sound:
B- Music: B
The end
of an era was marked by the 1958 historical epic The Buccaneer. The big Paramount production would be Cecil B.
DeMille’s last, though it also happened to be the only directorial outing for
acting great Anthony Quinn, DeMille’s father-in-law of the time. The
Ten Commandments had been such a monster hit two years prior, that both
Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner were brought back again, as was a huge budget,
big production values and the use of the large frame VistaVision format.
To match
this, composer/conductor Elmer Bernstein was also brought in. Having scored Ten Commandments among many great Hollywood films, big music that was still
good music, was needed for the film.
Bernstein delivered and that 2003 CD score release is subject of this
review.
DRG has
issued a 13-track set out of the Columbia Records vaults, really showing off
the music on its own. Remarkably still
not available on DVD from Paramount yet, the only previous optical
disc release of this music was by default, on the now-defunct 12” LaserDisc
format set. That was offered in digital
PCM CD stereo, as is this CD, which reproduces the original vinyl album
art. Though this writer never had the
pleasure of experiencing that Laser set, this is a worthwhile reissue.
Bernstein
helped keep the film moving when it became too stuff or plastic, at the moments
where is looks and feels overproduced. The
music is made up of either traditional-styled pieces that reflect the time or
blockbuster-styled music where applicable.
Give or take the military-styled excerpt that sums it up. It is often lush, always smooth, and with
real heart. This is an underrated work.
The
sound, however, seems a bit over-digitally processed, causing a slight
distortion and stressing on the strings and other harmonics in that frequency
range. This is a transfer issue, not one
of the condition of the master tapes, which sound good otherwise. VistaVision releases rarely had real stereo,
with Paramount opting for the faked stereo of
the Perspecta System. However, many
films had real stereophonic scores, as demonstrated in resent restorations of
VistaVision-shot classics like Vertigo,
North By Northwest (on DVD, anyway),
and in 70mm reissues of Ten Commandments
and the 1956 War and Peace.
Whether The Buccaneer will get the same
theatrical treatment is not totally out of the question, but a DVD has to
surface sooner or later. It is the only
one of these films that has not been issued that way. One might assume all the best sound sources
are with Columbia Records, but who knows what is in the Paramount vaults pertaining to this
film. Until then, this is an enjoyable
work finally out for all to hear.
- Nicholas Sheffo
