Archives > Archive 23
THE DAY OF REST WITH NO REST
bk:
Well, you've read the notes, the notes had no rest, and now it is time for you to post until the non-rested cows come home.
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And the word of the day is: PHARISAIC!
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And the new Kritzerland limited edition release is a great one. It will be live at Kritzerland at six in the morning, but you know what to do if you want it before then.
Kritzerland is proud to present a world premiere limited edition soundtrack release:
THE RAT RACE
Music Composed and Conducted by Elmer Bernstein
The Rat Race began life in 1949 as a Broadway play by Garson Kanin. Eleven years later, Paramount Pictures brought The Rat Race to the screen, starring Debbie Reynolds as a down-on-her-luck model and dancer, and Tony Curtis as a new to New York aspiring musician. The great supporting cast included Jack Oakie, Kay Medford, Norman Fell, and a very young Don Rickles. As with the Broadway play, several notable musicians were also in the cast – reprising his Broadway role was Joe Bushkin, and Gerry Mulligan and Sam Butera also appeared. The film was directed by Robert Mulligan (it was his second film, after Fear Strikes Out – also for Paramount), and the screenplay was by Kanin. Curtis and Reynolds deliver star performances – it’s one of Reynolds’ best performances, and the large supporting cast is wonderful (especially Rickles, who is really effective as a sleazeball). The photography of Robert Burks (at that time, Alfred Hitchcock’s regular cameraman) is stunning and Mulligan’s direction is terrific – he would, of course, go on to direct To Kill a Mockingbird just three years later.
As much of a leading character as those played by Curtis and Reynolds is the incredibly dynamic score by Elmer Bernstein. Right from the get-go, his electric, jazzy, and spectacular theme grabs you and never lets go. That theme recurs throughout the score – pulsing with the teeming life of the city, with wailing brass and insistent rhythms. Some cues keep the big-band jazzy feeling, while others are mournful and tender, as the story requires. It is, simply put, one of Bernstein’s best. Nobody did this kind of score better than Elmer Bernstein – it’s just filled with memorable melodies and stunningly gorgeous music. 1960 was a great year for Bernstein, what with The Rat Race and then one of his all-time masterpieces, The Magnificent Seven. The theme from The Rat Race enjoyed some popularity and radio play when it was recorded by cast member Sam Butera and the Witnesses.
This is the world premiere release of The Rat Race original soundtrack recording. There was an LP release of the Sam Butera version of the theme – an album called “Sam Butera and the Witnesses play the Music from The Rat Race,” but it was just the theme; the rest of the album was filled with standards. The original tapes, housed in Paramount’s vaults, were in excellent condition and we present Bernstein’s score in its entirety in stereo. In the bonus section we’ve included some mono source cues (all by Bernstein) and a couple of demos.
The Rat Race is limited to 1200 copies only. The price is $19.98, plus shipping.
CD will ship the first week of November – however, never fear, preorders placed directly through Kritzerland usually ship one to five weeks earlier (we’ve been averaging four weeks early). To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com.
MBarnum:
Dr JoseSPiano, glad you got to get together with JMK and had an opportunity to taste her cooking! It is yummy!
MBarnum:
I am up way too late. Watched a 1972 Kannada language film that I thought was going to be a snake horror film (or Naag film)...since there was a snake on the front cover and part of the title had the word "naag"....well....alas, it was not a horror film, but a drama.
Still, it was quite good, but no happy ending in this film, that is for sure.
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