David Raksin at M-G-M
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FSMCD Vol. 12, No. 2 David Raksin at M-G-M Supplemental Liner Notes Contents Across the Wide Missouri 1 Kind Lady 4 The Man With a Cloak 7 The Girl in White 11 The Magnificent Yankee 15 The Next Voice You Hear. 18 Right Cross 19 Grounds for Marriage 20 The Vintage 21 A Lady Without Passport 24 Until They Sail 26 Pat and Mike 30 The Reformer and the Redhead 33 Liner notes ©2009 Film Score Monthly, 6311 Romaine Street, Suite 7109, Hollywood CA 90038. These notes may be printed or archived electronically for personal use only. For a complete catalog of all FSM releases, please visit: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com The Next Voice You Hear. , Right Cross, The Magnificent Yankee, A Lady Without Passport and The Reformer and the Redhead ©1950, Across the Wide Missouri, Grounds for Marriage, Kind Lady and The Man With a Cloak ©1951, The Girl in White and Pat and Mike ©1952, The Vintage and Until They Sail ©1957, Turner Entertainment Co., A Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. All rights reserved. FSMCD Vol. 12, No. 2 • David Raksin at M-G-M • Supplemental Liner Notes Across the Wide Missouri Across the Wide Missouri (1951) was a frontier ad- the score, Raksin writes in his own voice what other venture starring Clark Gable as Flint Mitchell, a moun- composers might have made more overtly and simply tain man and fur trapper who leads a dangerous ex- “Coplandesque.” pedition into Indian territory in the Rocky Mountains Variety wrote of the score, “Music by David Raksin of the 1830s. Mexican actress Mar´ıa Elena Marques´ is also an asset,” while The Hollywood Reporter com- plays a Blackfoot Indian woman whom Flint marries mented, “David Raksin’s music is arresting.” Over out of convenience (hoping to forge an alliance with a half century later, David Raksin’s complete score her tribe), but he gradually falls in love with her and to Across the Wide Missouri is presented here from ¼00 comes to respect and prefer the ways of her people. monaural tapes made from the original 35mm optical John Hodiak, Adolphe Menjou, J. Carrol Naish, Jack units, supplemented (for missing cues) by monaural Holt, Alan Napier and Richard Anderson are among acetates stored at the USC Cinematic Arts Library. the supporting cast, with Ricardo Montalban´ as an im- A note regarding the program commentary be- posing Indian adversary, Ironshirt. (It was on this film low: the film’s recutting makes it difficult to chroni- that Montalban´ fell from a horse and aggravated a con- cle exactly what some of the original and unused cues genital spinal condition, leading to health problems in were intended to underscore. (Listeners may wish to recent years.) print these notes and use variously colored highlighter William A. Wellman (a legendary Golden Age pens!) Recording slates and dates are provided to help helmer whose career began in the silent era) directed make sense of the selections. Some of the cues in the film, which features striking Technicolor photog- the bonus section were composed and/or adapted by raphy of the Colorado and South Dakota wilderness. M-G-M orchestrator Albert Sendrey and conducted by While the film is beautifully shot (almost entirely on lo- the studio’s head of music, Johnny Green, as a dead- cation) and conveys a wonderful atmosphere of the un- line consideration when the studio requested changes spoiled land and the people who inhabited it—whites in Raksin’s score. (For more information, see Marilee as well as Indians—the narrative is somewhat prob- Bradford’s essay in the booklet accompanying this re- lematic: after a lackluster test screening, the film was lease.) cut down to 78 minutes and the timeline restructured via narration by the son of the main characters, now 1. Main Title (film version) (1M1, 12/28/50; 1M1A, an adult (voiced by Howard Keel) and telling the story 7/3/51) The finished film’s opening credit sequence be- in flashback. The narration was written by the film’s gins with a symphonic rendition of the frontier dancing screenwriter, Talbot Jennings (who with Frank Cavett song “Skip to My Lou” (arranged by Albert Sendrey adapted a book by Bernard DeVoto), but the idea for it for an earlier version of the “Main Title,” see track 26). came from M-G-M producer Sam Zimbalist, otherwise This segues to Raksin’s lovely and elegant rendition of unassociated with the film and called in by studio head the folk song “Shenandoah” for the balance of the cred- Dore Schary for advice. its. The music continues under narration by Howard One benefit of the film’s somewhat radical recut- Keel (as the adult son of the film’s main character, Flint ting is that it resulted in even more music recorded Mitchell, played by Clark Gable) introducing the fron- by David Raksin. Raksin’s score is one of the film’s tiersmen of the period. A charming folk-like tune (an- highlights, incorporating frontier folk music (the song other of the score’s main themes) underscores the fron- “Shenandoah” as a main and end theme, and “Skip to tiersmen engaged in their annual July “rendezvous” My Lou” in some revised cues) and a poetry and atmo- celebration; the cue returns to “Shenandoah” as narra- sphere conveying the home and hearth of the people tion introduces an eccentric Scotsman, Capt. Humber- who tamed the land. Among the major themes are a stone Lyon (Alan Napier). charming and slightly sad tune for the Blackfoot Indi- 2. Pony Go Where Kamiah Go (1M2, 7/3/51) This ans, a folk-like ditty for the white frontiersmen, and short presentation of the Native American-flavored a heraldic piece of transitional music that propels the theme for Kamiah (Mara Elena Marques)—the´ Black- story along. Raksin did not simply write melodies as foot Indian girl who will become Flint’s wife—appears much as fully developed musical compositions that re- in the finished film for an early scene of Flint setting off cur from time to time: Across the Wide Missouri features on a trapping expedition as Kamiah and other Indians a distinct passage associated with the beauty of the look on. land, and another for the loss experienced by the char- 3. Hunted/Hare and Hounds/Quarry Escapes/ acters; still other passages underscore the recurring vi- Rendezvous (2M1, 2M2, 2M3, 2M4, 11/28/50) This olence between the settlers and Indians. Throughout music covers a lengthy and exciting sequence, which ©2009 Film Score Monthly 1 FSMCD Vol. 12, No. 2 • David Raksin at M-G-M • Supplemental Liner Notes in the finished film was repurposed to appear after 5M3, 11/29/50) “Now He’s Ready” underscores “Stockade” (track 9): while trapping on remote land, Flint returning to Kamiah’s teepee freshly bathed, Flint’s friend Du Nord is killed by the Blackfoot; after shaved and bearing flowers; she receives him warmly. burying his companion, Flint finds himself surrounded Raksin’s original, unused music for the scene features a by the tribe. The Indians, led by Ironshirt (Ricardo tender interweaving of the Blackfoot and frontiersmen Montalban),´ give Flint the chance to “run for his life,” melodies. “Rendezvous C’est Fini” spotlights a reprise which Flint does, killing an attacker in a pond and hid- of “Shenandoah” as the frontiersmen ride out for their ing from the rest of the tribe; Raksin’s full-throttled ac- annual expedition after the conclusion of their summer tion music captures the adrenaline of the chase. rendezvous. Action music at the end of the cue accom- The final cue in the sequence, “Rendezvous,” was panies an attack on the trappers’ advance scouts by a written to segue from the action sequence to the begin- group of Indians, led by Ironshirt. ning of the frontiersmen’s celebration that opens the 8. Divide/Pass/Valley (6M3, 6M4, 6M5, 11/29/50) finished film. This does, in fact, appear in the finished The trappers must make a harrowing journey through picture, underscoring the arrival of the trapper Bre- the mountains (guided by Kamiah) to avoid the dan- can (John Hodiak) at the rendezvous after the revised gerous Indians. Raksin based his original scoring of “Pony Go Where Kamiah Go” (track 2). the sequence (replaced in the finished film by “Trek,” 4. Looking Glass Arrives/Wolves (3M1, 3M2, track 23) on a dirge-like figure out of which emerges 11/29/50) These two cues do not appear in the fin- sophisticated counterpoint for the physical and emo- ished film, as the related scenes were evidently deleted. tional journey, culminating in a heartfelt statement of The character of Looking Glass (J. Carrol Naish) is a “Shenandoah.” (The finished film repurposes a portion Nez Perce Indian chief whose tribe abducted Kamiah of “Pass” for a subsequent traveling scene.) when she was a child; the Blackfoot theme (which at- 9. Stockade (6M6, 11/28/50) The trappers estab- taches to all Indians in the story) appears, presum- lish a stockade in Kamiah’s Blackfoot country as the ably for his introduction. The American Film Insti- base of their operations. The frontiersmen theme kicks tute plot synopsis of the movie (possibly made from off this cue (of which only the passage from 0:25 to 0:55 the film’s shooting script) includes information on the was used in the finished film); the subsequent, unused action that “Wolves” may have accompanied: Flint music features sensitive scoring of the Blackfoot theme, is rescued from a pack of wolves by trapper Pierre presumably for Kamiah. (Adolphe Menjou) and the aforementioned Humber- 10.