INTRADA Announces:
TWO FLAGS WEST
Composed by HUGO FRIEDHOFER
NORTH TO ALASKA
Composed by LIONEL NEWMAN
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 168
Intrada continues its series of double headers from the vaults of Twentieth Century Fox with scores spanning the last decade of the Golden Age. The 1950 feature Two Flags West, directed by Robert Wise, is the more serious of the two, telling the story of confederate prisoners of war who would be granted amnesty if they joined the Union Army to fight against warring Indian tribes in the Far West. Georgia soldiers recruited by a Union commander from the Rock Island prison and sent, with their Colonel (Cotten), to Fort Thorn in the remote New Mexican wilderness. Composing duties fell to Hugo Friedhofer, who penned another classic western score that same year, Broken Arrow. From its opening moments when it makes something dark of both “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Dixie,”, this is a score—interpreted by conductor Alfred Newman—that lends added profundity to an already grave undertaking. Also omnipresent is a fanfare-like Western motif that forms the basis for much of the opening credit music and intertwines, spookily, with the “Battle Hymn.” There's also what Friedhofer referred to as "Wagon Train" music, but notably on display when the score references Indians on the warpath after the senseless killing of one of their young leaders.
The 1960 feature North to Alaska boasts a striking cast of John Wayne, Stewart Granger, Capucine, Ernie Kovacs, and Fabian. Featuring songs and score from the film, it is a handsomely burnished example of what the Fox music department could do, as a hard-working collective enterprise. Like many Fox films of the period, this one was a communal effort, with a single composer (Newman, in this instance) writing a few themes, and the orchestrators arranging the tunes. Interspersed among the vocals is colorful underscore music featuring a diversity of style.
Both scores are in stereo from the original session masters stored at Fox. This release is limited to 1000 units.
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 168
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE NOW
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7038/.f
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