Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID
Composed by MIKLÓS RÓZSA
INTRADA ISC 475

In honor or Miklós Rózsa's 115th birthday and as part of the ongoing Universal Pictures Film Music Classics Collection, Intrada presents Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Rózsa was born on April 18th,1907 in Budapest, Hungary. He scored his first film, Knight Without Armour, in 1937 and 45 years later in 1982 he completed his last film score – Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. It was a fitting film on which to end his distinguished career, as it is set in the '40s and brilliantly incorporates clips from noir classics of that time, including several that Rózsa himself had scored. Although Dead Men is a comedy and not a genre at which Rózsa felt particularly adept, its noir setting allowed him to play it straight, as if he was back scoring pictures in the '40s, but relying on decades of artistic growth that had since transpired. He builds the score on two major themes, both introduced in the "Prelude”: an angular, astringent minor-mode tune associated with the darker aspects of the drama followed by a lush, romantic love theme, both of which figure significantly in the score.The recording sessions were led by an esteemed composer and conductor in his own right, Lee Holdridge.

The album was mixed from the 1/2" 3-channel session elements carefully stored in the Universal archives and features 2-CDs worth of Rózsa's score. CD 1 includes the 62-minute score program, with CD 2 covering additional score and alternates.

The film begins when Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) hires private dick Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) to investigate the murder of her father, a noted “cheese scientist.” Rigby accepts the job, with the search for the missing Dr. Forrest taking Reardon, disguised as a little old lady, to prison to get information from a manic James Cagney (White Heat), and later to a supermarket where, dressed in Barbara Stanwyck’s blond wig, he picks up a lecherous Fred MacMurray (Double Indemnity). Ultimately Reardon has encounters with characters from The Lost Weekend; Sorry, Wrong Number; Double Indemnity and The Bribe (among others), all seamlessly integrated into an elaborate tale that concludes in Peru where the Nazis are using Dr. Forrest to create a corrosive cheese mold that will destroy America.

INTRADA ISC 475
Retail Price: $25.99
Barcode: 7 20258 54750 7
Starts Shipping 4/19
For track listing and sound samples, please visit https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12573/.f

Someone brought up a question I also had about the wild jazz piece being part of "Rózsa's Dramatic Score." Why not put it on the second disc, given that Holdridge himself noted that it was improvised on the spot and not written by Rózsa? Of course, it's generic enough to warrant no real writing credit.

Oh, and it's unfortunate how much the enthusiasm for this type of release has died down. I guess a lot of those interested have literally died over the last decade or so.

This is just kind of a quiet forum, sometimes. There are 30 replies over at the FSM board:
https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/post ... &archive=0

And that doesn't include the five replies at the bottom of my "What Rozsa scores are left to expand?" thread which I bumped:
https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/post ... 426#bottom

As I said over there, I'm ecstatic about this release! I just placed a big Intrada order not long ago, as well as picking up the two LLL Star Trek: Voyager volumes when they were on a 33% off sale, so I'm going to have to wait a bit before placing my order. But I absolutely will be placing an order for this!

Yavar