BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE/1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS

GEORGE DUNING

Rating:

Golden Age Review by Tom Kiefner: George Duning doesn't have the name recognition of others in his era such as Steiner, Rózsa, or North. He was a quiet, modest individual who spent little time attempting to gather publicity. Much of his film scoring output was accomplished in the sixteen years he spent working for Columbia pictures from 1944 to 1960. It was while at Columbia that he scored such films as From Here To Eternity, Picnic, The Eddy Duchin Story, and Jolson Sings Again. He was nominated five times for the treasured Oscar, but never won.

Bell, Book and Candle was based on the 1950 Broadway play produced by Irene Selznick. By now David O. Selznick had taken up with Jennifer Jones and divorced the daughter of Louis B. Mayer. In 1958 it was brought to the screen with an all-star cast including Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart. It is a cute comedy based on witchery and warlocks and fared pretty well at the box office. The main title is one of those infectious themes that leaves one humming as you leave the theatre. It is a great theme, played with bongo drums as percussion, sweet serene strings stirring up feelings of romance, and as a jazz theme leaving no doubt in your mind as to the time frame this film was produced. Jazz, however syrupy, was beginning to make its way into films, and this was a typical example of the kind of comedy scoring one did at the time. The main problem with this score is that this wonderful theme is played over and over and over and over. There are some other, more forgettable themes, featuring more bongo percussion and the famous trumpets of the Condoli Brothers, Pete and Conte.

There is a rendition of the old standard “Stormy Weather”, but it is little more than elevator music. More noteworthy is the fact that young ‘Johnny’ Williams performed the piano for the jazz sessions of this score, performed in Burbank before the impending strike. The rest of the score was recorded in Munich with the Graunke Orchestra conducted by George Duning. The underscore was performed in London under the baton of Muir Mathieson. Overall, this is one of those scores which would be adequate as part of a compilation CD with a couple of selections included, rather than a full length release. The recording is taken directly from the three-track masters and is in relatively good condition considering it is forty-six years old. Arthur "Goldsmith" Morton contributed the orchestrations.

1001 Arabian Nights was a failed attempt by UPA pictures to give Walt Disney some real competition. Featuring the character Mr. Magoo and the voices of Hans Conried and Jim Backus, it was a funny picture and got excellent reviews. The production staff of 174 artists produced over 250,000 drawings for the 75 minute production, which was released around Christmas in 1959 at a cost of $2 million. Featuring the lyrics of Ned Washington, the song "You Are My Dream" is featured prominently on some of the tracks, in both instrumental and mixed chorus versions. Some of the tracks are a nice, jazzy blend, with comical overtones mixed in. To create a more ethnic score, Duning employed the use of such unusual instruments as boo bams (a Polynesian membranophone created with an array of bamboo tubes), crotales (percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks, struck with mallets), rhythm logs and oriental ceremonial bells.

The score does have the advantage of having more diverse styles and themes, especially tinged with the ethnic instruments. However, parts of this score suffer from an overall ‘silliness’, given the material it was written for. Tracks such as "Three Little Maids from Damascus" could have been left in the Columbia vaults to forever deteriorate and there would be no musical loss. While tracks like this do make the soundtrack complete, it contributes in breaking up any smooth flow the score might have. While the score has its moments from time to time, it overall fails to hit the mark. The re-mastering from the stereo 1/4 inch tapes is OK. Morris Stoloff contributed with orchestrations and conducting. Overall, this release from Film Score Monthly is a disappointment, and is recommended only for the true George Duning fan.

Track Listing: Running Time: 73 minutes 05 seconds

Film Score Monthly FSM Vol. 9 No. 1 (2006)

Music composed by George Duning. “Bell Book and Candle” conducted by George Duning and Muir Matheson. “1001 Arabian Nights” conducted by George Duning and Morris Stoloff. “Bell Book and Candle” orchestrations by George Duning and Arthur Morton. “1001 Arabian Nights” orchestrations by George Duning and Morris Stoloff. Digital re-mastering by Doug Schwartz. Album produced by Lukas Kendall.

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