MIGHTY JOE YOUNG

ROY WEBB

Rating:

Golden Age Review by Tom Kiefner: After a long production delay, Monstrous Movie Music has released another wonderful score from the pen of Roy "Forgotten Man" Webb. While the 1949 film "Mighty Joe Young" was not the success that Merian C. Cooper was looking for, the film did garner an Oscar to Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen for their special effects techniques. A very young Ben Johnson, who went on to become a fine character actor, Terry Moore, and Robert Armstrong who provides a link from the first two Kong pictures as the promoter, star in this story of a gorilla going to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune. And while time will tell, Peter Jackson's childhood dream of successfully remaking King Kong in 2005 will likely be far more successful than Cooper's dream of another successful ape movie.

It is likely that the relationship with RKO in the distribution of this picture gave Roy Webb the opportunity to score it. The liner notes indicate that Cooper wanted Max Steiner to score the picture, as he had done on the previous two, but Steiner was under contract to Warner Brothers and unable to do it. Webb faithfully tried to follow in the footsteps of Steiner and create a score which was similar in many ways to the first two King Kong films, and while there is a Steiner influence, there is most definitely that smooth Webb sound which will become especially recognizable to you if you have had the opportunity to listen to his work in the past. Having worked on the Val Lewton film "Cat People", films noir such as "Murder My Sweet" and "Out of the Past", and well over 300 other film scores which we will likely be limited to hearing only by viewing the film, the subtle distinct sound of Webb comes through loud and clear on this recording. Using the Stephen Foster theme "Beautiful Dreamer" as part of the score is a technique similar to his use of Stravinsky's Cat Cradle Song in "Cat People." While Webb is very original around the theme, you almost get the idea that "Beautiful Dreamer" was written for this film. If you think about it, the fact that this theme was used for a huge lumbering gorilla seems totally out of place, but in fact it works quite well in the film itself, and effectively depicts the tenderness between Terry Moore and Mighty Joe.

The opening tracks, which begin with a fanfare, are followed by the wonderful, playful "A Surprise For Dad", and lead to "Beautiful Dreamer", are my favourite tracks. "Beautiful Dreamer" was made to sound very much like a musical box - a touching way to play Joe's favourite song! The Night Club Fanfare, African Marches, and African Dances are well written, excellent cues and perhaps this is where one could get the idea that this was a Steiner written score. There is a similar sound to the King Kong March, and I am sure this was intentional on the part of the producer Webb and Cooper. In other words, Cooper likely told Webb to make the music like "King Kong".

In addition, also included on this CD are twenty one minutes of music for the 1957 film "20 Million Miles To Earth." Budget was the word for the music on the film! The original score was written by Russian-American composer Mischa Bakaleinikoff, but to reduce costs, almost half of the rest of the cues were taken and inserted from the library scores at Columbia – resulting in the score including music by George Duning, David Raksin, David Diamond, and many others. In fact, this new recording not only sounds better in the reconstruction, but likely cost more to make than the original itself! The short "Sicily" cue is very melodic and quite well done. The film itself stars William Hopper of Perry Mason fame, and features a creature Ray Harryhausen created called Ymir, one of his better efforts. The CD finishes with a four minute cue by Paul Sawtell from the 1956 documentary "The Animal World", and a complete version of Heaven from "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," written by Frederick Hollander.

Anyone wanting to hear as much music as possible from the score will be quite happy with this recording. However, 66 tracks in a total of 62 minutes does break the music down quite a bit, and don't be surprised if you find yourself a bit distracted by it. The Radio Symphony Orchestra of Slovakia and the recording are superb, as well as the music restoration. Kathleen Mayne did a job to be proud of, as well as conductor Masatoshi Mitsumoto. Smaller companies like Monstrous Movie Music need to be supported. It is through people like David Schecter that recordings like this are possible. Just the liner notes (it’s really a book) are worth the price of the CD! Without the likes of him this recording would not have been possible and people would still be saying “who is Roy Webb?” Recommended.

You can order this CD direct from the Monstrous Movie Music website.

Track Listing: Running Time: 61 minutes 48 seconds

Monstrous Movie Music MMM-1953 (2005)

Music composed by Roy Webb, Mischa Bakaleinikoff, Paul Sawtell, Frederick Hollander, David Diamond, George Duning, David Raksin, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Werner Heymann and Max Steiner. Conducted by Masatoshi Mitsumoto. Performed by The Radio Symphony Orchestra of Slovakia (Bratislava). Recorded and mixed by Hubert Geschwandtner. Album produced by David Schecter and Kathleen Mayne.

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