I’ll Cry Tomorrow (Limited Edition CD Soundtrack)
Sound: B Music:
B
As a competing project to Warner Bros. success with George
Cukor’s ever-impressive remake of A Star Is Born with Judy Garland in
1954, M-G-M (Garland’s home studio) came up with their answer the following
year with Daniel Mann’s I’ll Cry Tomorrow. Instead of the Technicolor production the Garland vehicle was,
this film would be in stark black and white.
While we will wait to review the film on DVD, one think that kept this
film from becoming just another biopic or melodrama, besides Susan Hayward’s
portrayal of real-life star Lillian Roth, is the score by Alex North.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people bring up Alex
North as a favorite composer, especially in the enthusiasm that comes with
it. He was influential and very
musically literate and this shows in this latest exclusive Film Score Monthly
Limited Edition CD soundtrack release.
Of the 27 tracks featured, many extras are included and you can hear the
ambitious variances North and company tried before finalizing the score. Of particular interest is one of those great
songs of the past that never seems to go away.
Like You Are My Lucky Star, When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob
Bob Bobbin’ Along, an all-time classic by Harry Woods that surfaces in
everything from Film Noirs to Animated Cartoons. Two vocal versions are included here, one by Hayward, the other
by Sandy Ellis, in case the studio decided not to go with Hayward’s cut. Neither is as great as it could be and the
Hayward version is too brassy for its own good.
As a matter of fact, the vocal songs do not stand up as
well as the North score and the real life Roth changed her arrangements of the
songs in concerts after the film’s release to accommodate audience’s
expectations, according to the always-excellent booklet included in each FSM CD
release. That includes at least one
paragraph on each track. This CD is
almost 76 minutes, the maximum the old format can hold on one disc, but I would
have loved to hear Roth’s original vocals and arrangements of the material
here. Most important though is another
solid North score finally out as an album, even if it is a CD about 50 years
after the film’s release.
The PCM 2.0 CD sound is not bad for its age, with some selections
monophonic, but the classically trained producers and engineers bring the
recording to a higher level further bringing out the best in North, a composer
ahead of his time. That makes it a
great CD soundtrack to have, but there are only 3,000 copies being pressed, so
you may want to go to www.filmscoremonthly.com
for more details in their CD section for this and other highly collectible
exclusives. Track listings and
downloadable samples are available there.
- Nicholas Sheffo
