Morituri/Raid On
Entebbe (Limited Edition CD Soundtrack)
Sound: B
Morituri Music: B Entebbe
Music: B
In one of the more interesting combo soundtracks on one CD
from Film Score Monthly’s FSM label is a combination of the WWII
thriller Morituri (1965) and the TV movie Raid On Entebbe (1976). The latter is about a hostage crisis in which
the Israeli government secretly sends their commandos to save a planeload of
Israelis being kidnapped by Palestinian interests.
After listen to both of them, the common thread between
the two is that both have a secret operation going on and the music. They also feel like they were composed for
their intended venues. Morituri was
a claustrophobic black and white thriller drama (now on DVD-Video elsewhere on
this site), while Entebbe was an
equally claustrophobic telefilm about a hijacking. They have both done better work, but these
are not bad. The booklet included is
also nice, telling us of the histories of the films, their music, and the
incredible talent behind both films.
The masters for Morituri are from seven tracks,
while Entebbe was shot for U.S. TV with a theatrical release in Europe,
a common practice in the 1970s when telefilms used to so good. The scores are eleven years apart, so what
Goldsmith’s work has in detail (conducted by Lionel Newman), Shire’s score has
in warmth and fullness. The PCM CD sound
offers the Goldsmith score in stereo, while Shire’s is monophonic. It is a toss-up for sound quality, but both
are very listenable on a sonic level.
In Morituri’s case, the film does not always work,
though we’ll save more on that for the DVD release. Entebbe is less likely to get DVD
treatment, as most telefilms never do, with exceptions like Night Stalker,
Night Strangler, and Duel.
Then it becomes a matter of how long they will stay in print.
That is also an issue for this CD, for which only 3,000
copies have been pressed. www.filmscoremonthly.com is the
place you can exclusively order it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
