Preminger at Fox: Fallen Angel - Where the Sidewalk Ends - Laura - Daisy Kenyon - Whirlpool

Music Composed by David Raksin and Cyril J. Mockridge

For Preminger at Fox, we concentrate on five films, all of which were released on DVD under the Fox Film Noir umbrella. While one could argue about the use of the word noir in one instance, all five films have the look and feel of noir, they’re all very much of a piece and they’re all brilliantly directed by Otto Preminger.

Fallen Angel has all the classic noir ingredients – a down-at-the-heels drifter, a sultry siren that men will do anything for, an innocent nice girl, a tough cop, and various other archetypes. As he had with Laura, composer David Raksin provided another classic noir tune, this one called “Slowly,” which plays as source music throughout the film (and is sung by both Alice Faye and Dick Haymes). Additionally, Raksin provides his usual expert background score, beginning with a nervous, bustling, and exciting main title and continuing through a series of wonderful cues. There’s nothing quite like Raksin in noir mode and Fallen Angel is a Raksin classic.

Where the Sidewalk Ends reunited the stars of Preminger’s Laura – Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. The composer for Where the Sidewalk Ends wasn’t Preminger regular David Raksin, but a Fox staff composer named Cyril J. Mockridge, with whom Preminger had worked before. Mockridge based his score around Alfred Newman’s classic “Street Scene” music – a piece that was used regularly in films of all types at Fox during that era. But what Mockridge does with it is great, and his own original music, of which there is plenty, suits the film perfectly.

No Preminger at Fox collection would be complete without the film that started it all – Laura, Preminger’s 1944 classic. For this CD, we include “The Laura Suite – Theme and Variations.”

Daisy Kenyon (1947), is a drama with a romantic triangle at its center, involving Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda. It’s a terrific drama, filled with Preminger’s directorial touches that elevate it from being just another potboiler. Once again, the composer is David Raksin. Although the film has almost no music, the little that’s there is wonderful.

Whirlpool (1949), has a cast that includes Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer, and Charles Bickford. Once again a Preminger film features a classic David Raksin score, this one filled to the brim with one great cue after another beginning with its dramatic and then beguiling main theme. For this film, Raksin is at his most atmospheric and it’s one of his best scores and the longest score in this set.

Five great films by one great director for a great studio – four with scores by David Raksin and one with a gem of a score by Cyril J. Mockridge, all of which adds up to some great Golden Age film score listening. - KRITZERLAND

DISC 1:

FALLEN ANGEL

1. Cross Country Bus (Main Title)

2. Eric

3. Slowly (Sung by Alice Faye)

4. The Andrews Blues

5. The Séance

6. Slowly (Instrumental)

7. June

8. Slowly (Instrumental #2)

9. Eric, Stella and June

10. Fallen Angel

11. Slowly (Sung by Dick Haymes) and Finale

Music Composed and Conducted by David Raksin

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS

12. Street Scene – Whistling and Fanfare

13. Slums/Dixon Picks Up the Phone

14. Dixon Stiffens

15. Dixon Starts to Walk

16. Dixon Starts to Drive On

17. Morgan’s Father Closes Door/You Look Beat, Mark

18. Martha Exits

19. Your Dad Never Killed Him/He Won’t Be Tried

20. Dixon Hangs Up Phone

21. Finale

22. Cry Baby (Alfred Newman)

Music Composed by Cyril J. Mockridge

Contains “Street Scene” by Alfred Newman • Conducted by Alfred Newman

23. LAURA

The Laura Suite – Theme and Variations

Music Composed and Conducted by David Raksin

DISC 2:

DAISY KENYON

1. Daisy Kenyon

2. Love on the Cape

Music Composed and Conducted by David Raksin

WHIRLPOOL

3. Main Title

4. Ann Glances Off

5. Car Drives In

6. Hotel Café

7. Slowly (Tina’s Party)

8. Ann

9. Korvo

10. Dr. Sutton Seated on Bed

11. Lush Fox Trot

12. Ann Stops Writing

13. Ann Pulls Emergency Brake

14. Lieutenant in Ann’s Room

15. It’s the Way I Am

16. Korvo As Nurse Exits

17. Car Lights Flash in Window

18. End Title

19. Trailer