Darling Lili

Quartet Records, in association with Paramount Pictures, Sony Music, the Henry Mancini Estate and the Johnny Mercer Estate, presents a remastered and extensively expanded deluxe edition of Blake Edwards’ 1970 big-budget musical-war-romantic comedy DARLING LILI, starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson.

DARLING LILI is not a conventional musical in which characters burst into song as a narrative substitute for speech or interior monologue. Rather, director Blake Edwards has taken pains to describe it as “a romantic comedy with music.” Inspired by the life of Mata Hari, the film tells the story of supposedly British singer Lili Smith (Julie Andrews), who triumphs in France during World War I. In reality, she’s a German citizen named Lili Schmidt, working for German military espionage.

The film was a resounding failure at the box office and led to a several-year hiatus in the relationship between Blake Edwards and Henry Mancini, due to some disagreements and misunderstandings during postproduction. But it was also the movie where Edwards met Julie Andrews, who became his wife for the rest of his life. It was also the first collaboration between Julie Andrews and Henry Mancini, two musical souls destined to meet.

Henry Mancini and his favorite lyricist, Johnny Mercer, wrote a number of wonderful songs for the picture, including “Whistle Away the Dark,” one of their most beautiful creations, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Song in 1970. Mancini also wrote a powerful symphonic and dramatic score that has never been heard outside of the movie. The score and songs were also nominated in the Best Music Original Songs Score category.

This edition has been painstakingly produced, restored and mastered by Chris Malone, working from the first-generation album master and mono and stereo elements provided by Paramount Pictures. It includes the historic RCA album with the original songs beautifully performed by Julie Andrews, Mancini’s complete underscore for the film, plus some curious extras such as the demos played by Johnny Mercer before filming that include two unreleased Mancini-Mercer songs that were not included in the film. Instrumental versions of the songs round out the program.

A treat for fans of Julie Andrews, Henry Mancini and the Mancini-Mercer songs. The lavishly designed package includes a 24-page booklet with extensive liner notes by film music writer John Takis.

Tracklist