Original Film Soundtrack
Label: 20th Century Fox Blue Sky Label
Cat.#: FOX-3004
Country: United States
Format: Vinyl LP, Mono
Release Date: 1958
Notes:
Original musical score composed by Hugo Friedhofer. Music performed by the Graunke Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Graunke.
This album has been re-issued and re-mastered over the years. Scroll down to view information on these.
For a review, please see the notes section below.
Track Listing:
- SIDE 1 -
1. Main Title
2.The Intruders
3. The Consulate
4. The Strange House
5. The Tormentors
6. The Plague
- SIDE 2 -
1. Narration and Scene
2. The Palace
3. Advice and Questions
4. Celebration and Plot
5. Tamura Commands
6. Declaration
7. Finale
A Complete Soundtrack Recording
Label: Gemini
Cat.#: CF 3384
Country: US
Format: Vinyl, LP, Mono
Release Date: c.1970s
Notes:
Reissue by Gemini Treasury of Distinguished Film Music. Original release on 20th Century Fox. This Gemini reissue contains the same track listing as the original 1958 soundtrack noted above.
Original musical score composed by Hugo Friedhofer. Music performed by the Graunke Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Graunke.
For a review, please see the notes section below.
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Label: Intrada
Cat.#: Intrada Special Collection, Volume 4
Country: United States
Format: CD
Release Date: January 2002
Notes: World premiere release of the complete 20th Century-Fox classic film score by Hugo Friedhofer. Music performed by the Graunke Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Graunke. Presented in stereo from original session elements. Has everything from original 1958 Fox label LP plus previously unreleased music. Limited edition release.
For additional reviews, please see the notes section below.
Track Listing:
01. Forward And Main Title 2:05
02. The Intruders 2:11
03. The Consulate 1:47
04. Flag Raising 0:57
05. Orders From Edo 0:47
06. An Invitation 0:55
07. Homecoming 1:00
08. The Strange House 4:20
09. Awareness 0:22
10. The Tormentors 3:37
11. Outcast 0:53
12. The Plague 8:14
13. Narration And Scene 2:46
14. The Road To Edo 3:18
15. The Palace 2:45
16. Advice And Questions 1:45
17. Assassination 1:03
18. Celebration And Plot 2:16
19. Tamura Commands 1:47
20. Declaration 2:02
21. Finale 7:02
Total Duration: 00:49:05
Original Motion Picture Soundtracks
Label: Kritzerland
Cat.#: KR20021-6
Country: United States
Format: CD
Release Date: April 3, 2012
UPC: 85725200216
Notes:
Original scores composed by Hugo Friedhofer
The Barbarian and The Geisha
Based on a story by Ellis St. John, 1958’s The Barbarian and the Geisha recounts the story of Townsend Harris, who arrives in Japan in the 1850s as the first American to serve as Consul-General to Japan, and who was a key figure in opening relations between Japan and America. The film stars John Wayne, and is directed by John Huston. Much of it shot on location, the film is beautiful to look at and features Twentieth Century Fox’s usual top-notch production values.
One of The Barbarian and the Geisha’s strongest elements is its absolutely stunning score by Hugo Friedhofer. By that point, Friedhofer had already written several masterpieces, including The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bishop’s Wife, and, at Fox, such glorious scores as An Affair to Remember, The Boy on a Dolphin, The Rains of Ranchipur, Soldier of Fortune, Seven Cities of Gold, The Revolt of Mamie Stover, Between Heaven and Hell, and, the same year as Barbarian, The Young Lions.
Friedhofer’s score for The Barbarian and the Geisha manages to have Oriental color while remaining tonal in a completely American way. It’s a thing of sublime beauty and one of his best scores. His main theme is heartbreakingly beautiful and is repeated many times throughout the score, and the rest of his music complements and enriches every scene in the film – this is Golden Age movie music the way we remember Golden Age movie music – melodic, dramatic, tender, suspenseful, and evoking a different time and place through orchestral color and knowing how the orchestra can be utilized to also evoke Oriental textures without resorting to triteness.
Violent Saturday
Violent Saturday, based on the novel by W. L. Heath, was made three years earlier and is a taut and suspenseful film about a small-town robbery. Almost fifty years after its release, it’s considered a classic (the DVD was recently released by Twilight Time and is a must-have), with terrific performances from Richard Egan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and the large cast, excellent writing (screenplay by Sidney Boehm, who wrote the screenplay for the noir classic, The Big Heat), and great direction from Richard Fleischer,
Hugo Friedhofer’s score for Violent Saturday is perfection and a textbook example of how and when to use music. All told, the score is only about twenty minutes long, but it’s the perfect amount of music for this film. It does exactly what film music is supposed to do – propels the film, underscores the scenes that need it, and stays out of the way when music would serve no purpose. There are no classic Friedhofer themes to be found – just music that functions sometimes as subtext, sometimes as suspense, and sometimes as violent as the goings on in Violent Saturday.
Both The Barbarian and the Geisha and Violent Saturday had previous CD releases on Intrada, both long out of print and instant sellouts. The Barbarian and the Geisha was a standalone CD and Violent Saturday played second feature to Warlock by Leigh Harline. It’s great to be able to couple the two Friedhofer scores together, and make them available to those who may have missed out on the prior releases, or who’d like to have these two scores together on one CD. This release has been newly-remastered by James Nelson.
The Barbarian and the Geisha/Violent Saturday is limited to 1000 copies only. Please visit the Kritzerland website for ordering information at:
http://www.kritzerland.com/barbarian_violent.htm
Track Listings:
Barbarian and the Geisha
1. Foreword/Main Title (02:05)
2. The Intruders (02:11)
3. The Consulate (01:47)
4. Flag Raising (00:57)
5. Orders from Edo (00:47)
6. An Invitation (00:55)
7. Homecoming (01:00)
8. The Strange House (04:20)
9. Awareness (00:22)
10. The Tormentors (00:53)
11. Outcast (00:53)
12. The Plague (08:14)
13. Narration and Scene (02:46)
14. The Road to Edo (03:15)
15. The Palace (02:45)
16. Advice and Questions (01:45)
17. Assassination (01:03)
18. Celebration and Plot (02:16)
19. Tamura Commands (01:47)
20. Declaration (02:02)
21. Finale (07:02)
Violent Saturday
22. Prologue (00:56)
23. Violent Saturday Main Title (01:46)
24. If I'm Lucky (01:42)
25. Harper (00:57)
26. Dill and Library (02:34)
27. Emily (00:57)
28. Harper Takes a Walk (01:26)
29. Shelly and Steve (02:36)
30. Linda Comes Home (01:38)
31. Insomnia (01:37)
32. Mr. Reeves (01:37)
33. Stalemate (00:39)
34. Kidnapping (03:00)
35. God Forgive Me (00:44)
36. End Title (00:34)
Total Duration: 01:11:48