Just finished watching this movie adaptation after reading the Agatha Christie Novel recently. As usual, Bernard Herrman's score is wonderful and is in a similar vain to his other scores of "Doomed Love" and "Obsession" such as "Vertigo" and "Obsession". The song "Endless Night" is a haunting, even depressing, little ditty set to words from the William Blake poem "Auguries of Innocence". The denoument of the movie is haunting and there are links to "Vertigo" in both the surreal nightmarish imagery (an eye staring out through clouds) and in Herrmann's swirling music. Ellie's "Horse Riding" music harkens back to Tippi Hedren's scenes in "Marnie" and Herrmann once again utilises a Horn set to jaunty galloping music, but as this is Herrmann, there is always an underlying menace to the music.

One of my favourite personal moments in the score is when Michael and Greta make love in the "Music Room" that the now deceased Ellie loved so much and where she had spent so many melancholic moments at the harpsichord singing "Endless Night". As Michael and Greta passionately fall around the room, recklessly falling into and near the various instruments, Herrmann masterfully incorporates each instrument in his score as it appears in the scene. In the hands of a lesser composer this could have come over as corny and comical, but in the hands of a genius like Herrman, there is an emotional and ironic subtext at play in the music. The juxtaposition of the deceased Ellie's instruments with Michael and Greta's rampant lovemaking is highlighted in the score and is powerful stuff indeed.

Sadly, there seems to be no soundtrack score available. Does anyone know of, or have a Bootleg of this and if so would you be willing to trade or sell?

Gae

P.S. Interestingly, the Moog Synthesiser that is used ocassionally in the score is performed by a one, Howard Blake.

Of his 55 major film scores so many have been recorded several times now, meaning various themes or suites from them and certain scores like Psycho, etc.

Some of his rarer TV and radio music is becomding available now and some of it is very interesting. like that TV western stuff and those old Cerberus LPs being on CD now. Some of that is very interesting stuff.

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Of his 55 major film scores so many have been recorded several times now, meaning various themes or suites from them and certain scores like Psycho, etc.

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The lyrics Hayley Mills sings to Bernard Hermann's song are from William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" (ca. 1803). "Every morn and every night Some to misery are born. Every morn and every night Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night."

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Originally posted by Gae:
[B]*****************SPOILERS*******************

Ellie's "Horse Riding" music harkens back to Tippi Hedren's scenes in "Marnie" and Herrmann once again utilises a Horn set to jaunty galloping music, but as this is Herrmann, there is always an underlying menace to the music.

One of my favourite personal moments in the score is when Michael and Greta make love in the "Music Room" that the now deceased Ellie loved so much and where she had spent so many melancholic moments at the harpsichord singing "Endless Night". As Michael and Greta passionately fall around the room, recklessly falling into and near the various instruments, Herrmann masterfully incorporates each instrument in his score as it appears in the scene. In the hands of a lesser composer this could have come over as corny and comical, but in the hands of a genius like Herrman, there is an emotional and ironic subtext at play in the music. The juxtaposition of the deceased Ellie's instruments with Michael and Greta's rampant lovemaking is highlighted in the score and is powerful stuff indeed.
Gae

P.S. Interestingly, the Moog Synthesiser that is used ocassionally in the score is performed by a one, Howard Blake.
[B]

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I just watched this film on DVD last night thanks to your post and to Netflix stocking it!

It's truly an odd film. The storyline's structure is really off in some ways and there are some really bad rear projection shots at the beginning.

That said, the score is absolutely wonderful. VERY effective and bizarre. Especially the use of the Moog Synthesizer. Great that Howard Blake was given such a prominent credit for it.

I didn't seem to notice any real similarity to MARNIE in the horseback sequence. I was expecting more of a galloping melody with lots of horns from your description but that sequence seemed to be mostly scored with strings from my viewpoint.

I wish I had paid more attention to the sequence in the music room you described as I really didn't notice the effect you did.

I loved, loved, loved the song set to the William Blake poem. Obviously NOT sung by Haley Mills. I wonder who did the vocal? It reminded me a lot of Kiri TeKawana, but I'm sure it was someone else. It was great that Herrmann used it again in the End Credits as it is interrupted in the film several times.

Terrible movie. Great score. Too bad the tapes are probably lost. It would be a stroke of luck if someone (perhaps Howard Blake) had a copy.

Gae

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Happy listening

(RANT) Have I mentioned how much I love spending extra money to get "standard" shipping, only to have it come media mail?!? I'll buy DVDs elsewhere instead of from an unmentionable mega online store.)

I saw Endless Night the film quite recently,it's certainly an odd film,and nothing really happens in the first hour,but I kind of like it,the big twist worked for me when I first saw it and it actually improves on successive viewings because one can see how the plot has been constructed. Whatever,it's better than Twisted Nerve!

I sometimes have the film on just to listen to the score,it's not great Herrmann but still very good IMO,some lovely romantic stuff and some terrific suspense bits. I did notice that the main theme heavily resembles Herrmann's favourite {well,it must have been as he use it alot} Marnie/Sinbad theme.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to have this released on a CD with Twisted Nerve {both scores are quite short}?

Gae
PS sorry about the poor quality of the suite. The original isn't great to be honest but I had to do this "blind" as I was looping the DVD line out of the comp into the "line in" and couldn't hear what I was recording.

Thank you very much for compiling this suite...this era of Herrmann's career means the world to me, and this actually was the only feature film score of his I hadn't heard a note of until today. I appreciate your effort.

Gae

Obsession really needs better treatment on CD. It's hard to believe that it has been out of print for over a decade. Though we do have the LP program twice on CD, its mix hardly shows off how good the recording is. Of course it also left off at least 10 minutes of cues that are really, really great (like the wonderfully Vertigo-ish time passage piece and the New Orleans taxi ride.)

Gae

Someday, I hope the score will be officially released, remastered and expanded/complete. Not only is it my favorite Herrmann, but it's my favorite score in general (has been for almost five years), but I doubt it's going to happen...I'm grateful enough that the film itself is available (and the best way to listen to this score, in my opinion, is while watching the film).

NP: Elfman

Gae

As far as picture quality is concerned, it should be noted that the cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond, flashed the negative for most of the shots, which creates a misty, dreamlike look, and the Columbia DVD beautifully preserves this. With that said, if you have never seen the film in widescreen then you're in for a treat.