= MANCINI SURROUND =
 

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For the majority of his fans, the dominant image conjured up by Henry Mancini's film scores is that of pleasingly humorous musical themes for pink panthers and baby elephants, and romantic melodies for lovely ladies such as Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews. 

However, there is a darker side to Mancini's music; one that was expressed in films such as Mommie Dearest, The Man Who Loved Women, The Prisoner of Zenda and Nightwing. This music and other film themes make up the content of this album, which does something that no Mancini album has done before - it ranges across the more than thirty years the composer has been writing for films, from his earliest work in the Fifties right to the present.

Film composers seldom have opportunities for writing extended musical sequences, in which visuals allow for the development of the music along concert lines. The White Dawn (1974) was an exception, which is why Mancini describes it as a "film composer's dream." With little dialogue and with the wind the only sound effect, this beautifully filmed story of the adventures of three shipwrecked whalers living among the Eskimos in the Arctic allowed Mancini to write more than an hour of descriptive music to match the awesome visuals. His music for the exciting whale hunt is a remarkable piece of film composition; no demonstration of the efficacy of film scoring should be without it.

For Mommie Dearest (1981), in which Faye Dunaway gave her impression of the celebrated Joan Crawford, based upon the controversial book by daughter Christina. Mancini's main theme hints at a bittersweet life amid the glories of Old Hollywood.

- TONY THOMAS

Photograph: Mommie Dearest (Courtesy of Paramount Picnires)
Mommie Dearest © Copyright 1981 by Paramount Pictures Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.