= MANCINI SURROUND =

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Anthony Hope's oft-filmed novel of Ruritanian romance received its most bizarre treatment in 1979 when Peter Sellers appeared in the dual roles of the King of Ruritania and the look-alike Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll, an aristocrat in the original but a mere London cabbie in this version. Spoofing the venerated classic proved not to be the success the producers had hoped for, but no movie with Sellers was ever without some merit, especially when backed with a Mancini score that wisely accented the allure of the handsome settings (mostly Vienna) and the romantic-heroic nature of the plot, rather than underline the humor. The stately Main Title, the waltz at the Coronation Ball and the music for the genteel game of Croquette may well be retained for the next-and hopefully straight-on-version of The Prisoner of Zenda.

A sense of menace is apparent in Mancini's music for Nightwing (1979) which was set in the Southwest and in part deals with vampire bats on an Indian reservation. The Main Title conveys the Indian setting, the forays into the occult and the presence of those frightening bats.

- TONY THOMAS

Photograph: The Prisoner of Zenda (courtesy of Universal Pictures)