Film Noir [SOUNDTRACK]

Edward Artemiev (Composer), Angelo Badalamenti (Composer), Angelo / Lynch, David Badalamenti (Composer), Terence Blanchard (Composer), Claire David (Composer), Pino Donaggio (Composer), Matthew Herbert (Composer), Bernard Herrmann (Composer), Joe Hisaishi (Composer), Andre Hossein (Composer), Cyril Morin (Composer), John [composer] Morris (Composer), John Ottman (Composer), Frederick [composer] Rousseau (Composer), Howard Shore (Composer), Alex Wurman (Composer), Hans / Badelt, Klaus Zimmer (Composer), Elmer Bernstein (Conductor), Howard Shore (Conductor), Joe Hisaishi (Conductor)

Product Details

• Conductor: Elmer Bernstein, Howard Shore, Joe Hisaishi
• Composer: Edward Artemiev, Angelo Badalamenti, Angelo / Lynch, David Badalamenti, Terence Blanchard, Claire David, et al.
• Audio CD (May 24, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Milan Records
• ASIN: B00081U78G
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #184,223 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Film Noir, a genre created by French film critics to describe the en vogue Hollywood film of the ‘40s and ‘50s, has become part of film pop-culture. Sixty years later, naked cities, lonely detectives tormented between love and duty, doomed femmes fatales, cigarettes burning in a New York hotel at 3am, a half empty bottle of gin laying next to a bed at dawn, a gunshot in the middle of the night... all of these strong images are eternal icons of a genre that beautifully expressed the anxieties of Western societies after World War II. The album Film Noir captures these snapshots of lives lost in the big sleeping cities by compiling the most powerful musical pieces to create an imaginary film noir screenplay. Throughout these excerpts of legendary soundtracks, some famous, some yet to be discovered, listeners can travel back to a time where ugliness and darkness became visual beauty. With pieces by Matthew Herbert, Howard Shore, Angelo Badalamenti, Bernard Herrmann and many others, Film Noir is the compilation to accompany you through endless sleepless nights. Warner. 2005. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps not *quite* what you want..., April 26, 2007

By	Wesley Clark (Springfield, Virginia) - See all my reviews

If you're like me and you have a hankering for "film noir music," you're probably thinking of a lonely sax playing an urban, 3 AM melodic line, backed by some bluesy chords from a small jazz ensemble. Like John Barry's excellent theme from "Body Heat," for example, or something like Jerry Goldsmith's theme for "Chinatown."

Never mind the fact that the great majority of films noir from the classic period (1941-1955) didn't have jazzy background music like that at all, but was usually scored with quasi-classical romantic string music (with a solo violin) or bombastic, brass-heavy instrumentals.

Anyway, this CD isn't the 3 AM sax stuff.

Not to say that there isn't some of that on here. You might like "Godfather" (not, however, the theme you're thinking of from the Francis Ford Coppola Godfather films), or "Blues for Guylaine," or even the bluesy passages from Bernard Herrmann's "Taxi Driver" suite.

But there's some odd stuff on here that causes me to wonder how, precisely, it qualifies as "film noir."

For instance, the dreamy carnival music from "The Elephant Man," or the angular string music in "Buckets of Blood" (from "Carrie," not the Roger Corman film). Seems like a reach. The first cut, "Turning Pages" had me unpleasantly surprised, and triggered my I've been ripped-off alarm. And "Chop Shop" has a wah guitar that sounds a lot more like a 70's blaxsploitation film than film noir.

The inclusion of Angelo Badalamenti helps redeem the collection; his music for "Twin Peaks," "Fire, Walk With Me" and "Mulholland Drive" redefines what a noir theme should sound like.

This CD is odd, no doubt about it. "Godfather," which sounds decidedly noirish, is from a comedy/drama film about a man who's paid to impregnate lesbians. "The Wrong Man" music is relentlessly perky but comes from a bona fide noir. (Okay, a Hitchcock noir, not quite the same thing.)

The key here, I guess, is to enlarge the scope of what you think noir film music ought to be... But perhaps a better title for this collection of music might have been "Neo-Noir!"

Still, credit must be given to liner notes writer Eddie Muller and his Film Noir Foundation for at least directing the current noir wave. His book "Dark City" turned me - and probably many others - to noir. Long may his tribe increase!

Summary: If you're looking for classic/sterotypical, 3 AM wet-pavements-in-the-Dark-City noirish stuff, try John Barry's "Body Heat," which I enthusiastically recommend. Barry practically *owns* that silky/sexy slow sax genre.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice imaginative collection, August 3, 2006

By	Robert C. Cumbow (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A collection of musical cues from various film noir scores, but imaginatively assembled to constitute a new score for a nonexistent movie. Cleverly done, choosing from excellent sources, and not going for the easy or the obvious. It's exciting to hear someone making a connection between Bernard Herrmann and Angelo Badalamenti.