Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

Bar 19 to play Line 1 G#-A#-B-Line 2 C# 16ths to D#-E#-F#-G# 16ths to A#-B-Line 3
C#-D# 16ths to E#-F#-G#-A# 16ths to (Bar 20) B 16 th (followed by rests). Flute II, oboe,
and clarinet I play the run part way. Pos in Bar 17 play f > Great octave Ab/small octave
C/Eb/Ab (Ab maj) whole notes, returning in Bar 19 on Great octave F#/small octave
C#/F#/A# (F# maj) whole notes. Harp II in Bar 17 is gliss from Contra-octave Ab 32 nd
note gliss line up to (Bar 18) Line 4 C 8 th . After a half rest in Bar 19, harp I sounds forte
Line 3 A# half note gliss line down to (Bar 20) Contra-octave B half note let vibrate. The
tubas play Contra-octave and Great octave Ab whole notes to (Bar 19) F# whole notes.
Celli and bass clarinet play “3” triplet value 8ths Great octave Ab up to small octave Eb
up to middle C 8 th tied to half note and tied to triplet value 8 th down to E down to C 8ths
down to (Bar 18) Great octave C up to G triplet value 8ths up to E 8 th tied to half note and
8 th down to C down to Great octave G triplet 8ths. Etc.[end session Sunday, March 27,
2011 at 5:20 pm] Enough on this movie!
-This Island Earth (1955) *** [music ***]
http://www.amazon.com/This-Island-Earth-Jeff-
Morrow/dp/B000FVQLKW/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1293331247&sr=1-1
Another gorgeous three-strip Technicolor movie—very striking, in fact,
considering it is a well-regarded scifi film with a wealth of special effects. Nevertheless,
while “creative” and visually impressive, This Island Earth (TIE) is still a rather silly
movie, poorly conceived and written. The premise that an alien technology that is at least
hundreds—if not thousands-- of years advanced of Earth technology comes to our planet
to ask the relative primitive natives (albeit the smartest ones, the nuclear scientists) to
create just-as-advanced or greater energy technology is simply absurd. I particularly
disliked the rushed ending on Metulana, as if it was meant to be just a brief restroom stop
on the movie’s journey! This movie is strictly for kids and young teenagers. For this
period in the mid-Fifties regarding the science fiction genre, I was far more impressed
with Forbidden Planet. For one thing, the whole movie is focused on the alien setting—
not just eight paltry minutes in This Island Earth—and the alien sets/environment and
technologies and special effects were quite beautiful to look at. The Disney-generated
Monster from the Id battle is one of my Top Ten best monster effects sequences. In TIE,
the battle with the infinitely agile Mutant (with the zipper along the seam of his back)
was a laughable groaner! And while I like Faith Domergue in TIE, she is no match for
Anne Francis! If Paula Raymond were in TIE, then maybe I would give the movie a fourstar
rating! Right now I am being very generous giving the film a three-star rating out of
five—it probably should get a two & a half rating but since there were still impressive
effects and designs in the first half of the movie, I’ll let the rating slide upward a halfnotch.
The music (75% of it by Herman Stein) is better than the movie. While Herman is
no Herrmann, and while Stein is no Steiner, he nevertheless produced an interesting
score. Personally, as a side note, I like Ronald Stein’s music more than Herman Stein’s
creations. Ronald wrote a terrific Main Title and other good cues for Dinosaurus. He also
wrote Invasion of the Saucer Men for AIP, a cult favorite. As for Herman’s TIE, I overall
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