Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

except for a month or two in the summer!). I was in London on vacation back in 1995.
My wife & I visited several interesting fellows, including Theosophist John Robertson,
film music enthusiast Bob Blackmore and Max Steiner researcher, Ted Leaney (all now
passed away). It may mid to late May and it rained most of the time, and if it wasn’t
raining then it was still overcast.
The creature effects in this movie were largely stop-motion effects but it was
certainly not a Ray Harryhausen vehicle. It was a poor man’s (low budget) Beast from
20,000 Fathoms, although both movies were directed by Eugene Lourié. Nevertheless, I
like key elements of the movie. This includes the two main actors, Gene Evans and
Andre Morrell, each representing a scientist from respective ends of the pond (Atlantic
Ocean). Gene Evans played American marine biologist, Steve Karnes, and Andre Morrell
played Professor James Bickford, a congenial but authoritative Brit in charge. A.M. is a
very distinctive actor (he was in Ben-Hur, for instance) but I heard he only preferred to
work in the morning. The other main actor, G.E., brings good things to life in this movie.
I like his voice. He had a fairly dramatic opening in the movie at the Conference on
Atomic Research in London when you hear his voice describe the dire atomic bomb
aftermath: “And afterwards, these mysterious figures—faces masked with lead—these
are ourselves, men! The kings of the earth trying to measure the extent of the destruction
they themselves created.” My wife just overheard it as I am watching the dvd at this
precise point, and she stated, “That’s a good line.
”
A literally cozy scene I liked was at the hotel when (around the 13 minute point of
the movie) Karnes, awaiting news on his pending plane reservation, leisurely sits down at
the lounge to watch the tele. Wouldn’t you know it that just as he got himself nice and
comfortable, the reporter’s closing piece centers on Cornwall’s fishing industry being at a
complete standstill. There is even a report of a sea monster in the general area! Well, this
got Karnes’ blood up, and he promptly arises out of his chair, tells the hotel man to
cancel the flight, and phones Professor Bickford’s office. Nice understated music here,
especially of the mysterious vibe sounding. It added to the atmosphere and mild tension
buildup of the scene.
I particularly enjoyed the score composed and conducted by Edwin Astley. The
short (minute long) Main Title in C time is effectively menacing, emphasizing a brassy
two-note (half notes) motif. I wish I knew where the written full score is because I’d love
to research it and do a Film Score Rundowns treatment on it. It would definitely be on my
FSR “Must Do” list (if I had access to the score, that is!). It has such a “British” signature
sound to it! I mean, I find it interesting how these scores so often employ either the solo
English horn (usually) or the solo oboe. There are a fair number of staccato-like
percussive phrases by Astley. The phrases on the strings are excellent, although the
Hammer Films in-house composer, James Bernard, did the best job in creepy-sounding
strings work. I still remember the eerie strings in X, the Unknown blob-monster movie. I
liked that movie too, fond of Dean Jagger in the lead cast.
I also liked at the thirty-minute point of Behemoth, which began the suspenseful
monster-searching scene (only four minutes in duration), on a small, lonely trawler at
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