Buy it... if you can be intrigued by intelligent, but not overbearing rhythmic action pieces with crisp brass solos that perfectly capture the moodiness and conspiracy of the story.

Avoid it... if no good film noir score is complete for you unless it has tantalizingly lush romantic interludes.

Isham

The Black Dahlia: (Mark Isham) Director Brian De Palma's career has often turned the clock back to the environment of 1940's film noir, and in The Black Dahlia, all the elements of the film associated with that era are exquisite. Filmed in Bulgaria, the film's visuals are convincing, with costumes, cinematography, sets, and makeup all sparking with sincerity. Unfortunately for The Black Dahlia, however, the overachieving screenplay, based on the 1987 fictional novel by James Ellroy, was combined with all-around atrocious acting performances to confound critics and general audiences alike. The film's plot only uses the non-fiction circumstances of the grisly murder of actress Elizabeth Short (the "Dahlia") as a starting point for the tale of two young, hotshot detectives who find themselves in their own triangles of manipulation and chasing. Shifting alliances, conflicting goals, and cozy contact with the wrong ladies leads to two inevitable, but ultimately confusing scenes of conversational revelations at the end. Whatever confusion caused by the script isn't compounded by the film's technical qualities, however, including Mark Isham's score. A diverse and capable composer, Isham isn't a stranger to the thriller genre, though the quality of his output in that genre has ranged greatly over the last ten years (including a few abysmal, synthetic stinkers). One aspect of Isham's talents lends itself well to the film noir genre in particular, and that is the character of his own solo trumpet performances. For The Black Dahlia, Isham would perform his distinctly lonely trumpet over a sizable and well-balanced orchestral ensemble. The trumpet was a requirement of De Palma upon his meetings with Isham, and despite Isham's tendency to lean towards electronic soundscapes, he relies largely on the 100-member strong English ensemble for the force behind the score. To achieve the right balance between lush romance, frightening conspiracy, and moody solace, Isham seems to have taken inspiration from Jerry Goldsmith's L.A. Confidential score from 1997, another project involving a James Ellroy adaptation.

While Isham's score for The Black Dahlia wouldn't be as overtly brutal in execution as L.A. Confidential was, the similarities between the two are noticeable. A strong role is provided to the percussion section, with layers of drums often setting rhythms for bold brass statements of noir-twisted themes. Deep piano rumblings and a generally dense and brooding atmosphere yield occasionally to the kind of sensitive cello and solo woodwind themes that Goldsmith used to produce in plentitude throughout the 1990's. If you're looking for a straight imitation score, however, Isham's not going to give you one. Foremost in the differences between the two composers' styles here is obviously Isham's own trumpet performances. While they may be a bit cliche in the genre, they are well performed and integrate best when accompanied by the full ensemble. One such instance is at the end of "The Two of Us," during which Isham allows his trumpet to meander over a heightened, urgent rhythm assisted by resounding bass elements. He is joined by an English horn in "Men Who Feed on Others" for arguably the highlight of the score; strong, sustained orchestral rhythms maintain a bed of satisfyingly propulsive movement during harmonic fragments of the score's thematic material performed over the top by the soloists. These action rhythms would expand into fully explosive variants in "Death at the Olympic," utilizing the percussion section with the liberal touch of Alan Silvestri while incorporating frenetic woodwinds and driving brass blasts with much of the same intensity as Trevor Jones' reality-twisting motifs for Dark City. The use of the piano as a dominant bass element in parts of this cue, as well as the inclusion of a harp and other unusual suspects for these types of cues, give them a distinctly three-dimensional feel. These engaging action cues, including the opening riot piece, are far more interesting and effective in their timpani-pounding flurry of activity than Isham's more tepid approach to the lighter, more seductive side of the score.

	Only $9.99

As with any good noir score, the enticing romance always exists to tantalize us with intrigue in between the cues of mayhem, and it is in these interludes that Isham's score is less appealing. The romance cues, incorporating the bulk of the score's appropriately Golden Age themes of longing, proceed in basically effective movements, but their more general lack of depth drains the flair that such themes often exhibit, sometimes to the level of flamboyance. One good example of this teasingly unfulfilled romantic execution is in the latter half of "Madeline;" the score itself seems to have hit the right notes, but it's possible that lack of flair in the performance of this, and other lush cues, is a problem for The Black Dahlia. The following "Dwight and Kay" cue is structurally perfect, but once again suffers from a performance that needed to be more passionate. Solo piano over a lounge-like electric bass and light violin accompaniment is understandable in its construct, but in the aforementioned cue, a solo woodwind passes anonymously until we are saved by the delicious character of Isham's trumpet. The rise of the full ensemble in that cue has a touch of Elmer Bernstein to also pull it from its drab origins. While the score remains orchestral for most of its running time, Isham does employ a few electronic effects throughout. One tingling sensation in the score's action cues operates like a harsh cymbal hit, though it often coincides with a roll of a cymbal anyway. More intriguing is the incorporation of an eerie effect in "The Two of Us," "Hollywoodland," and "The Men Who Feed on Others;" the result is either a distant female voice or a theramin-related electronic variant. On the whole, The Black Dahlia is a score that had all the makings to be a superb noir thriller, but ends up hindered by the flimsy, shallow nature of the lushly romantic half of its performances. The entire score exists in a harmonious minor key, leaving no cue with an unlistenable moment. The structure of the rhythmic action pieces is intelligent in its counterpoint and clever balance between sections of the ensemble. Unlike many noir scores, the muted trumpets, antiquated thematic constructs, and other trademark cliches never interrupt the album's listenability. A strong recording quality also assists the album transcend the faults of the film and makes The Black Dahlia a pleasantly surprising recommendation. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Mark Isham reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.9 (in 21 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.88 (in 8,084 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.