Buy it... if you enjoy the rare use of an adult chorus (albeit for only a few minutes) on top of Lee Holdridge's usual, harmonic styles.

Avoid it... only if none of Holdridge's superior scores on popular, commercial CDs have sustained your interest.

Holdridge

Call of the Wild: (Lee Holdridge) No less than half a dozen film adaptations of Jack London's classic novel have been put on either the big or small screen, and this 1993 television version is just as anonymous as most of the other versions. This variation was produced by the American RHI Entertainment Inc. company that put many such friendly adaptations on the small screen during the 1980's and 1990's before the well-known Gulliver's Travels in 1996 signaled their declined. The bittersweet London novel involves a young boy who, during the Gold Rush era, journeys to the Yukon in search of riches after losing his relationship with his timber-industry father. Upon arriving, the man is befriended by a mistrustful native and, of course, the true star of the film: an Alsatian dog named Buck. Filmed in British Columbia, this version of Call of the Wild has no star power and suffers from minimal production quality during its 90 minutes. In fact, its entire existence would be forgotten if not for the one part of its production that miraculously garnered an Emmy nomination. Composer Lee Holdridge, still establishing himself as a force in the television movie composition industry, was nominated for an Emmy for Call of the Wild in the "Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore)" category. If any evidence of Holdridge's overachievement in the television industry is necessary, then Call of the Wild should serve as that evidence. The composer consistently provides music far superior to the quality of the films themselves, and it is only because of Holdridge that this version of Call of the Wild is even mentioned ten years later. Fortunately, like many of Holdridge's other strong efforts for obscure television productions, a promotional release was offered from the composer in 1995 with a sufficient 45 minutes of material to entertain his collectors.

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When looking back at Holdridge's Call of the Wild score, there really isn't any one particular aspect of the score (aside from the sparing use of a chorus) that makes it stand out. Unlike the brass of The Tuskegee Airmen, the guitar of Old Gringo, and the remarkable string themes in many of his other works, Call of the Wild attracts attention to its quality by simply existing a step above Holdridge's usual output at every step along the way. Even in recording quality, the sound of this score is not as dull and muted as many of Holdridge's other low budget television works. His thematic performances by woodwinds, such as in the delicate "John's Death" cue, are more pronounced. To an extent, this raw woodwind (and brass) usage, along with some familiar chord progressions, reminds of Basil Poledouris' location scores, though Holdridge never attempts to incorporate native/Alaskan musical elements into his score as Poledouris did in, for instance, On Deadly Ground. Holdridge's title theme, with surface similarities to Trevor Jones' Last of the Mohicans theme, is loyally conveyed throughout the score with the family-friendly atmosphere of a slightly roughed-up James Horner kiddie score. When employing the use of a choir in the latter half of the score, in fact, parts of Call of the Wild recall the triumphant moments late in Horner's Balto. The choral usage is something you don't hear in many Holdridge scores, but as in The Mist of Avalon, his incorporation of an adult chorus can add a touch of awe to his harmonic sensibilities. Hinted at in the concluding moments of "Buck Leads the Sled Team," Holdridge saves its effect until the last four cues, when it bursts into the mix with majesty. It is no doubt that the massive orchestral and choral statements of theme in "Letting Buck Go" and "Finale" are what garnered Holdridge the Emmy nomination for Call of the Wild; they are so memorable in their enhancement of his usual high quality of writing that they alone make the rare CD worth the search. Once again, Holdridge overachieves. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Lee Holdridge reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.75 (in 13 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.49 (in 6,763 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.