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Cutthroat Island: (John Debney) If you measure the
success or failure of a motion picture production only by its
profitability, then
Cutthroat Island ranks among the most
disastrous ventures in the history of Hollywood. Costing $92 million and
only returning $10 million in domestic performance, the film suffered
the consequences of a tragic series of production failures and mishaps.
The concept of a large-scale swashbuckling adventure on the high seas
was frightfully overdue by the 1990's, with the last major entries in
the genre long forgotten in the 1950's. Unfortunately, the loss of two
of the three lead actors in the days before the beginning of production,
endless changes in the script (extending well into the filming), and the
last-minute loss of a composer for the soundtrack all compounded the
problems. Despite being quite entertaining in parts,
Cutthroat
Island was doomed by terrible word of mouth, and the endeavor
largely ended the cinematic careers of director Renny Harlin, his wife
and lead actress Geena Davis, replacement lead actor Matthew Modine,
and, most importantly, forced the Carolco studio itself towards its
inevitable bankruptcy. It didn't do much good for producer Mario Kassar
either, whose first choice to score the film was David Arnold, the young
Brit whose meteoric rise to the mainstream of Hollywood scoring was
supported by Kassar's recent projects. Arnold, however, would have to
bow out of the production due to scheduling conflicts. He had spent two
weeks writing music for
Cutthroat Island, and, by his own
admission, "a few bits and pieces" of the ideas he conjured for the film
would be adapted into
Independence Day. He would have his own
opportunity six years later to spread his wings in the swashbuckling
genre, to an extent, with
The Musketeer. While Arnold was pleased
by his material for
Cutthroat Island, none of it was actually
recorded, and contrary to popular belief, the replacement composer did
not use any of Arnold's ideas in his own music for the film. That
replacement was the little-known John Debney, who career had already
been hyperactive with the same B-rate projects that still earn him most
of his paychecks fifteen years later.
The rampant speculation about John Debney's score for
Cutthroat Island is due to the simple fact that so many of the
constructs and orchestration heard in its various parts are so similar
to the style that Arnold would perpetuate in his own career during the
1990's. With both composers claiming that they had no effect on each
other for the purposes of
Cutthroat Island, it would be most
likely that Arnold's music for
Independence Day was influenced by
Debney and not vice versa. Adding fuel to fire of the debate has been
the intriguing circumstance of Debney's inopportunity to return to the
genre in order to flesh out his ideas further and stake a claim to the
style of the music over the wishes of Arnold's somewhat stubborn
fanbase. Also interesting to note is that the only other composer
working in Hollywood during the 1990's and 2000's whose music comes
close to the style of
Cutthroat Island is Alan Silvestri, who was
originally set to score the first of the hugely popular
Pirates of
the Caribbean films before he was sacked in favor of the Hans Zimmer
machine of industrialized (faux-)orchestral music. One of the reasons
why
Cutthroat Island is held with such resoundingly high regard
by traditional film score collectors is because it does exactly what
Debney set out to accomplish: pay tribute to the masters of the Golden
age who defined the concept of orchestral pirate music (and most of this
sound is owed to Erich Wolfgang Korngold's extensive influence going
back to the mid-1930's) and modernize the concept with an ambitious
combination of the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices. Debney
succeeded so well in providing a satisfyingly powerful and current
reincarnation of the old swashbuckling spirit that many of the fans who
cherish
Cutthroat Island are the same ones who despise (or at
least marginalize) the Zimmer-led production of music for a
Pirates
of the Caribbean franchise that features sounds more appropriate for
modern military thrillers than the genre it resides within. The
soundtrack was one of the few enduring highlights of
Cutthroat
Island, and Debney seems to be among the few crew members unscathed
by the film's poisonous touch.
Not only was the score for
Cutthroat Island
considered a breakthrough and a superior effort at the time, placing
Debney on the map for a wide variety of studios and producers, but it
has endured extremely well over the subsequent dozen years since its
recording. Debney himself looks fondly back at the experience; he would
not set foot in the same recording studio until 2004's
The Passion of
the Christ, and even he recognizes that
Cutthroat Island --no
matter how troublesome the production turned out to be-- is his crowning
achievement from an artistic standpoint. And why not? It's about as
rowdy and ambitious of an orchestral composition written anytime in the
digital age. The only aspect of the score better than the updated
vibrance of the swashbuckling genre is the quantity of it. The film
would feature over two hours of music, requiring Debney to write and
record at an incredible pace. The music literally exudes the sense of
urgency and excitement that Debney must have been feeling when writing
it. The rhythmic movement of his score is relentlessly charged,
overwhelming at its best and engaging at its worst. A bold attitude is
never absent from
Cutthroat Island; the music continuously
strikes an aggressive tone and hits the listener over the head with it
in a deceptively elegant manner. Part of the recording's success is owed
to the phenomenally athletic performance by the London performers. Only
John Williams (and perhaps James Horner on a rare occasion) could work
out this ensemble to such an ambitious level. Precise orchestrations led
by Brad Dechter and even more precise performances by the group offer a
resilient power that never yields in the score's major statements. The
percussion section earns significant kudos; the performer on the cymbals
alone must have been on his or her toes during the entire process. The
choir features a masculine, adult sound without emulating the more
uniform tones of Hans Zimmer's maturing usage at the same time. Debney
employs it somewhat sparingly given the impressive length of the
recording, but the usage is made to count when necessary. The vocal
group also stretches to meet some unconventional needs, including some
deep throat-style groaning in "Escape from Mordechai's."
Three major themes occupy most of the bombastic and
memorable portions of the score, with several less obvious motifs
securing transitional sequences throughout. Two of the three ideas
overlap regularly, and they are the representation of Davis' character
of Morgan as well as an overarching adventure interlude for the entire
film. Because of Morgan's heroics from start to finish, her idea is
natural to represent the bulk of the running time, and an extended
treatment of these interwoven two ideas exists twice in "Main
Title/Morgan's Ride." A better example of the film's general action
theme is "Carriage Chase," an exhausting seven minutes of glorious
action that, in places, pulls some ideas for the brass section from
Horner's
The Rocketeer. The other major thematic idea for
Cutthroat Island is the love theme, and while there are some
characteristics of the preceding action themes that would resemble
Arnold's
Independence Day, this sweeping string theme for the two
leads is a shameless pull at Arnold's
Stargate. This theme, more
than the others, is responsible for the speculation about Arnold's
involvement, even in the case of temp track imitation that Debney has
been known for in the hectic schedule of his later career. In the film,
the love theme doesn't receive as full a treatment as would be presented
on the various album releases, though "Discovery of the Treasure"
provides some development. Other minor motifs inhabit
Cutthroat
Island, including a growling of low-range brass and percussion for
the evil uncle Dawg character. A sailing motif highlighted by "Setting
Sail" is a blatant pull of inspiration from Korngold (quite shameless,
really), but its execution is so dynamic that you can't help but admire
the tribute. A theme of wonder, used during some of the more poignant,
fantasy-laced parts of the film, mirrors the choral style of James
Newton Howard in scores ranging from
Waterworld to
I Am
Legend, led by the majestic "To the Bottom of the Sea." Subtle
representation in the orchestration is used for smaller elements; the
incorporation of tingling percussion in a cue like "Discovery of the
Cave" is saturated with the anticipation of gold. Likewise, the more
usual use of clanging percussion is always a good accompaniment for
sword-fighting scenes.
The complexity with which Debney weaves his themes
together is astounding. Some of the more outrageous action cues offer
two simultaneous lines of counterpoint to the primary statement,
producing a harmonious result that is as surprisingly adept at a
technical level as it is entertaining. His arrangement of the primary
themes, as well as a wealth of unique secondary material, keeps
Cutthroat Island fresh despite its lengthy running time. It's not
uncommon for both reviewers and fans alike to comment on the urge to
leap out of their seats and conduct along with the score while enjoying
it in privacy, and while it may be a rare circumstance when such a
massive action score causes that reaction, there is an understandable
infectious appeal built into the score's refusal to quit. The album
situation for
Cutthroat Island was less than optimal for its
first ten years in release. Two albums distributed in 1995 offered 70
minutes of the score's most important material, arranged by Debney into
a satisfying listening experience. The Silva Screen release from Europe
was the most widely available of the releases; an American counterpart
with the same contents under the suspect nu.Millenia label offered
seemingly poorer sound quality. While the American album completely
disappeared from the market, copies of the 1995 Silva product circulated
with regularity until an expanded treatment was offered for
Cutthroat
Island by the Prometheus soundtrack specialty label in 2005. On two
CDs, 146 minutes of material was offered in remastered sound quality
(you still have to love those wildly rolling cymbals) and in film order.
Alternate takes and other music not included in the film are accompanied
by a seven-minute demo that Debney used to be hired for the project
(which is really interesting despite its sparse electronic rendering...
only minor tweaking was needed to translate the cue to the final
recording). The additional material varies widely, with some of it
impressive enough to justify the release, but none is as dramatically
elegant as "The Wedding Waltz," which did not make the film's cut.
Overall,
Cutthroat Island is a rare score that can support a
comprehensive 2-CD release, and while the original 70-minute Silva album
itself was enough to merit five stars, the Prometheus presentation
simply lengthens the enjoyment with few detriments. Seek either album
with the utmost confidence.
***** Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
| Bias Check: | For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.23 (in 49 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.01
(in 42,775 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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