Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you wish to hear a valiant and competent attempt by Mark Mancina to write and record a period score without the necessary orchestral ensemble to make it credible. Avoid it... if whatever enjoyment you can receive from Mancina's harmonic structures is betrayed by their sparse, electronic rendering and short running time. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Moll Flanders: (Mark Mancina) Very little from Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel survived the alterations of screenwriter and director Pen Densham for this 1996 feature film only loosely inspired by the literary classic. While most of the British location period films of the mid-1990's were among the lighter variety of Jane Austen's pen, Moll Flanders (along with Restoration) offered a more realistic view of the trials of life in the era, including a prominent role for the plague. Only the name of the primary character in Moll Flanders is retained; her life in the book spans the world and several distinct changes in occupation, but the film is narrowed to a flashback narrative performed by Morgan Freeman to the leading prostitute's daughter about the life story of the mother. Despite the somewhat harrowing aspects of the story, an almost purely positive score was submitted by aspiring Media Ventures spin-off Mark Mancina. While Moll Flanders was a project likely suited best for the proven talents of George Fenton or Patrick Doyle, the path to Mancina was one far less expensive. And, in the production's decision not to allocate the kind of funding necessary to the score, Mancina was not afforded the luxury of providing Moll Flanders with the expected orchestral ensemble with which to appropriately convey the period of the film. Mancina was showing considerable promise in 1996, with the release of Moll Flanders held until the concurrent opening of his highly anticipated score for Twister, one of the summer's top blockbusters. Unlike Twister, however, Moll Flanders didn't receive much playing time in CD players, due in part to the film's poor box office showing (despite decent reviews) and also due in part to the problems inherent with any period score that is forced to rely on synthesizers. Mancina was only provided with enough resources to hire a dozen or so live instruments, and he stretched them thin over a bed of restrained, but obviously electronic soundscapes that will bother listeners to varying degrees. Joining the electronics are acoustic guitar, a handful of strings and woodwinds, Irish drums, and female vocalist. With these accents, Mancina does an admirable job of breathing some life into the otherwise stale synthetic realm. The construct of his score for Moll Flanders is quite good, building concertos for each character that are, on paper, both accomplished and enjoyable. A title theme for the primary character, introduced in the mid-section of the opening cue, weaves throughout the score with easy harmonic resonance. A handful of Irish jigs feature the collection of live solo artists at their fullest, and are competently performed in "Moll's Jig" and "Sparrows." The solo female voice opens the film and introduces the jig in "Sparrows" as well, elegantly meandering with religious tones alongside synthetic deep male voices heard most prominently in "Life Begins." With its pleasant movements, Moll Flanders features no qualms outside of the abrasive "Devil Woman." The problem of the synthetics will persist with many listeners, however, especially when comparing this score's lightweight impact compared to James Newton Howard's Restoration. Being that its depth is entirely supported by rather mundane-sounding electronics, Moll Flanders suffers from the same cheapened sound as made-for-cable period productions of the era, dooming it as a listening experience for some collectors. Their difficulty enjoying the score on CD will be compounded by a short running time --less than 30 minutes of score exists on the commercial album-- and the inclusion of several classical pieces by Bach, Vivaldi, Handle, etc, that all feature full and robust orchestral performances from other sources. When comparing these pieces to Mancina's under-staffed score, the insincerity of the score is only exposed further. A light and flowing song performed by Sarah McLachlan over elements similar to Mancina's ensemble maintains strong consistency between song and score, and is probably the highlight of the album. While the score is well written, its rendering is simply too frustrating to ignore, despite all of Mancina's best efforts to emphasize the live soloists. A significantly missed opportunity. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 69:09
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