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Night Crossing: (Jerry Goldsmith) Based on the
dramatic true story of two families' attempts to escape the oppression
of the Iron Curtain in 1979,
Night Crossing is wholesome
entertainment from Disney. With Germany divided by a half-mile wide
killing zone with tall walls and gun towers, a small group of average
East German folks decide to build a hot air balloon as their method of
smuggling themselves to the other side. The daring night attempt
initially fails due to burner problems, sending one family's members
into hiding while they construct a second balloon with the help of
another family. The second escape attempt, this time with the military
aware of their plans, is equally perilous, but despite crashing once
again, the balloon manages to carry both groups just far enough.
Starring John Hurt,
Night Crossing was a decent film, though John
McGreevey's screenplay is choked with ridiculous dialogue and shallow
connections between the primary characters. Countering with a very
strong effort is Jerry Goldsmith, who approached the project with an
interesting combination of exuberant spirit (inspired likely by the
determination of the families and the essence of flight) and
militaristic bombast (meant to represent the Communist control of the
region). There is even a slightly European sensibility exhibited by the
composer in an accordion waltz used as one of the film's primary themes.
The overall personality of the music for
Night Crossing is
adventurous, with a serious tone occasionally soothed by sensitivity
that would be expanded upon in
The Secret of N.I.M.H. and
melodramatic, sweeping drama that in some places offers the same
resonance that
Lionheart would exhibit in abundance. Trusting his
composition to his usual performing group in London, the National
Philharmonic Orchestra, Goldsmith writes an unusually complicated score
for a film that really didn't deserve such complexity in its music. The
composer often created highly layered works for cinematic failures,
though unlike the pervasively optimistic and therefore one-dimensional
personality of a hyperactive score like
Supergirl,
Night
Crossing actually benefits greatly from the constant flourishes of
multi-layered activity. Goldsmith uses fluttering or wildly spinning
violin, woodwind, or piano lines around his thematic material to not
only accentuate the tension and excitement of the journey, but the
concept of uncertain flight.
Along with this constantly engaging level of fluid
motion in the score's atmosphere, Goldsmith provides three major themes
and two related motifs. The most striking of the themes is the one for
the oppressive Communist forces and the subsequently tense culture of
East Germany at the time. The propulsive, percussion and brass-dominated
idea is a direct descendent of the title theme for
Capricorn One,
using the same driving bass lines of pounding percussion, octave-hopping
rhythmic figures, and harsh brass tones. It's a relentlessly brutal
theme, among Goldsmith's most powerfully forbidding. The second theme
has the least impact in
Night Crossing; this delightfully pretty
accordion waltz represents the dream of freedom for the families, heard
most prominently in "The Picnic," "First Flight," and "End Credits." The
third theme is the heart of the score, born during the construction of
the balloons and rising with their flight to levels of redemptive
fantasy that serve as the inspiration for the similar applications in
Explorers. Finally developed into its rewarding stature in
"Success," this theme also informs "First Flight" and "Final Flight"
with extended renditions of majestic proportions. The two smaller motifs
include one built upon the first four notes of the primary flight theme
and used to foreshadow the balloons' success ("All in Vain") and another
that is essentially a restrained version of the percussion underneath
the Communist theme ("Prologue"). All of these ideas merge in the
stunning cue "First Flight," a ten-minute delight that includes the most
appealing performances of the flight theme. The accordion waltz is the
weak link here, and its anchoring of "End Titles" is a bit disappointing
despite serving its purpose. More importantly, Goldsmith doesn't allow
any portion of
Night Crossing to shake the interest of listeners,
with effective tension and the complicated layers of activity extending
to even the score's less overtly thematic cues. It's a strong hour-long
listening experience on album, one that will please those who seek the
composer's more intelligently complex works. Intrada Records has
released
Night Crossing twice on CD, the first time pressing 47
minutes in 1987 (matching their LP record) and then following with a
limited product of 59 minutes in 1994. The additional material on the
1994 album is not significant, though the sound quality (utilizing a
much better source) is far superior. A learned Goldsmith collector
should not hesitate to attempt to locate the rare 1994 product and its
superbly dynamic presentation.
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The inserts of both albums contain information about the score and film.
