Speed Racer

Newest Major Reviews:.This Week's Most Popular Reviews: Best-Selling Albums:
. 1. Nim's Island
2. The Life Before Her Eyes
3. Horton Hears a Who!
4. Leatherheads
5. The Spiderwick Chronicles
. . 1. Moulin Rouge
2. Gladiator
3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl
4. Star Wars: A New Hope
5. Edward Scissorhands
6. Pearl Harbor
7. Schindler's List
8. Titanic
9. Braveheart
10. Home Alone
. . 1. Varèse Sarabande 25th
2. The Last of the Mohicans
3. Legends of the Fall
4. Schindler's List
5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set)

Shipwrecked

Composed, Conducted, and Produced by:
Patrick Doyle
Orchestrated by:
Lawrence Ashmore
Fiachra Trench


Label:
Walt Disney Records
Release Date:
March, 1991


Also See:

Quest for Camelot
Henry V


Audio Clips:

1. Opening Titles (0:29), 146K shipwrecked1.ra

10. Mary is Rescued (0:30), 150K shipwrecked10.ra

19. Home to Norway (0:30), 150K shipwrecked19.ra

21. End Titles - Part II (0:28), 142K shipwrecked21.ra



Availability:

  Regular U.S. release, but the album quickly became out of print after Disney stopped its production in 1991. Valued at $60 or more.


Awards:

  None.









Printer
Friendly
Version



Shipwrecked

Audio | Availability | Viewer Ratings | Tracks | Viewer Comments | Notes & Quotes
Compare Prices:
Half.com
(new and used)

Find it Used:
Check for used copies of this album in the:

Soundtrack Section at eBay

(including eBay Stores and Half.com listings)





Filmtracks Recommends:

Buy it... only if you are a Patrick Doyle completist and would be inclined to seek even one of his less mature early efforts on a rare, shortly-produced album.

Avoid it... if you enjoy the more structurally balanced orchestral action and comedy of Doyle's writing in subsequent years after 1991.



Filmtracks Editorial Review:

Doyle
Shipwrecked: (Patrick Doyle) It's not often that a composer storms the mainstream of moviegoers' attention with the gusto of Patrick Doyle; in 1989, his score for Henry V was a pleasant surprise from out of nowhere, and immediate fans of the composer would look to Shipwrecked about a year later, Doyle's second feature film work, for a continuation of that quality. The project was produced in Norway under the name of O.V. Falck-Ytter's original book, Haakon Haakonsen, and hit the theatres there in 1990. Disney purchased the film for distribution in America, where it debuted in March of 1991 without much fanfare. Despite the misconception that this children's film was an animated venture, the film was the unfortunate live-action offering alongside Beauty and the Beast at the time, and it's no wonder why Shipwrecked (the American name for the film) slipped by unnoticed. Despite receiving warm reviews from critics, Shipwrecked has even been neglected fifteen years later in the larger DVD realm, with only foreign region versions available. The story of the film involves a young Norwegian boy of the 1850's era working on an English sailing ship as a cabin boy. After the crew is taken over by a pirate posing as a naval officer (the always mysterious Gabriel Byrne), the ship is sunk in a hurricane, and the boy and a young girl who stowed away on the ship are stranded on a tropical island where they find the hidden treasure the pirates were after. Of course, they manage to sneak it all the way back to Norway through some ingenuity and luck. It's a feel-good variant of the "Treasure Island" story that's decent enough to sit any kid down in front of. After the solemn and serious Henry V, however, Shipwrecked was quite a departure for Patrick Doyle. Adventures similar to this one for the composer would include Into the West and Quest for Camelot in future years. Despite the fact that the scope of his work had been limited to radio, television, and theatre in the 1980's, Doyle gave a valiant effort to raise the spirit of the Korngold era of classic Hollywood swashbuckling music for Shipwrecked.

At a fundamental level, his music for Shipwrecked suffices for the purposes of the film, but collectors of the composer's works over the subsequent decades might find that the score is a portrait of the composer just getting his sea legs. Like Into the West a few years later, Doyle seems to restrain himself in the adventure genre; his Shakespearian scores never often required the kind of swing and bombast for such sustained lengths with a full orchestral ensemble. In light of that, both Shipwrecked and Into the West offer Doyle with the right idea in mind, but often without the substance in performance to back it up. The title theme for Shipwrecked is easily its highlight, although one major criticism that could be leveled against the work is the endless repetition of that theme. Its excitement and flourishing string swells are trademark Doyle in optimism and fluff. The strings would be the key to the score, for Doyle relies upon them heavily to provide swirling effects during both the action and the sneaking around of the kids in the film. Slapstick effects are thankfully held to a minimum, although the plentiful woodwinds set prancing rhythms in the lower ranks while the omnipresent flute flutters along with the violins. The weakness of Doyle's Shipwrecked, however, is that he assigns the strings to perform lines of theme and accompaniment that swashbucklers usually demand from the brass. In fact, the very diminished role of brass in the score is its eventual downfall; Doyle's theme and upbeat underscore could very well have excelled had some of the string performances been replaced by brass. And when horns and trumpets are employed, such as in "Mary is Rescued," they seem to be lacking in numbers. Without any convincing brass depth, Shipwrecked is downgraded from a very strong composition as originally written on paper to a lightweight (of Alan Menken proportions) in actual performance. In the end, the score is certainly well-natured and a enjoyable 40 minutes on album. That album, however, was printed shortly by Disney in 1991 and quickly pulled from production. Original printed copies sold for over $60 just a couple of years after its release, as Doyle's career became solidified. Overall, however, unless you have expendable cash and time, the Shipwrecked album may be one of the lesser Doyle priorities for you due to that scarcity. ***

Purchasing Options: eBay/Half.com (Used)




   Viewer Ratings and Comments:

    Regular Average: 3.54 Stars
    Smart Average: 3.43 Stars
    *
    ***** 30 
    **** 27 
    *** 19 
    ** 10 
    * 12 
    (View results for all titles)
        * Smart Average only includes
             40% of 5-star and 1-star votes
                  to counterbalance fringe voting.
    Most Recent Comments:
    Read All  



    No Comments Yet



    Read All | Add New Post | Search | Help  




   Track Listings:
Total Time: 37:53

    • 1. Opening Titles (1:39)
    • 2. Death of Howell (1:02)
    • 3. Homecoming (0:59)
    • 4. The Sheriff's Arrival (1:11)
    • 5. Off to the Sea (2:02)
    • 6. Scrubbing the Deck (2:22)
    • 7. The Flora Departs (0:50)
    • 8. Captain Madsen is Poisoned (1:54)
    • 9. Hakon Finds Mary (1:12)
    • 10. Mary is Rescued (1:39)
    • 11. Exploring the Island (1:20)
    • 12. Dreaming of Home (1:06)
    • 13. Hakon Survives a Fall (1:27)
    • 14. Treasure is Found (1:06)
    • 15. Building the Traps (1:51)
    • 16. Hakon Builds His Boat (1:56)
    • 17. Pirates Discovered (1:34)
    • 18. The Chase (1:59)
    • 19. Home to Norway (3:35)
    • 20. End Titles - Part I (2:39)
    • 21. End Titles - Part II (3:29)




   Notes and Quotes:

    The insert includes a short description of the film, but no extra information about the score.







All artwork and sound clips from Shipwrecked are Copyright © 1991, Walt Disney Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/31/98, updated 4/11/05. Review Version 4.2 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1998-2008, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved.