Filmtracks: Shipwrecked (Patrick Doyle)


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.


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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. ***

Bias Check:

For Patrick Doyle reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.71 (in 17 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.72 (in 16,270 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.