Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you, like most film music collectors, appreciate the style of both Basil Poledouris and Hans Zimmer, for the two composers did their honest best to address this adventure film with the instructions given to them. Avoid it... if you expect to hear either composer make any attempt to extend outside of his comfort zone, the two scores extremely typical to their output at the time and therefore distractingly incongruous next to each other in context. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
White Fang: (Basil Poledouris/Hans Zimmer/Various) While Jack London's 1906 novel "White Fang" had been adapted to the screen a couple of times prior, its 1991 handling by Disney is widely considered to be the most memorable version on screen. Spawning a sequel after earning well worldwide, White Fang was a somewhat embarrassing mutilation of the original London story, adding a stand-in character for the author so that Ethan Hawke could help pack theatres with younger audiences. His character travels on an expedition to Alaska seeking riches, though the concept of transporting a corpse with a dogsled team does remain, as do the circumstances of the titular character. The wolf/dog hybrid at the center of the story is the sympathetic hero as expected, the script pulling inspiration from London's similar "The Call of the Wild" for additional narrative depth. As one might imagine, White Fang's most impressive technical feature is its photography of the wilderness, though audiences were likely less entranced by snowy peaks than they were by the predictable human-animal bonds that are cutely realized in the story. The movie opened the door for a sudden influx of similarly innocuous children's topics involving animals facing adversity, and one of the most reliable, consistently employed composers for this subgenre of film was Basil Poledouris. While known for his ball-busting action scores to that point, Poledouris embarked upon a period in the early 1990's that saw him shift his emphasis to the animal-relations portion of the children's genre, Free Willy perhaps his most famous entry of the lot. The composer's knack for Americana authenticity, embodied by several of his popular Western genre scores running concurrent to his action hits, was well suited for this new type of children's film, as was his ability to infuse contemporary electronic elements into his soundscapes. In retrospect, White Fang seemed like a perfect assignment for Poledouris, especially when the filmmakers decided to ask the composer to alter some of his cues to include a more contemporary appeal to co-exist alongside his vintage, wholesome frontier spirit. Poledouris re-wrote and recorded a number of alternate takes utilizing his familiar electronic array of sounds, though his prior recordings were ironically more frequently chosen for the final cut of the film. Listeners familiar with Lonesome Dove and Poledouris' other Western-themed scores will quickly recognize the general approach taken by the composer to White Fang. His sense of Americana is quite unique in the history of Hollywood, informed by his application of folk rhythms and other aged devices to inform his melodies and instrumentation. The composer's primary theme for White Fang is exactly the kind of sweeping identity you expect to hear from him, revisited as necessary to denote the magnificence of the landscape. His secondary themes aren't quite as memorable this time around, but the consistency of his Western-flavored sense of adventure is his work's greatest asset. The depth of the orchestra in his recording is arguably not as impressive as it could have been, especially in his action cues, though the heart of his contribution exists in his redemptive melodic portions, most of which were left untouched for the film. The heavy lifting for the source-like and primordial passages was definitely handled well by the composer, his honky-tonk source pieces difficult to tolerate on their own but adequate to the task. The filmmakers' desire for the contemporary angle ultimately led to the hiring of Hans Zimmer at the last minute to provide replacement music for the picture. Zimmer was a hot, young commodity in the industry by 1991, his style of melody and electronics reshaping the role of pop sounds in orchestral soundtracks. When approached to write 57 minutes of music in 16 days, he accepted the assignment as a dare, a decision he later laughed about. His first day of recording coincided with Poledouris' final day in the studio, a rare occasion when two major composers were both recording separate scores for the same film concurrently. Zimmer needed assistance finishing his work on time, so he enlisted Fiachra Trench and Shirley Walker (who conducted the replacement score) to write a small minority of the music. Although delivering his product on schedule, Zimmer saw much of his score ultimately passed over in favor of Poledouris' prior recording. Much of Zimmer's action music was indeed chosen for inclusion in the movie, though Poledouris' more traditional material was left to define the major themes of the story. The film suffered as a result, with several scenes distractingly shifting mid-cue between the two scores and thus leading to an extremely disjointed whole. In fact, the hybrid score in context is laughably incongruous at times, especially for film music enthusiasts who pick up on such discrepancies. When considering the two scores for White Fang apart, Zimmer's product, despite being a less viable match for the movie, is a more interesting study. His work is understandably extremely representative of his style of the early 1990's, for there was little time for him to venture into different territories. His standard blend of synthesized and organic performers is once again utilized, as are his common solo accents during the period. Friendly keyboarding, drum pads, and pan pipes make frequent appearances, and solo trumpet and sharply pulsating, staccato rhythms mark a few of the major sequences. His tone sounds like an odd combination of Rain Man and a Vangelis drama, with a few hints of frontier instrumentation thrown into the equation. A honky-tonk piano and banjo in his opening cue is replaced by fiddle in his final cue, but not much else attempts to represent authenticity in the work. There are a range of guilty pleasure applications for Zimmer fans to enjoy, including the soft pipes, pretty woodwind solos, and melodramatic chord progressions typical to the composer's preferences at the time. His three main themes for White Fang are heartfelt but rather unmemorable, the minor-key pipe theme for the tragedy of the titular animal's past a highlight. The two individual highlights of the score extend out of Zimmer's idea for the location, a trumpet in "The Golden Staircase" and solo voice in "Home Again" offering gorgeous interludes. It's a bit of a shame that most of Zimmer's best material for White Fang went unused in any picture; it may not have been a great fit for this context, but he provided what the filmmakers thought they wanted at the time and did so while successfully exploring his own musical vocabulary. His action music, sometimes written in part by Trench or Walker, was most frequently heard in the movie, and this material is unfortunately the weakest of his contributions (especially Walker's "The Bear Attack," which is simply too bass-heavy for its own good). Overall, though the awkward pairing of the two recordings in the film makes for an ineffective soundtrack, both scores are entertaining listening experiences on album. Intrada Records was the first to release either of them, tackling both on one product in 2012. This limited album is fabulously produced, presenting each full score on a separate CD for a reasonable price. Zimmer enthusiasts probably have the most to gain, though it's hard to go wrong with Americana spirit from Poledouris. The sequel movie in 1994, White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf, received a strong (and obviously more coherent) score from John Debney that merits attention as well. **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 118:52
All artwork and sound clips from White Fang are Copyright © 2012, Intrada 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 4/9/12, updated 4/9/12. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2012-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
