Filmtracks: Thoughts on 2024 releases: Varèse Deluxe The Other (Goldsmith)

Thoughts on 2024 releases: Varèse Deluxe The Other (Goldsmith)

Thoughts on 2024 releases: Varèse Deluxe The Other (Goldsmith)

(c-76-141-151-147.hsd1.il.comcast.
net)

Friday, February 14, 2025 (10:51 a.m.)

In some ways considered a mirror universe version of To Kill a Mockingbird because it had that earlier movie’s director doing another story from a child’s perspective that went in more disturbing directions, The Other (a rural psychological thriller with suggestions of horror) got a mixed reception when it appeared in 1972. You’d think it might even have turned into one of those films that faded into obscurity absent a well-known Jerry Goldsmith score, but postproduction cuts actually resulted in a good portion of his music being excised from the final cut of the film, and prior to last year the music for The Other had only existed as a lengthy suite at the end of a CD release for another score. Varèse finally rectified this last year, revealing that the score in full was a beguiling and ultimately haunting blend of the small-town Americana style he’d been doing for over a decade in Westerns, character dramas, and television (complete with the occasional harmonica, a key part of his toolbox going all the way back to The Twilight Zone) with the turbulent thriller sounds he’d expand on in the 1970s. The work’s gradual descent into darkness is intellectually appealing, though the end product may understandably leave some listeners cold. Still, if you’re intrigued by something that’s basically the halfway point between The Red Pony and Magic, you’ve come to the right place.

****

Tim Greiving’s liner notes are predictably excellent, going into significant depth on how Jerry’s music was intended to work across the entire picture. The sound is great, all the more impressive considering the archival nature of the earlier presentation. And if nothing else the new program thankfully moves the sole source music track (very Anna and the King) to the end instead of smack dab in the middle like the label’s earlier suite presentation did.

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Prior Goldsmith Collection Expansion Chronicles entries
- Volume 1: The Don is Dead - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=87191

- Volume 2: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=87454

- Volume 3: Hawkins on Murder, Winter Kill, and Babe - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=87666

- Volume 4: The Twilight Zone series - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=88329

- Volume 5: Islands in the Stream film recording and The Last Castle expanded - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=88765

- Volume 6: The Detective, Von Ryan’s Express, The Challenge, and Total Recall 30th Anniversary - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=89652

- Volume 7: Inchon 3CD release, Looney Tunes: Back in Action Deluxe, Studs Lonigan, Stagecoach (1966) film recording, The Loner, and Amazing Stories S1E17 - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=90860

- Volume 8: The Spiral Road, Thriller, Shamus, Face of a Fugitive, and Take Her, She’s Mine - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=97685

- Volume 9: Caboblanco, Extreme Prejudice Intrada expansion, Rio Conchos rerecording remastered, and Legend Quartet expansion - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=103309

- Volume 10: Love Field Deluxe, Matinee Intrada, L.A. Confidential Deluxe, Rudy Deluxe, The 'Burbs La-La Land, Executive Decision, The Public Eye (unused), Mr. Baseball, S*P*Y*S, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, Room 222 Season 1, Anna and the King (1972), Prudence and the Chief, MacArthur, Black Patch rerecording, The Man rerecording, and Jerry's episodic music for the General Electric Theater - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136882

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