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| Eidelman |
The Beautician and the Beast: (Cliff Eidelman) In
something of an unintended parody of
The Sound of Music,
The
Beautician and the Beast is a romantic fantasy which revolves around
the outlandish premise that a hairdresser in New York could accidentally
be confused as a tutor for the children of a foreign dictator, and of
course, the unlikely love that spawns in that situation. Any charm that
the film might have hoped to convey is nearly shattered by the comical
dialect of Fran Drescher, whose voice becomes so intolerable by the end
of the film that it is difficult to hear the music behind it. With the
film debuting as a complete failure, one of the few bright aspects about
The Beautician and the Beast is its score by Cliff Eidelman. For
that music, the filmmakers chose to mix a few traditional Eastern
European, classical and choral pieces with the talents of Eidelman,
whose career was starting to look upward again at the time. Aside from
The Beautician and the Beast, which gave him the opportunity to
go to Britain to record with the London Metropolitan Orchestra, Eidelman
would also produce an impressive score for the third installment of the
Free Willy series that same year. Little at the time indicated
that
The Beautician and the Beast would be the last boisterous
score from Eidelman for several years, with a career-dooming period of
inactivity to ensue thereafter. Eidelman's task was to reflect two
separate worlds colliding for this film. The primary setting of the film
is the fictional Eastern European country of Slovetzia, led by a
perpetually angry former-007, Timothy Dalton. Eidelman decided to bypass
any New York influence in the score (no silly urban jazz rhythms to
distract from the tone of the film) and concentrate on forming a score
with a foundation built on European waltz rhythms. The majority of cues,
whether in robust performances or simple underscore, have a hint of
waltz-like movement, faintly referencing Russian progressions and
occasionally pulling a few measures from Tchaikowsky. The consistency of
this choice remains strong throughout the score, with a pompous and
almost comedic title theme of romance fitting naturally with the spirit
of a waltz. The primary theme prances along with character and spirit,
much like Drescher's character in the film, and shares many structural
similarities to his title theme for
Free Willy 3: The
Rescue.
Just as Drescher's obnoxious voice can cause an ill
mood in the film, the title theme gets old rather quickly, playing too
hard to the romantic comedy side of the emotional scale while trying to
maintain the rhythms of the waltz. It will test the patience of anyone
who can't sit through an entire Rachel Portman score. The only
performance of the title theme that breaks loose with a less
constraining rhythm exists in the final marriage cue at the end. This
makes sense, given Drescher's growing influence over the dictator, and
the prevailing of romance over tradition. The other most memorable cues
from the film are actually the two traditional pieces contained on the
album (neither composed by Eidelman), though Eidelman's original score
fits very snugly with those classical tracks and thus no awkward
transitions break the flow. A secondary theme for the family of the
dictator isn't particularly well articulated, though an idea
representing the title couple's friction receives satisfactory
development on low strings in "You Are a Beast." The only remaining
highlights of the score for
The Beautician and the Beast,
although short in length, are many of the more sensitive cues composed
for conversational scenes during the second half of the film. As
Drescher's true occupation is revealed and Dalton tries to decide what
to do about their growing affections despite this crisis, Eidelman
inserts a few very touching variations of his themes. They aren't
remarkable in the larger scope of film music, but cues such
"Cinderella's Confession" and "Going Away" provide some of the sincere
emotion that fans of Eidelman have become accustomed to hearing over the
years. The album was a rare partnership between Eidelman and the Milan
label, and the product quickly vanished from record stores as the film
failed miserably in theatres. Now reduced to an occasional find on the
secondary market, the album for
The Beautician and the Beast
contains only 26 minutes of actual original score composed by Eidelman
(which is a typical length for most of his works on album during the
1990's). Of that 26 minutes, which are divided into cues no longer than
2:20 minutes, roughly five minutes are remarkable. The concluding "The
Prince and the Princess" is easily the high point. The rest will be
pleasant to the ears of Eidelman's fans, and some might even find it a
refreshing change from the often somber tone of many of Eidelman's
scores of the period, but it still won't generate much spark or
enthusiasm.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Cliff Eidelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.29
(in 17 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.18
(in 8,181 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a synopsis of the film, but no extra information about the score.
