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Review of The Crucible (George Fenton)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you have a lingering attachment to this film or
wish to complete your collection of vintage George Fenton dramas, this
one lacking the passion of the composer's similar works.
Avoid it... if you figure that Fenton would have conjured a blend of romance and dread for this disturbing topic, an approach that he basically attempted but somehow managed to miss entirely in the execution phase.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Crucible: (George Fenton) Human stupidity is
the topic of Arthur Miller's famous play, "The Crucible," which recounts
the events of the laughably primordial Salem witch trials. Religious
persecution has a rich history in the world, and in the 1690's
Massachusetts incident, these senseless acts were efforts to serve the
purposes of marital infidelity and jealousy over men. Several
imaginative girls pretended to be under the spell of the devil (behavior
that would be considered cool and hip at parties just 400 years later)
and blamed a number of people in the town for causing their faked
medical conditions with witchcraft. Innocent people were hanged in
response to the idiotic, prevailing religious customs of the era, all
because judges and other governmental institutions were taken advantage
of by these girls' whims. When Miller wrote his play in the early
1950's, he was making a thinly-veiled connection between the persecution
of the Salem era and the actions of Senator Joe McCarthy and the House
Committee on Unamerican Activities that was attempting to root out
communists at the time. He returned to the topic in 1996, when he spent
a significant amount of time adapting his story into a screenplay for a
film to be shot by Nicholas Hytner. Miller was nominated for an Academy
Award for his efforts, and the cast, anchored by Daniel Day-Lewis,
Winona Ryder, and Joan Allen, was widely praised as well. The story's
metaphorical meaning wasn't as potent in the mid-1990's, however, and
the movie, despite a reasonably impressive critical reception, failed
miserably at the box office. Continuing his collaboration with Hytner
was composer George Fenton, who was in between his period of frequent
Academy Award recognition in the 1980's and early 1990's and the
Emmy-defined post-2000 period dominated by his work for nature
documentary programs. Fenton was a major name in Hollywood at the time,
his music for the drama genre popular with the art house crowd. His
involvement with The Crucible followed directly from The
Madness of King George and was one of the production's attempts to
push strongly for similar awards recognition. While Fenton's style could
stray wildly at times even back then (this trait is more familiar in the
2000's for listeners who compare his documentary music with an endless
series of silly comedies), he featured a pretty static orchestral drama
mode that was being challenged by Thomas Newman and Richard Robbins by
the 1990's, and The Crucible is very standard within that
sound.
Understandably, when approaching the musical sound for The Crucible, Fenton was aware of the fact that the purpose of Miller's story and the production as a whole was to function as a commentary on persecution in the modern era as well as that of Salem's past. While there are some percussive and string techniques in his score that aide in addressing the actual period of the story, Fenton also employs a number of methods that are clearly meant to streamline the music for modern consumption. The use of flowing string romance with noble brass backing was not new in the 1990's, of course, but John Barry had popularized it for pop culture digestion. The application of subtle electronic tones is perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Crucible, a technique of purely creepy atmosphere that whines in the treble during moments of suspense and anguish. Varied percussive tones also slap away, both in drums and struck metal, the most understandable representations of behavior associated with witchcraft. The instrumentation becomes increasingly conventional as the score progresses, content to dwell upon the tortured interpersonal relationships as they reach their bitter ends. When this happens, Fenton's thematic constructs begin to grow, culminating in the touching "The Beach" and "Proctor Confesses." You won't find yourself recalling these themes after the score is finished, however, because their very slight stature and generic classical progressions are badly underdeveloped in the score and offer none of the warmth that you hear in other Fenton scores of the era, including Shadowlands most notably. Even in "Forgive Us (Crucible End Credits)," the composer barely registers with his string and oboe meanderings, the lack of depth a major detriment in the rather passionless performance. The score's most interesting passages come early, highlighted by "Dancing in the Forest," which opens with a Presumed Innocent-like electronic motif of mystery and churns with increasing intensity as it approaches its forceful ensemble rhythms for the witchcraft ceremony that opens the film. Similarly, "The Village" is the score's leading nod to the age, with folk sensibilities and a meter not unfamiliar to Basil Poledouris. Snare rhythms and pounding timpani in "Judge Danforth Arrives" announce the heavy hand of the law, but these performances are likewise sparse. The score's lack of compelling bass accompaniment is its greatest weakness, a cue like "Vengeance" expressing hints of the dread that needed to exist to simmering levels in other cues. In sum, Fenton's approach to The Crucible is adequate but underwhelming, a definite disappointment for his enthusiasts. There's nothing technically wrong with his music, but a total absence of passion is its downfall. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 56:58
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a brief note from the composer about the score. There
are no track titles listed on the exterior of the packaging and empty pages on
inside of the insert indicate serious design problems with the product.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from The Crucible are Copyright © 1996, RCA Victor/BMG and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 2/10/12 (and not updated significantly since). |
