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Review of One Against the Wind (Lee Holdridge)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you enjoy Lee Holdridge's usually melodic classical structures and are well aware of the sonic constraints that often plague his smaller recordings.

Avoid it... if you seek a score that distinguishes itself in any manner from Holdridge's other docu-drama works.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

One Against the Wind: (Lee Holdridge) A rather anonymous entry in Lee Holdridge's significant collection of docu-drama scores is One Against the Wind, a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie that received a handful of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations after its release in 1991. Notably one of the first projects ever to be filmed in Luxembourg, Larry Elikann's film tells the true story of Countess Mary Linden, a British aristocrat and former Red Cross nurse living in Paris at the time of its fall in World War II. Despite the Nazi occupation, she assisted in smuggling downed Allied pilots out of the country. Weaving in the Resistance and the Gestapo, the story outlines simple noble principles and was generally satisfying for audiences despite cramming a lengthy period of history into 90 minutes. While Judy Davis received most of the attention for her lead performance, the film is also regarded well for its performances by Sam Neill, Kate Beckinsale (one of her earliest films), and Denholm Elliott (in one of his final films). For Holdridge, the score would make similar demands to the plethora of other projects in his 1990's documentary and family film projects. Without a release on CD by Intrada Records a few years after the film's debut, the score would certainly have fallen into total obscurity, a fate the befalls too many solid efforts by the Latino-born composer. One aspect of Holdridge's writing for these kinds of projects that makes him so enticing for filmmakers involved in upcoming projects is the classically melodic consistency of his musical style. More than perhaps any other composer working in the television and documentary genre today, Holdridge is predictably solid in his output, ensuring that even a relatively unknown score like One Against the Wind will be an interesting and functional work at the very least.

The flip side of the equation for Holdridge, however, is that his scores for films like One Against the Wind rarely seem to take any chances that would distinguish themselves from the mass of his other works. Utilizing an adequate, but underpowered orchestral ensemble, the score maintains orchestral integrity without featuring any standout solo performances. Like all Holdridge efforts, a strong central theme exists, and in this case, there are two. Both heard in the opening prologue and titles, the snare-driven brass theme yields to a stock inspirational Holdridge theme for the primary character. These uplifting themes, always rising in structure and usually utilizing strings on top of broad brass accompaniment, do tend to cross over from one Holdridge score to another, and the title theme here does begin to establish some personality of its own when introduced by an elegant piano (as in the Finale cue). Structurally, the action material --represented by the war theme-- is well conceived, but suffers from a lack of power in performance, allowing holes in the orchestral soundscape to become easily evident. Some of the writing is so grand (such as in the aforementioned "Reunion and Finale" cue) that the ensemble's shortcomings become frustrating, for it's easily to imagine Holdridge's intent on paper and wish that a full and accomplished group could have handled the duties. Drawing even more attention to this unfortunate circumstance is a dull and muted recording quality in which non-string and non-brass instruments (including the snare, timpani, and chimes of the percussion section) are nearly lost. Such tragedy happens often in Holdridge scores, but isn't surprising given the size of the projects on which he works, and a score as much potential as One Against the Wind begs for an alternate universe in which Holdridge could work on high-budget films each time. It should be noted that some of the composer's work for this project was struck from the film, but was included by his request on the CD. Once a close-out item on CD, One Against the Wind may not be worth a lengthy search if you already have a satisfying Holdridge collection, but it won't disappoint you if you find it at bargain prices.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 30:57

• 1. Wartime (Prologue and Main Theme) (2:56) • 2. Mary Helps James (5:01) • 3. Escape (2:37) • 4. Simple Acts of Courage (5:33) • 5. Mary's Trial (2:03) • 6. Captured and Wounded (4:38) • 7. Mary in Danger (2:01) • 8. Leaving Mary Behind (3:19) • 9. Reunion and Finale (2:22) • 10. End Credits (Main Theme) (1:14)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes the following note from Holdridge:

"The first time I viewed the rough cut of One Against the Wind I was very moved by the dramatic and courageous story of Mary Lindell. I was also very affected by the extraordinarily haunting performance given by Judy Davis as Mary. Davis later very deservedly won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination for her performance, and the film itself won a Golden Globe award. Davis, along with a great cast, including the wonderful Sam Neill as Major James Leggett, help give this lushly directed and produced film a great deal of power.

One Against the Wind is the real-life story about the well-to-do British countess, Mary Lindell, who lived with her teen-aged children in Paris during World War II and smuggled downed Allied fliers to safety right out from under the Nazis. This dangerous path led Mary eventually to capture and imprisonment by the Nazis. Somehow, she barely managed to survive the war. She lived in Paris for the rest of her life and died only recently in 1987 at the age of 92.

After viewing the film, I immediately sat down at the piano and began to compose. As I thought about the film and the story, emotions welled up inside of me and music came quickly. As ideas came, it occurred to me that the score should be very much like a tone poem spread across the events and moments of the film. The music should express Mary's struggles, her brushes with danger, her dilemmas with her personal feelings, and her "iron" hope that seemed to keep her going. Two main motives propel the score: the tense descending "wartime" action theme, most often expressed by the brass, and the rising hymn-like main theme.

Though there are some cues that appear here that are not in the final cut of the film, I have included them as I believe they are all part of the same tapestry. I could see this "tone poem" being performed as a single work in concert. I hope I convey that feeling on this recording."

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