Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,237
Written 6/26/97, Revised 6/23/06
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Buy it... if you are a sucker for intelligent comedy writing and
robust orchestral performances that make you forget at times that this
is a comedy.
Avoid it... if you prefer anything resembling consistency in your
scores, and a combination of epic action and 30's swing in the same
score deters your ears.
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| Fenton |
We're No Angels: (George Fenton) A more recent
adaptation of Albert Husson's play "La Cuisine des Angels," the 1989
We're No Angels directed by Neil Jordan follows a 1955 film and a
Broadway production. It's a tale of mistaken identity that the 1989 film
blows up to huge proportions. As the story opens, two convicts of the
1930's era are repressed in an absolutely hellish prison with freakish
guards and inmates. After their escape, they are mistaken for two lost
priests in a town on the American/Canadian border, and they decide to
play along with the game until they can sneak across the border to
freedom from pursuing police. One falls in love with a local woman along
the way, the other discovers religion in the process of playing the role
of priest. The critics largely blasted the film for trying too hard to
extend the humor of the mistaken identity, though others admired the
pairing of Robert DeNiro and Sean Penn as the two convicts, and their
highly comical facial expressions throughout the picture. Among the
film's best assets, though, were the authentic British Columbia location
and English composer George Fenton's outrageously fun score. Fenton was
already active in both American and British cinema by 1989, with several
high profile scores that had earned him respect as a rising star in film
music composition. We're No Angels was among a few silly comedies
that Fenton scored in this period, and of the better known projects,
it's by far the most engaging and entertaining. Fenton's approach to the
film was one of over-the-top enthusiasm, and his score is vast in size
and performance. One of the criticisms leveled against the film involved
a lack of balance between the action and the comedy, and the same could
be said about the score (which likely contributed to the problem on
screen). But for film music fans, We're No Angels is a riot that
shows Fenton's wide range of talents almost as well as his Blue
Planet work a dozen years later.
Thematically diverse, the score for
We're No
Angels has a multitude of thriving motifs. The one that receives a
teaser performance at the outset of the score is "Molly's Theme" (for
the Demi Moore character), a light and easy1930's swing piece with a
touch of attitude performed by solo woodwind, horn, or harmonica over
lazy plucked bass. It's an attractive and loveable theme reprised in
full in two cues later in the score. The second theme is one for the
Northridge Prison itself, a forceful five-note motif that varies in its
ferocious applications in the first two cues of the score. Those seven
minutes that open the film are a bombastic delight from Fenton, with his
prison cues so forceful and dramatic that their sustained brass,
muscular harmonies, and overwhelming scope could accompany any epic
science fiction film. Fenton has rarely written music so wildly violent
and enjoyable in that attitude; it's not to be missed. Some of the
prison-related bombast is repeated briefly in the more tense chase or
suspicion cues later. A third idea is the "freedom" theme introduced in
"First Light" (as the convicts initially escape) and developed with a
flourish in the last three cues. In "The Dam" and "Free Street," as well
as the "End Credits," Fenton offers this theme with the majesty of
Memphis Belle and throws in a touch of bittersweet romance a la
Bernard Herrmann while he's at it. At the end of "The Dam," and hinted
at in the opening of the two following cues, Fenton takes direct
inspiration from Herrmann's "Scene D'Amour" from
Vertigo... a
slightly bizarre usage, but fitting in the overall scheme of the comedy.
The overall package is a bit disjointed, with several genres of music
rolled into one score (especially with the fiddle source music for "The
Tavern"), but the most important aspect of
We're No Angels is its
consistently vibrant performance and crystal clear sound quality. The
two action pieces at the outset of the score are especially aided by the
fantastic recording. Only 1,500 albums were printed, as this was one of
the last entries in the original Varèse Sarabande Club, but it's
an incredibly fun score, and a sure hit for Fenton collectors.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For George Fenton reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.64
(in 14 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.44
(in 16,916 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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