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Review of We're No Angels (George Fenton)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

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.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

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.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 41:53

• 1. Introduction and Main Titles: "We're No Angels" (3:59) • 2. Escape from Northridge (4:12) • 3. First Light (3:02) • 4. Fathers Brown and Riley (3:52) • 5. The Waterside (1:27) • 6. The Weeping Madonna (2:19) • 7. More Trouble (2:12) • 8. Molly's Theme (2:01) • 9. Almost Home Free (1:51) • 10. The Tavern (1:17) • 11. "Get Me That Priest" (1:41) • 12. Drawing the Lottery (2:44) • 13. The Dam (4:13) • 14. "Free Street" (3:09) • 15. "We're No Angels" End Credits (3:08)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes information about the score and film. All copies are numbered.

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