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Click on Album Covers to Listen to Sound Clips
and Purchase/Download on Amazon.com
The Stories of Mark Twain
This first narrative album from the 1950s features both Walter Brennan and Brandon deWilde together again. Brennan and deWilde did the marvelous film Good-bye, My Lady in 1956 for John Wayne's Batjac Company. They also worked together in 1965 on the Disney film Those Calloways.
This album has them reading from the works of Mark Twain and was recently transferred to MP3 format for easy internet download. There are just 4 tracks. Brandon's reading is approximately 21-minutes of Huckleberry Finn and presents him in his Southern twang dialect that he used in so many of his early presentations. Walter Brennan gives 2 10-minute readings and Emma Hignett is presented for 2-minutes. This download costs only $3.96, so what else is there to say?
Originally released in 1956 as Caedmon Records TC 1027.
You really have to listen carefully to understand Brandon at times, but to hear his recitation as Huck Finn is pure magic!!!
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Grandma Moses Suite
/ Blues Opera
Hugh Martin and
Harold Arlen
Whistle Stop from the Grandma Moses Suite by Hugh Martin, Jr. is the opening theme song for Brandon deWilde's 1953-1954 ABC sitcom Jamie. It is also known as Movement II of the Suite. A tune highlighted by flute, oboe and horn, it renders itself to both youth and age. First copyright on April 1, 1952 and renewed on January 4, 1980.
It is derived from the score of the 1950 Oscar®-nominated documentary film about the celebrated and gifted painter Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses.
This is a cute, peppy little tune that times in at 2:52. We have previewed the entire album; it is reasonably priced and would more than likely make a good purchase. This CD album would make a nice little gift as well.
Link provided above to the CD album preview/purchase page for your convenience.
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Shane by Victor Young
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
LIMITED EDITION
A La-La Land Records and
Paramount Pictures Presentation
Click on CD Cover to Go to the La-La Land Records Web Page,
to Hear Sound Samples and to Order this CD
La-La Land Records and Paramount Pictures presents renowned composer Victor Young's (Around the World in 80 Days, September Affair, Samson and Delilah and Gulliver's Travels) legendary original score to the classic 1953 Paramount Pictures western Shane, starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon deWilde and Jack Palance, and directed by George Stevens.
In conjunction with Paramount's centennial celebration, La-La Land and Paramount Pictures honor Young's iconic Shane score by presenting the surviving music cues from the 35mm monaural magnetic film in the studio's vaults, supplemented by a few choice cues from the film's music-and-effects track.
Produced by Neil S. Bulk and Chris Malone, supervised by Lukas Kendall, and remastered by Doug Schwartz, this complex restoration of one of Young's masterworks is a must-have for all film music enthusiasts. Exclusive, in-depth liners from writer Jim Lochner take the listener behind the landmark film and its legendary score. This is a limited edition of 2000 units.
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SHANEA Tribute to Victor Young
Composed by: Victor Young
1996 digital recordings with Richard Kaufman conducting the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Reissue with new packaging. Notes by Tony Thomas and package design by Jim Titus. 500 edition.
Click on CD Cover to go to Screen Archives Entertainment Web Page
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And to stay with Victor Young, we have a set of tribute CDs to show you, both of which still seem to be readily available and are very similar in content.
The first is a Japanese import and quite honestly it was the jewel case cover with Brandon deWilde and Alan Ladd in a color scene from Shane on it that caught our attention right away. It lists a release date of July 25, 2001.
Victor Young / Best 20 gives us 20 of his most popular movie theme performances. The problem, you see, is that as an import the entire packaging is printed in Japanese only. You can, by clicking on the cover link above, visit the Amazon.com English listing of tracks and hear samples of all cuts.
Released April 25, 2006, this CD credited to Victor Young gives us 22 tracks and, for most of us, it will be a relief to know is printed in English.
As with the other featured albums, click on the cover to be taken to the Amazon.com page for a closer inspection and to sample tracks there
Now I haven't had the opportunity to review either of these fine releases other than the already mentioned sample tracks. I am sure we can all appreciate The Call of the Far-Away Hills (The theme from Shane). There is also a rendition of Dimitri Tiomkin's haunting The High and the Mighty, one of my personal favorites.
From what I have read, the second release would appear to not only give us 2 additional tracks, but has been described as being the better sound quality. Don't forget, we are dealing with recordings in some cases more than 50 years old from a time when no one would have ever thought that these tunes would be around past the films' theatre engagements! Prices will vary, as availability decreases prices increase on these very limited production releases.
You might also scan eBay for value on any of the number of albums featured on this page.
...more coming soon!
