Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #289
Written 10/31/96, Revised 8/25/08
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Buy it... if you are predisposed to the derivative romantic style of John
Barry's melodramatic scores of the era, for The Scarlet Letter is his last
strong entry in that genre.
Avoid it... if even a robust darker half of this score, complete with brutal
percussion sequences, cannot compensate for your lack of patience with Barry's
broad themes.
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| Barry |
The Scarlet Letter: (John Barry) If modern cinematic disasters
are to be ranked on a list, this sorry entry would fit somewhere in the middle
ranges of that dubious distinction. Accomplished director Roland Joffé decided, for
some reason, to film only a loose adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel
about 17th Century northeast American culture, complete with witchcraft, adultery,
and the harsh realities of immigrant (and obviously womens') life at the time.
Critics quickly pounded this film like a drum, with Demi Moore receiving the most
brutal response starting many weeks before the film was even released. Those few
people who actually subjected themselves to the film would find two partially
redeeming elements: the cinematography and the score. The story of the music for
The Scarlet Letter is just as disastrous as the film's overall production.
Film scoring veteran Elmer Bernstein was hired to write and record a score, both of
which he did. But, as was happening to Bernstein more and more often at the time,
his impressive music was rejected (it was, along with a couple of other rejected
works by the composer, eventually released as a limited Varèse Sarabande
club set in 2008). Then, to everyone's surprise, European romance maestro Ennio
Morricone was signed on to the project. To the horror of the filmmakers, though,
Morricone turned in a demo tape of music he could provide for the film and it
turned out to be a collection of Mediterranean-flavored themes from his previous
scores. After Morricone's summary dismissal, the filmmakers desperately sought John
Barry's services, since he had been a reliable historical romance writer and had
been nominated for Academy Awards with Dances With Wolves and Chaplin
in the few years prior. Barry, who was beginning to slow down in his production as
he neared a retirement pace of output during the late 1990's, accepted and produced
what would arguably be his last really strong score. With hints of Dances With
Wolves and Raise the Titanic, Barry's The Scarlet Letter would be
one final original romance piece before his career became hopelessly repetitive
(and itself littered with similarly rendered, rejected works). Depending on your
opinion of Barry's derivative styles, the 'A' in this case can either stand for
"arduous" or "awe-inspiring."
For knowledgeable listeners of John Barry's works, you'll note
immediately that
The Scarlet Letter is very typical of the man's later
career styles. But with his works of the 1990's, you have to judge the
effectiveness and listenability of that sound on just how much it derives from his
previous scores. Rarely were new ideas flowing from the composer at the time. The
broad scope of his strings, with conservatively accompanying brass and simple,
harmonic counterpoint, is everywhere in
The Scarlet Letter. It is a pleasant
score from beginning to end, with romance as tonal and thematic as it gets. The
love theme, arranged beautifully in "Love Scene," aches with dramatic lust and
often (though probably unintentionally) repeats a few sensitive bars of "Don't Cry
for Me Argentina" from
Evita. The saturation of tragic romance in this theme
is difficult to resist, even for those who consider themselves immune to Barry's
trademark thematic development of the 80's and 90's. Whereas his concurrent score
for
Cry the Beloved Country (along with other later ones) became stuck on
one monotonous idea,
The Scarlet Letter exhibits the development of several
thematic expressions and impressive motifs. As with
Dances With Wolves, the
percussion section gets a notable workout, with pounding bass drums and ripping
snares accentuating battle scenes and the inevitably frightening moments of
humiliation. As the score progresses, a more menacing chopping of strings and
rumbling of timpani offers a brutal side of Barry not often heard. Both
"Round-Up" and "The Indians Attack" place Barry's themes in tragic, deliberate brass over
tearing percussive outbursts; this is tougher, meaner music than you heard in even
the darker moments of James Bond's action cues. Assisting these huge action cues is
an extremely 'wet' sound mix; this technique caused
Cry the Beloved Country
to become awash, but in
The Scarlet Letter, the percussion section
especially benefits from this treatment. The echoing power of the score adds to the
mythic proportions of its emotions, resulting in an outstanding, resounding
listening experience on larger sound systems. Additional Indian chanting music by
Peter Buffett (reprising his collaboration with Barry for
Dances With
Wolves) and a strong performance of Samuel Barber's 'Agnus Dei' from "Adagio
for Strings" round out a very robust album. Debates comparing the merits of Barry
and Bernstein's two scores are welcome, though both would have served the film.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.86
(in 28 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 28,702 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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