{"id":4291,"date":"2012-02-16T12:33:25","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T17:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4291"},"modified":"2012-02-16T12:33:25","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T17:33:25","slug":"cd-tora-tora-tora-1970","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4291","title":{"rendered":"CD: Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>T to U<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records<\/a> \/ Released: November 29, 2011<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 21 tracks \/ (55:58)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 2,000 copies..<\/p>\n

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Composer: Jerry Goldsmith<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Tora! Tora! Tora!<\/strong> is part of Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s war film canon, which includes dramas (A Gathering of Eagles<\/strong>), biographies (Patton<\/strong>, MacArthur<\/strong>), and shrill heroism (In Harm\u2019s Way<\/strong>, Inchon<\/strong>) from the sixties through the eighties, but where the composer often excelled was scoring conflict that were implied or looming over the horizon.<\/p>\n

There is no actual war in Seven Days in May<\/strong>, yet the sparse score evokes the scheming and vile maneuvering of traitors within the U.S. military. Morituri<\/strong> matched that film\u2019s dour misery of characters trapped on a Nazi boat during WWII, and The Sand Pebbles<\/strong> dramatizes the observances of conflicts prior to war by outsiders trying to becoming enmeshed as they witness mounting horror at every docking.<\/p>\n

Tora<\/strong> remains unique for a number of reasons: the filmmakers sought to dramatize both the American and Japanese points of view the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, and it was arguably one of the last great American WWII combat films that featured real pilots, vintage planes, and spectacular practical effects. There simply is no comparison between a contemporary CGI epic and Fox\u2019s vintage production, and while it\u2019s easy to cite Michael Bay\u2019s bloated jingoistic bore-fest Pearl Harbor<\/strong> (2001) as the nadir of a drama about the event, TV\u2019s Pearl<\/strong> (1978) similarly sought to enhance the drama of the surprise attack on the American Navy\u2019s Hawaiian base by serializing soap opera storylines.<\/p>\n

Tora<\/strong> went for the factual: character actors played historical figures confronting the moments of haste, error, ineptitude, and horror as a fleet of Japanese ships and fighter planes decimated the docked U.S. Navy, and as the film\u2019s finale infers, awakened a giant.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith\u2019s score is very sparse, and it\u2019s an appropriately strategic effort. After an opening theme statement, the bulk of the score consists of short cues covering establishing shots, scene transitions, and characters when they\u2019re on the go – tracking down reports and trying to send word as a massive assault is about to hit the bay.<\/p>\n

Part of the tactic was to give momentum to scenes to ensure the docu-drama tone and wry dialogue wasn\u2019t alienating audiences who might be getting a little impatient before the action finale. Little of the battle is scored \u2013 there\u2019s far too much sound effects on the go, and music was frankly unnecessary when the imagery was already horrific \u2013 but score was particularly vital in covering the diplomatic maneuvering between the U.S. and Japanese ambassadors. These scenes were vital for contrast, and the score \u2013 often rhythmic cues with rapping, resonating bass hits, and a ticking motif \u2013 gave extra urgency to characters that often spent time waiting, listening, discussing, and driving to and from locations. (One could also regard the rapping as characterizing the diplomats as marionettes, looking rather absurd and out of their league when something huge and horrific was looming.)<\/p>\n

For the Japanese scenes (directed by Battle Royale<\/strong>\u2019s Kinji Fukasaku), Goldsmith doesn\u2019t characterize the Japanese strategists and pilots readying themselves for sacrifice as clear-cut villains, but rather small elements within a large force that\u2019s representative of warfare\u2019s innate horror. The early scenes are mournful, as conveyed through the harmonics of the film\u2019s tragic title theme, and a meandering synth chord that infers there were men who felt unease (and perhaps moral revulsion) for the plotted attack.<\/p>\n

For its brevity, Tora<\/strong> is a gem in Goldsmith\u2019s canon because it shows off his gift for rhythms, experimental sounds, and a modern sound that completely steered clear of the straightforward scoring style of multiple themes, repeated statements, and stating the obvious instead of subtext. \u201cMt. Niitaka\u201d has a bizarre, wooden groan, whereas the theme quoting in the exciting \u201cWaiting Game\u201d is more evocative of his Planet of the Apes<\/strong> [POTA], playing with echoplexed sounds, and layered percussion textures derived from hollow, organic sources. The cue\u2019s tail end features a repeated wooden clacking, subtle strings, and uneasy tones on clarinet.<\/p>\n

Like POTA, Goldsmith has his woodwind and low brass almost grunting their rhythmic patterns, and changes in tension within \u201cSunday Morning\u201d is coloured with a shift from low to high pitched wooden strikes, and a sudden tonal surge that almost mimics an air raid siren, with each tone ratcheting higher, and setting the harmonic path for the film\u2019s finale \u2013 largely tense, kinetic cues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 14th Part\u201d is a delight for the way a steady rhythm is traded between types of percussion, the almost warped harmonies on strings (a tactic often used by Alex North, quite extensively in Cleopatra<\/strong>), and the periodic interjection of the main theme on Japanese string instruments prior to a final tonal upsurge from lower brass.<\/p>\n

The \u201cEntr\u2019Acte\u201d somewhat interrupts the flow with its full main theme statement, but Goldsmith retains the same instruments used in prior cues to ensure the level of colour (and tension) maintain continuity, and audiences return to the theatre in exactly the same mindset (with perhaps more anticipation) as when they left.<\/p>\n

The score\u2019s last 3 cues are a great collection of Goldsmith\u2019s sense of experimentalism, adopting all the warped sounds from prior cues, reverb, and constantly shifting between percussion textures that capture the converging storylines as the first Japanese Zero planes are sighted, the Americans become aware of what\u2019s approaching, and there\u2019s a scramble to mount a defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the Way\u201d is the first overt replay of the main theme, but it\u2019s ephemeral, since there\u2019s a return to the percussion textures before a gradual, hasty fadeout. The last cue, \u201cThe Final Message,\u201d underscores the decoding the last message which confirms the attack plan, and a return to the main theme – initially on low strings, and then performed with higher pitched strings and brass, closing the score with the same fast wrap-up as the \u201cEnt\u2019Acte.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the prior FSM CD from 2000, La-La Land\u2019s reissue includes the same program of 14 score cuts and 4 source pieces (2 marches, two Hawaiian light dances). \u201cThe Waiting Game\u201d is reprised with the song overlay as heard in the film, and the suite of bonus cues finishes with a tragic solo piano version and a pop arrangement with sitar and bass guitar; most likely both were conjured for a single release, but happily buyers were spared the indignity of hearing the latter until, er, now.<\/p>\n

Whereas FSM\u2019s CD featured liner notes and compact cue discussions by Jeff Bond and Jonathan Z. Kaplan (expanded into an article in FSM Vol. 5, No. 4), Julie Kirgo\u2019s new liner notes provide a broader balance of score, production, and composer quotes.<\/p>\n

LLL\u2019s CD does feature a new mastering of the score, bringing out more of the mid-range subtleties, whereas the FSM CD featured stronger bass. In both cases, the engineers had to deal with rather muted master tapes that weren\u2019t heavily detailed in the high end, so buyers content with the FSM disc \u2013 now 11 years old \u2013 will have to decide if there\u2019s a need to opt for LLL\u2019s 2011 edition.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0T to U<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ T to U . Rating: Excellent Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records \/ Released: November 29, 2011 Tracks & Album Length: 21 tracks \/ (55:58) . Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 2,000 copies.. . Composer: Jerry Goldsmith . . Review: Tora! Tora! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[545],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-17d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4291"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4294,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions\/4294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}