Around the World in 80 Days [1956] [Original Soundtrack]

by Victor Young

Overview

Veteran Hollywood composer Victor Young died of a heart attack at age 56 on November 11, 1956, three-and-a-half weeks after the premiere of Around the World in 80 Days, one of the last of hundreds of movies for which he wrote music. The 167-minute epic film version of Jules Verne's 1873 novel about a man who wagers he can accomplish the journey suggested in the title was a cinematic extravaganza mounted by brash producer Michael Todd in a widescreen process he had immodestly dubbed Todd-A-O. It was also a considerable success, winning the Academy Award for best picture and out-grossing every movie of 1957 except the similarly epic The Ten Commandments. In fact, it won five Oscars, one of them for Young, a sentimental favorite given his recent demise, since the composer had never won previously despite having been nominated 21 times before. In the aftermath of the Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 1957, the Decca Records soundtrack album for Around the World in 80 Days became a massive hit, entering the Billboard chart for the week ending April 13 and rising to number one for the first of ten weeks on July 22, which made it second only to the Elvis Presley soundtrack Loving You as the most successful LP of 1957. Its popularity was aided by the release of the film's main theme, a waltz called "Around the World," as a single that reached the Top 20 in the soundtrack version, with competing chart renditions by Mantovani and (with lyrics set by Harold Adamson) Bing Crosby and the McGuire Sisters. Does all this mean that Young's score for Around the World in 80 Days was his best? No, but it may be his most characteristic. Young had an unusual gift for melody and was known for scoring pop hits with his tunes, among them "Stella by Starlight" and "Sweet Sue (Just You)." That gift certainly hadn't abandoned him at the end; the lilting "Around the World" was one of his most memorable themes. He was also known for using existing material and weaving it into his own writing, to the point that he sometimes seemed as much an arranger as a composer. Around the World in 80 Days offered extensive opportunities for this tendency, as the main character, Phileas Fogg, and his valet, Passepartout, travel from country to country. Fogg's own theme, not surprisingly, was "Rule, Britannia," and it turned up repeatedly in many different guises. It suggested that Young, viewing the movie properly as one big entertainment, wasn't going to be worried about indulging in cliches. On the contrary, his score reveled in them. No sooner were the heroes in Paris than a bit of the "Maxixe" would be heard. And so it went, with "Yankee Doodle Dandy" accompanying the movement to the U.S.; "La Cucaracha" heard in a Southwestern sequence; the Cavalry arriving to "The William Tell Overture"; and so on. This is not to say that Young didn't write plenty of his own music, and that much of it wasn't engaging, but even when he was being original, he was drawing on standard notions of what the music of a country or ethnic group sounded like. Of course, it was all in fun, just like the movie it accompanied, and the music was a major element in maintaining the light mood over the hours and continents. [The 50th anniversary expanded edition of the soundtrack adds nearly half-an-hour to the album as originally issued. Many of those additions are minor or repetitious, but a 72-minute version of Young's score is more appropriate to the scope of this film that the version that was edited down to the length of an LP in 1957.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	01/23/2007
Label:	Hit Parade Records
UPC:	0730531350229
Rank:	50737

Tracks

1. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Around The World, Part 1
2. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Passepartout
3. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Paris Arrival
4. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Aloft Above France (Sky Symphony)
5. Around the world in 80 days, film score~The Descent
6. Around the world in 80 days, film score~A Landing In Figueroas
7. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Passepartout Dances
8. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Invitation to a Bull Fight / Entrance Of The Bull March
9. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Arrival in Suez
10. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Bombay Harbor
11. Around the world in 80 days, film score~India Countryside
12. Around the world in 80 days, film score~A Princess in Distress (Pagoda Of Pillagi)
13. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Royal Barge of Siam
14. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Yokohama (Temple Of Dawn)
15. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Intermission
16. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Around The World, Part 2
17. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Transcontinental Railway
18. Around the world in 80 days, film score~A Weak Bridge
19. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Sioux Attack
20. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Prairie Sail Car
21. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Land Ho
22. Around the world in 80 days, film score~End Credits
23. Around the world in 80 days, film score~Exit Music

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Victor Young   Primary Artist,Conductor
Michael Anderson   Director

Technical Credits

George Mattingly   Package Design
Ken Adams   Art Direction
Jeff Vorzimmer   Cover Design
William Cameron Menzies   Associate Producer
Tom Daly   Digital Remastering
James Sullivan   Art Direction
Victor Young   Composer
Bill Evans   Composer
Harold Adamson   Composer
Richard Barbieri   Composer
Didier C. Deutsch   Reissue Producer,Liner Notes
Bill Buster   Executive Producer