Orchestrations: CRANE, Edward Powell, STOVER: Earle Hagen – Intrada Special Collection Volume31, TT: 72.22, 30 tracks (stereo) **** * (Highest Rating)Producer: Nick Redman Performed: 20th Century-Fox Orchestra Conductor: CRANE: Alfred Newman,STOVER: Lionel Newman
by Ross Care
Here Intrada brings us a double-feature premiere of two lesser-known scores from the middle
period (1956) 20th Century-Fox CinemaScope era. Hilda Crane is melodrama about a young divorced
woman whose return to her college hometown sets local tongues wagging. The Revolt of Mamie Stover
is about an even more liberated heroine who is kicked out of San Francisco on the eve of World War II
and, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, makes her fortune in a Honolulu bordello (toned down to a “dance hall”
Both scores (like many of the era) might be described as populuxe, a term recently coined for the
new brand of lush post-war style designed for the newly affluent, eagerly consumerist America of the
1950s. David Raksin is probably best known for his 1940s work at Fox, including his celebrated Laura.
After a curiously perky (for a melodrama) Main Title his score for Hilda Crane is a kind of subtle
rhapsody for strings and soloists (including reeds, violin/cello, and a silky alto sax). The style is
hauntingly melodic, but in an elusive way, and there are no “big” (or obvious) tunes, but lots of
beautifully crafted lines and modulations. Many cues are concentrated and you wish some had more time
to develop, but all in all Crane is a score that grows more appealing with each hearing. It’s also a prime
example of that seamless fusion of concert and pop modes that only Hollywood and its composers could
I recently saw a pristine CinemaScope print of the rarely screened Revolt of Mamie Stover at
the American Cinematheque in Hollywood where I enjoyed Hugo Friedhofer’s score in its original
theatrical stereo (and a personal appearance by star Jane Russell herself). Friedhofer’s pop-oriented but
varied Stover is a fine contrast to Raksin’s more refined Crane. It opens with a bluesy Main Title, the
memorable melody of which is developed throughout the score. There’s also a lilting, waltz-like love
theme that is sometimes linked to a brief yearning motif in strings for when things get serious (“The
In keeping with the period and setting much of the score emphasizes an authentic ‘40s big
band/jazz sound, and several dance hall numbers are included. “If You Wanna See Mamie Tonight” (by
Hollywood hit makers Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster) is a slyly humorous tune performed as a
semi-camp tango by a male chorus. (“Fellows who try to resist ought to hire a psy-chi-a-trist.”) It’s also
heard in dynamic swing arrangement with an authentically period tenor sax solo (track 25). “Keep Your
Eyes on the Hands” (by Mary Tobin and Tony Todaro) is performed (in mono) by Jane Russell, a
talented and under-rated vocalist who also recorded both numbers on a Capitol single at the time of the
film’s release. Another rather camp moment is a tiki lounge version of the old Fox number, “Sing Me A
Song of the Islands”. Add a few intense war cues suggestive of Friedhofer’s Young Lions (“Escrow and
Boot Montage” “Pin Up’) and, man, this score has everything!
However, Friedhofer’s casually sexy orchestral cues are the main attraction, very coolly
performed by the luminous Fox strings backing up an assortment of slick jazz soloists, just as Raksin’s
Hilda Crane soloists weave in and out of a more posh carpet of velvety strings and harp. Both scores
represent that unique populuxe sound that nobody did better than Hollywood in the 1950s, and nobody in
Hollywood did better than Fox (and MGM). Both scores are unusual and welcome re-issues, but to me
any new Friedhofer release is always special. I personally have been anticipating a stereo restoration of
his lush score for Fox’s Boy On A Dolphin for years. WC: 629
Ross Care
