Ordeal By Innocence/Pino Donaggio

ordeal by innocence end titles

Agatha Christie along with Earl Stanley Gardener and Conan Doyle are in another class of popularity when it comes to mystery writers who are well read as well as having their material adapted to television and the silver screen. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are household names. Ordeal By Innocence is another whodunit from Agatha starring Faye Dunaway, Donald Sutherland, Christopher Plummer, and Sarah Miles brought to the screen by Cannon Films with a fairly nice budget. Both Dave Brubeck and Pino Donaggio did scores for the film with the replaced Pino soundtrack being presented in full for the first time by Kritzerland in stereo. The master came from Italy and has a clear crisp sound. Nothing muddy here at all just a nice clean transfer in stereo. No blips or surprises.

 

Not being familiar with either the film or the soundtrack I was quite surprised at what I heard from the pen of Donaggio. I assumed it would have a sound like Poirot, Marple, or any other number of British mystery films. Never assume because what I heard was something quite melancholy, little brass, some shrieking quivering strings (nicely done) and harpsichord. The main theme is somewhat lush and appears in multiple tracks, disguised or it just appears and can quickly disappear. I’ve included a clip from the end titles to let you hear the romantic melody. Listen to the proud majestic introduction followed by the main theme, a nice track. “Flashbacks” truly do feature one in the form of some Mozart style very classical sounding music. “The Visit” offers harpsichord, romantic piano and some terror bars all in one interesting cue. The score is mostly strings, keyboard and flute but there are a couple of uses of the French horn in the “Main Title” and “A Death in the Family.”

 

The thirty four minutes, double what was available in the suite, pass by quite quickly as this is nice material that you can listen to away from the film very easily. Bruce Kimmel, owner of Kritzerland, makes the suggestion to watch the film with the sound turned off, and play this replaced material during some of the eerie sequences. You’ll hear that the Brubeck material seems quite out of place. I say replaced and not rejected because by the time the editing/re-shooting was finished Pino had already gone on to another project. Always remember that Kritzerland releases are usually limited to 1000 units so it is best to act quicker now than be disappointed later. Written during an extremely productive time in his life this will appeal to fans of Christie and Pino as well as anyone who is into listening to material on the darker side. Recommended.

 

Kritzerland #20018-5

 

 

 

Track listing

 

1. Main Title

2. The Visit

3. Flashbacks

4. These Woods Could Prove Fatal

5. We’re All Suspects Now / Flashbacks 2

6. Family By Adoption / Calgary In Danger / Blackmail

7. Flashbacks 3 / A Day At The Races /Target Practice

8. A Death In The Family/And Then There Were Less

9. The Mystery Solved

10. End Titles

11. Bonus Suite of Alternate Cues

Total Time is 34:01