Wilbert Plijnaar wrote to let me know that FILM SCORE MONTHLY has released a cd that contains two complete film scores by George Duning: one score is for the live-action comedy BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (1958) and the other is for UPA’s first animated feature 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS (1959), which featured Mister Magoo. Their WEBSITE has full track samples and ordering info. Here’s the description of the ARABIAN NIGHTS score:
Duning enlisted several “ethnic” musicians to depict the Middle Eastern locale, incorporating them into a traditional symphonic setting. Despite the fact that it was written for animation, the album (presenting the film’s lengthier cues and musical setpieces) has little “mickey mousing” and sounds like it could be the score to a live-action fantasy film.
More importantly, this gives me the opportunity to post this late-1950s magazine article I’d found that features some development art from 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS. It looks like the paintings are done by Jules Engel, though I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of the pieces are by Bob McIntosh. I’m not sure what magazine this is from, or if there was more to the article, but at least you can enjoy these two pages.
(click on image for larger version)
Thanks for the article. I’m a fan of this film, and anything about it is hard to find.
Comment by Michael Sporn — January 30, 2006 @ 9:26 am
I loved that Magoo film.
Amid, did you get a chance to talk to Jules before he died? He was a wealth of information and all too often all anyone knew about him were the “greatest hits”, so to speak.
Great stuff here-thanks to that dog Wilbert[jk], I’ve gone and bought that CD; btw–”Candle” has some incredibly cool art direction imho, esp. the title sequence is terrific. And the music is augmented by the Pete Candoli jazz trio(coincidentally, Candoli was Edie Adams’ last husband–Kovacs being her first–stranger than fiction). I ramble–but thanks!
Comment by Jenny — February 1, 2006 @ 12:05 pm
Jenny - I met Jules a few time but never interviewed him, though he invited me to. My reluctance is because the better known figures like Engel (or Chuck Jones, Frank and Ollie, etc.) never are very honest in their late interviews. They’ve given interviews so many times that their answers are well rehearsed and their prejudices are hardened by the time they’re in their 70s, not to mention later. Fortunately, I also had access to a lengthy Engel interview from the 1970s which had far more info than I needed.
I haven’t seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE in a while, but it’s good kitschy fun as I recall. It’s one of those supersaturated Technicolor films where the colors have this great unreal quality, kind of like in Vertigo or some of the Powell-Pressburger films. Wish we could get colors in film like that today.
Comment by Amid — February 2, 2006 @ 9:17 am