Film Albums: Theme from King of Kings and Other Film Spectaculars

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and what better way to get into the Easter spirit then to listen to some soul-stirring religious music. This album - Theme from King of Kings and Other Film Spectaculars - could not be classified as religious music strictly speaking, but it features lovely songs from some of the best religious films ever made...including Ben-Hur and The Robe. 

My sister and I picked up this album at a second-hand store when we were teenagers and loved it instantly. It's been played countless times in our house and it was this album that introduced us to films such as The High and the Mighty, The Sundowners and Francis of Assisi. 

The music is arranged and performed by Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra and he does a "spectacular" job as usual. Chacksfield was the Mantovani of Great Britain and released a large number of albums throughout the 1950s-1970s. His film theme albums are the best and the sound on these London Records LPs are marvelous. This one is "LL3275" and it was issued in several variations in 1962 and 1963. 

Chacksfield and his orchestra implemented instruments that brought the ancient eras alive in this album, such as timpanis, tambourines, piccolos, and French horns. Not to miss themes include the scrumptious Song of Delilah from Cecil B. DeMille's epic "Samson and Delilah" (1949), the melancholy love song to "The Robe", the lovely "Francis of Assisi" theme played with piano and strings, and of course, the love theme to "Ben-Hur". 

Click here to listen to the full album on Youtube. 

Track Listing:

Side One

Theme from "King of Kings"

The Song of Delilah from "Samson and Delilah"

Love Theme from "The Robe"

Love Theme from "Quo Vadis"

The Green Leaves of Summer ("The Alamo")

Theme from "Exodus"

Side Two

Parade of the Charioteers ("Ben-Hur")

Theme from "Francis of Assisi"

Love Theme from "Ben-Hur"

The High and the Mighty

Love Theme from "The Prodigal"

Theme from "The Sundowners"

Top Picks: King of Kings, The Song of Delilah, Love Theme from The Robe, Theme from Francis of Assisi, Love Theme from Ben-Hur

From the Archives: The Happy Road (1957)

 

These two wide-eyed youngsters are runaways from a Swiss boarding school, both of whom are trying to get to Paris to reunite with their father and mother in the delightful comedy "The Happy Road". Bobby Clark, the little brown-haired boy, plays the son of Gene Kelly while Brigitte Fossey plays the daughter of Barbara Laage. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Mardi Gras (1958)

Mardi Gras occurred a few weeks ago and if you are like most people, you probably didn't realize that there were a handful of classic films set during the Mardi Gras in New Orleans (as well as a bucketload of television episodes). 

Mardi Gras, released in 1958, is a Cinderella story aimed at a teenage audience. It is a little-seen color romance-musical starring Pat Boone and, honestly, it is not half-bad. It doesn't quite rank up there with April Love, but it has its moments. Pat stars as a Virginia Military Institute cadet who gets roped into participating in a raffle to win a date with a movie star - Michelle Marton (played by French import Christine Carere). Being the clean-cut country boy that he is, he never even heard of her before the raffle but ends up winning. After a few failed attempts to see her at her hotel, he gives up and instead asks a pretty young woman in the lobby for a date. Surprise! This happens to be Michelle herself.... she decided to don a Mardi Gras mask and enjoy a few hours vacation from the press. Naturally, they fall in love but then her publicity agent (Fred Clark) gets in the way and sees their romance as "great publicity" which causes a number of complications for both of them. 

Mardi Gras was a surprising hit upon its release and stayed at the top of the box-office charts for a number of weeks where it easily recouped its initial investment. Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter and Tony Randall were initially set to star as the three cadets from VMI with Mitzi Gaynor playing the Hollywood actress. Later, Boone was cast with Shirley Jones as his co-star but then Shirley had to drop out due to being pregnant with her first son, Shaun Cassidy. Christine Carere had recently made a splash with her first American picture - A Certain Smile - so she was then cast and did a good job. She is like a French edition of Sonja Henie and is quite charming. 

Jerry Wald produced the film, which was directed by Edmund Goulding (Dark Victory, The Razor's Edge). The bare stone walls of the Virginia Military Institute didn't make the most colorful setting so the New Orleans shots had to make up for it...and those didn't seem all too good either. Nevertheless, Pat Boone's handsome looks and charisma and Carere's cuteness made up for the lack of scenery. The musical numbers throughout the film are quite good but, unfortunately, there were one or two too many and they stretch the picture to nearly two hours. The best of the songs was "I'll Remember Tonight" which became a hit for Pat Boone in 1958. 

Costarring with Boone as the cadets are Tommy Sands, Dick Sargeant, and Gary Crosby who was the spitting image of his papa, Der Bingel. Also in the cast is the beautiful Sheree North (sporting brunette hair) in a secondary role that wastes her talent and the dancer Barrie Chase. 

Mardi Gras is currently available on DVD as well as through Youtube. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

"Get your tickets! Get your tickets!"....Tickets for what? That's what you have to try to remember before you have an inkling of what film this screenshot is from. ;-)

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!