New releases: On Her Majesty's Secret Service; Prince of the City

As Scott Bettencourt mentions in Film Score Friday, new releases include John Barry's score for the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (dir. Peter H. Hunt, 1969) from La-La Land and Paul Chihara's score for the police corruption drama Prince of the City (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1981) from Quartet.

For more information and to listen to some excerpts:

• On Her Majesty's Secret Service 
• Prince of the City

 

Film music news: John Barry, Bernard Herrmann.

In Film Score Friday, Scott Bettencourt provides news of new releases of a La-La Land anniversary edition of John Barry's scores for the James Bond films The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and Moonraker (1979), as well as a Music Box remastered score by Bernard Herrmann for the 1973 film Sisters (dir. Brian De Palma, starring Margot Kidder and Charles Durning). 

• Clips from The Man with the Golden Gun score plus order information
• Clips from the Moonraker score plus order information
• Clips from the Sisters score plus order information

Margot Kidder in Sisters (1973)

New film music releases: Goldfinger, The Talented Mr. Ripley

As Scott Bettencourt reports in Film Score Friday, there are two releases of potential interest:

• 60th anniversary edition of the score to the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964, composed by John Barry, La-La Land) 

• Score to The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999, composed by Gabriel Yared, Music Box)

Mystery on the Tube.

Ralph Richardson

In honor of the London Underground's sesquicentennial, the British Film Institute highlights 10 films with a Tube setting; some mystery-related ones are included:

• Bulldog Jack (1935). A Bulldog Drummond adventure with Ralph Richardson and Fay Wray.

• Death Line (1972, aka Raw Meat). Subterranean dwellers feed on passengers (Donald Pleasence, what are you doing in this film?).

• Hidden City (1987). Charles Dance on the trail of a enigmatic film and a government conspiracy.

• Skyfall (2012). James Bond at Temple tube station.

Ian Fleming, James Bond, and the CIA.

Ian Fleming, NYPL

In this interesting C-Span program from June, Christopher Moran looks at the relationship between Ian Fleming and the CIA, mentioning that CIA Director Allen Dulles was a James Bond fan and befriended Fleming.

007 beats The Saint at auction.

There's not much mystery related to report from Bloomsbury's April 2nd bibliophile auction. The Leslie Charteris books featuring Simon Templar, aka The Saint—Trust the Saint, Saint Overboard, and The Saint on the Spanish Main—went unsold. There were a few Ian Fleming titles that did respectably: A first edition of From Russia, with Love, £320 (approximately $470); a first edition of Goldfinger, £300 (approximately $440); copies of Octopussy and The Living Daylights, signed (respectively) by Maud Adams and Maryam D'Abo (who appeared in the respective films), £280 (approximately $411).

Perhaps the copies of The Saint vs. Scotland Yard and The Saint and Mr. Teal, which will be offered for sale on April 23rd, will do better. They are each estimated at a minimum of £200.

Ian Fleming, Daphne du Maurier this week on BBC Radio 7.

Ian Fleming's Casino Royale and Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn are two of the works featured this week on BBC Radio 7. Go here for the schedule or to listen.