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"1941" -- Notes on editing the Complete Score


John Takis

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UPDATED: 2/12/2010 1:45AM EST

Most recent updates in red.

Hey guys! I've recently revisited my comprehensive re-edit of 1941 -- it's been a long time between updates, but it's worth it!

For those of you just tuning in: in the Summer of 2006 I decided to take a closer look at this vintage Williams score. I hadn't listened to my DVD-rip in a long time, and had never really analyzed the album assembly. What I found was surprising to me. I hadn't realized the album could be so valuable in assembling a complete score. I also hadn't realized the extent of the looping and tracking in the DVD's isolated score. Something had always bothered me, and now I know what it was -- not just a few measures here and there, but entire cues on the isolated score are made up of tracked material! Almost every cue needed some work in this regard.

And so I set out to create my ultimate 2-disc edit of the score. I didn't have the time or patience to make detailed, to-the-second timings, but I did take some haphazard notes. Those of you with a good enough ear to do this kind of editing shouldn't have any trouble figuring out what I'm talking about. Incidentally, I'd prefer not to receive requests to share or trade copies of this edit. Both CD and DVD are in-print, so you should be able to obtain all the necessary sources with a little effort.

To give some perspective on my notes, here's what my 2-disc set looked like BEFORE my revisions. This is ONLY the naked DVD-rip, and not the final edited track-list!

==============================================================

DISC ONE

1. Main Titles: To Defend Their Homeland... (1:28)

2. The Invasion/"In The Mood" (7:06)

3. "Jingle Bells" (1:27)

4. Your First Air Raid?/War Nerves (2:28)

5. Planes On The Brain (1:09)

6. Strategic Interest (0:42)

7. "In The Mood" (Reprise) (0:35)

8. Daddy Douglas (0:57)

9. For The Civil Defense (2:56)

10. Out With The Trash/Lost At Sea/The Landing Party (5:09)

11. Wild Bill & Hollis Wood (2:20)

12. The Sentries (2:18)

13. Up The Hatch/"Down By The Ohio (Instrumental)" (2:54)

14. A Mission For Loomis/"Down By The Ohio (Instrumental)"/"Down By The Ohio (Vocal)" (9:05)

15. "Down By The Ohio (Vocal Reprise)"/"Daddy" (2:40)

16. Swing, Swing, Swing (4:04)

17. Riot At The U.S.O.

DISC TWO

1. Suicide Mission/Pandemonium (4:12)

2. To Hollywood And Glory! (3:38)

3. Street Brawl (1:19)

4. A Memorable Occasion (1:39)

5. Invasion!!! (1:14)

6. Hellcats Over Hollywood (3:07)

7. This Is War! (2:42)

8. A Full Scale Invasion (1:42)

9. Betty Besieged (1:50)

10. Lunatic Parade/The Gun/Blackout/Taking Aim (6:03)

11. Hitching A Ride/AufWeidersehen/Foot Trigger/Targeting The House/Sayanora, Sucker! (4:21)

12. Ward's Last Shot (0:57)

13. The Ferris Wheel Sequence (4:03)

14. The Tank And The Torpedo/Wild Bill Vs. Japan (5:47)

15. End Cast/End Titles (6:12)

==============================================================

Here is my editing "notebook":

As an intro to the score, I did a re-edit of "The March from 1941", very similar to the album version (but smoother -- no harsh edits -- and without cannons) from the isolated score version of the End Cast/End Titles. I used the film audio to make an alternate version of this WITH cannons as a bonus track.

Mid-way through that first loud brass passage in the "Main Titles", the DVD score cuts between takes (you can hear a cymbal-fade cut off suddenly). This transition on the album is from one continuous take, and you may prefer to use it. (Incidentally, when incorporating anything from the OST, remember that it's mixed at a higher volume than the DVD, so be careful to adjust accordingly.)

The film opening for "Invasion" is tracked with music from Jaws. You can hear Williams' original music on the OST, Track 2. You'll have to fade in a clean opening, since it begins on the album as a segue -- not perfect, but good enough. In case I ever want to hear it, I placed the DVD version at the end of Disc One.

By cutting/fading and remixing, I was able to lower the volume of "In The Mood" to an appropriate level -- it's just WAY too loud compared to the orchestral stuff. I also did this for the alternate film-version of "Invasion/In The Mood" at the end of Disc 1.

"Your First Air Raid" is entirely comprised of tracked music from later in the film (the U.S.O. riot scenes). I cut it.

Evidence on the album (OST, Track 2) has convinced me that "War Nerves" was intended, at the time of scoring, to go between "Lost At Sea" and "The Landing Party" -- although some transitional music between the end of the cue as heard on OST, Track 2 (where it cross-fades into "To Hollywood And Glory!") and Hollis Wood's theme (which lacks a clean beginning in the film) has been lost. Even so, I've done my own cross-fade and moved it below. Thanks to Mr. Movies for raising the question that led me to this conclusion.

"In The Mood (Reprise)" has been cut, since it jumps in abruptly, is just a vamp, and adds really nothing to the album.

"For The Civil Defense" features a remarkable amount of tracking -- only 1 statement of the processional theme appears to have been recorded, and is looped three times, intercut with music from "The Sentries".

As described above, "War Nerves" gets restored to after "Lost At Sea" and before "The Landing Party." If "War Moves" had originally been moved as I surmise, it would help to explain why, in the film, there's lots of tracking throughout both "Lost At Sea" and "The Landing Party" from both earlier and later in the film. I don't remember where all from ... starting at 1:46, there's some of "Daddy Douglas", then some spliced-up action material from Disc Two. Basically, nothing is original until Hollis Wood's theme comes in at 2:52. That cue goes on for a while, then proceeds to track from itself, "AufWeidersehen" (the Deutschland Uber Alles quote) and "Wild Bill & Hollis Wood". If you listen carefully and edit carefully, it shouldn't be too hard to excise the redundant material.

There are a few looped measures in "Wild Bill & Hollis Wood". I forget the timings. I believe it was a few vamped bits of the march. Not difficult to spot. (NOTE: Pay close attention to the opening of this cue -- there are about 11 seconds of looped material that I missed, initially!)

"The Sentries" loops around in several places. (Pay attention when you hear that faded eerie string from the beginning of the cue creep back in.) You can restore it using the OST, Track 3 (or at least mostly restore; there's what sounds like an edit at 0:34, although whether this is cut material or splicing takes together, I don't know) -- but you'll need the DVD for the clean ending. (Thanks again to Mr. Movies for the tip on this one!)

There's lots of source material in the U.S.O. scenes, some of it looped, with some score cues woven in. I wanted to create a better listening experience. I began by creating a false ending (but unobtrusive) for "Up The Hatch". I had good results applying a little bit of reverb, and using part of the final note from OST, Track 8. I then launch into the complete (or close to it) take on Williams "Down By The Ohio" arrangement which, in the film, follows "A Mission For Loomis". I then have "A Mission For Loomis" isolated, and the next track begins with the clean opening for the Andrews Sisters "Down By The Ohio (Vocal Reprise)". I did a little editing to smoothly get to the clean ending for that song (I had to cut a few bars, but there's no tracking or looping), then on that little final cymbal tap I spliced in the cymbal crash that introduces "Daddy" -- which ends shortly with a Williams-arranged finale. I then proceed to "Countdown" and "Swing, Swing, Swing". Both Andrews Sisters songs are commercially available, but I didn't feel a pressing need to hunt down the complete versions.

"Suicide Mission/Pandemonium" has some harsh edits ... the album version (second part of OST, Track 7) is smoother, and sounds a little better. It doesn't have a clean opening, but I spliced it just before the action starts.

The first 30 secs of "Street Brawl" is comprised of tracked material. We might be missing some original material.

A chunk of "Invasion!!!" is looped, as are several individual measures.

"Betty Besieged" can use a little patching around 0:25-0:40 -- take note there's a harsh edit on the OST, but it's easy enough to smooth over with a little resplicing. Edit carefully so the difference in background hiss isn't distracting. I also smoothed over when the loud notes in the middle of the cue break in. And there's a microsecond edit during the wind-down notes on the iso score that can be patched over with the OST.

Somewhere soon after the 4 minute mark in "Lunatic Parade..." et al, there area few repeated bars.

The following track duplicates "Blackout" (for the scene where the tank rolls through the paint warehouse). Technically, the tank rolling through the warehouse was in the original cut of the film, while the shooting of the lights was an addition for the DVD. But what cuts/alterations were made to the film after Williams scored it? Listening carefully to the isolated score, harsh edits surround this brief piece of music in its second appearance, whereas its first appearance flows quite nicely. So I kept the first appearance and cut around the second (which was quite easy).

"Targeting The House" is just tracked material from "Taking Aim".

"Sayanora, Sucker!" has around 11 seconds of tracked material once the march begins. The same passage repeats twice before moving on ... the first time, the first few notes are cropped and the volume is reduced; the second time, there's a microsecond edit at around 0:30 -- just barely perceptible, but enough to draw my attention. I manipulated both versions (along with a few notes from the OST) to get one ideal version. (Note: there was a quote of "The Caisson Song" that belongs in this track, but it's impossible to isolate it from the OST, where it's spliced with other material in "To Hollywood And Glory.")

There's a looped measure at around 0:20 in "Ward's Last Shot" -- and the first 4 bars are looped as well

For the Ferris Wheel Sequence, the first stretch of "By The Beautiful Sea" is too long for my taste -- I cut it down a bit. Then after the brassy interlude in the middle, rather than go into all the frustratingly dipping in-and-out, echoey "Over The Waves" stuff, I wove in the album version of "The Ferris Wheel Sequence". You can actually hear a little more Williams music under the calliope tune as the roll off the pier begins. There's also a short 30-second bit at the end that -- as far as I can tell -- is unused music for the sentries surfacing in the ocean. It doesn't *seem* to be tracked from anywhere, but I'm open to correction. In any event, I placed the complete DVD version of the cue -- warts and all -- at the end of the disc, with the bonus material.

There are looped bars in "The Tank And The Torpedo/Wild Bill Vs. Japan" about 4 mins in. Then, at the end, there's an obviously tracked/vamped passage before the final notes. Unfortunately, this appears to replace an original chunk of march material that doesn't exist on any source I'm aware of. As removing the vamp would leave rough, unjoinable edges on either side, I initially resigned myself to leaving it be. But while it's a very delicate editing job, you CAN perform a seamless reconstruction using material from "End Cast/End Title" (in the neighborhood of 2:39-2:48) and from earlier in "Wild Bill Vs. Japan" (once all the other looping/tracking has been removed, look at 4:33-4:40). If you're careful to adjust volume and blend the transitions just right, it will wind up sounding like a continuous recording -- I was able to fool several people!

A few final source music notes. There's a snippet of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" on the isolated score, but I didn't bother with it. And while I have the soundtrack to "Dumbo", I elected not to add "When I See An Elephant Fly" as a bonus track. It feels distracting to me where the Andrews Sisters songs don't.

And that's the end. I didn't use all the album takes as bonus tracks -- only the alternate mix (with strings in place of some brass) of "Swing, Swing, Swing"; and "To Hollywood And Glory," because I couldn't isolate the quote of "The Caisson Song" that belongs in "Sayanora Sucker." Then there are a few concert suites -- most notably the concert version of the march. I got mine from "By Request...". "The Battle For Hollywood" on the OST is just an edit -- but the version on "Williams on Williams" is a bona fide concert suite, so I threw that in as well. But I haven't tried to hunt down every recording of everything. (I haven't heard the Boston Pops version of Swing, Swing, Swing -- an actual different arrangement, or just a concert performance?) Here are my final cue timings. You can compare to the track list above and see how different it wound up being. (I re-edited this from the ground up, as it were, so a few tracks may have a few seconds difference due to lead-in/fade-out time.) Most-recently modified cues are in red.

==============================================================

DISC ONE

1. The March From "1941" (Smooth edit from isolated score End Titles/End Cast) (4:10)

2. Main Titles: To Defend Their Homeland.../The Invasion/"In The Mood" (8:43)

3. "Jingle Bells" (1:27)

4. Planes On The Brain (1:24)

5. Strategic Interest (0:43)

6. Daddy Douglas (0:58)

7. For The Civil Defense (0:42)

8. Out With The Trash/Lost At Sea/War Nerves/The Landing Party (5:05)

9. Wild Bill & Hollis Wood (2:09)

10. The Sentries (2:01)

11. Up The Hatch (1:02)

12. "Down By The Ohio" (5:42)

13. A Mission For Loomis (0:57)

14. Andrews Sisters Medley ("Down By The Ohio"/"Daddy") (3:13)

15. Countdown (0:36)

16. Swing, Swing, Swing (4:07)

17. Riot At The U.S.O. (1:19)

BONUS TRACKS

18. The March From "1941" (Same as Track 1, but with cannonade) (4:10)

19. Main Title: To Defend Their Homeland... (Film Version) (1:30)

20. The Invasion (Film Version)/"In The Mood" (7:07)

21. Swing, Swing, Swing (Album Mix) (4:05)

DISC TWO

1. Suicide Mission/Pandemonium (4:22)

2. To Hollywood And Glory! (3:40)

3. Street Brawl (0:51)

4. A Memorable Occasion (1:41)

5. Invasion!!! (0:47)

6. Hellcats Over Hollywood (3:09)

7. This Is War! (2:43)

8. A Full Scale Invasion (1:43)

9. Betty Besieged (1:55)

10. Lunatic Parade/The Gun/Blackout/Taking Aim (6:01)

11. Hitching A Ride/AufWeidersehen/Foot Trigger (2:03)

12. Sayanora, Sucker! (1:04)

13. Ward's Last Shot (0:49)

14. The Ferris Wheel Sequence (Edit) (2:53)

15. The Tank And The Torpedo/Wild Bill Vs. Japan (5:28)

16. End Cast/End Titles (March From "1941") (6:13)

BONUS TRACKS

17. The Battle For Hollywood (Concert Suite) [JW&TBP, 1995] (5:02)

18. To Hollywood And Glory (Album Version) (3:14)

19. The Ferris Wheel Sequence (Film Version) (4:03)

20. March From "1941" (Concert Version) [JW&TBP, 1987] (4:30)

==============================================================

Sharper ears than mine may have caught something I missed, so please feel free to share comments/criticisms. If anyone has any questions, I will try to answer them, insofar as I have the time. :-)

At this point, I have confirmed that the "Johnny Express" bootleg has nothing to offer.

Regarding quoted music, I have completed my index. Again, I am open to correction...

"Theme From Jaws" J. Williams ----- CD1, T2&20/CD2, T17

"In The Mood" J. Garland & A. Razaf ----- CD1, T2&20

"Jingle Bells" J. Pierpont ----- CD1, T3

"Strawberry Roan" C. Fletcher ----- CD1, T8&9

"Down By The Ohio" A. Olman & J. Yellen ----- CD1, T12&14

"Daddy" B. Troup ----- CD1, T14

"The Rakes Of Mallow" Traditional ----- CD1, T17/CD2, T1,3&17

"The Caisson Song" E. Gruber ----- CD2, T3&18

"Anchors Aweigh" C. Zimmerman & A. Miles ----- CD2, T3

"Deep In The Heart Of Texas" J. Hershey & D. Swander ----- CD2, T6

"Sound Off (The Duckworth Chant)" V. Monroe ----- CD2, T10

"Das Lied Der Deutschen" J. Haydn ----- CD2, T11&16

"By The Beautiful Sea" H. Atteridge & H. Carroll ----- CD2, T14&19

"Hooray For Hollywood" J. Mercer & R. Whitting ----- CD2, T17

"Over The Waves (Sobre Las Olas)" J. Rosas ----- CD2, T19

For my parting shot, I just want to express my opinion that this film is very underrated, and I've enjoyed revisiting it over the years. Likewise, the score is better than it's often given credit for, and would benefit from a truly complete release.

-- John

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I believe it's "Deep In the Heart Of Texas". I believe Hollis' theme is a song from the era but I'm not sure because I've never been able to understand what he's singing.

When I did my 2-disc set I just ripped it direct from the Laserdisc. My friend and I tried to adjust the volume level on the ferris wheel sequence but it was a pain in the ass.

There is quite a bit of looping and tracking thru out the film.

I agree this one deserves an expanded remastered score and I recently bought the DVD. I forgot it wasn't anamorphic and I couldn't believe how poor the transfer was, and the sound as well.

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I think mine is just the isolated score track. 1941 is not something I'm going to mess with. I'm happy with what I have. Mark, does your boot contain the cue State of Insanity/Wild Bill Kelso?

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I believe it's "Deep In the Heart Of Texas". I believe Hollis' theme is a song from the era but I'm not sure because I've never been able to understand what he's singing.

The quote from "Hellcats Over Hollywood" is indeed "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" ... thanks for the tip! One mystery down, one to go....

BTW, I've made some updates to the original post.

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OK...I've confirmed that the "Johnny Express" bootleg is useless -- it probably uses the DVD isolated score as its source. But thanks to the JWFan board member who was kind enough to give me a listen.

Moving on, I've gone ahead and reduced the volume of a few source-music cues that were disproportionately loud -- particularly "In The Mood". The seamless transition from orchestra to jazz band is now not quite so jarring.

(There's a minor edit about halfway through "In The Mood", BTW ... but there's no way to fix it without using another recording. Fortunately, it's not very distracting.)

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Personally, I find it interesting that no one here has attempted a similar reconstruction of this score (at least not publicly) until now. To be satisfied with a DVD-rip of the isolated score -- with its pervasive looping, tracking, and cues sloppily cobbled together from bits of other cues -- is like being satisfied with the Phantom Menace "Ultimate Edition". And yet for years now, we've lavished gobs of attention on "Phantom", while neglecting "1941" entirely. It's ironic -- now that I revisit "1941", I believe it to be the superior score! Which is not especially surprising, considering it hails from that golden late 70s/early 80s period that definitively won Williams his much-deserved fame. It shows in this score, with its snappy energy, knockout melodies, thematic variety, and thrilling setpieces. Definitely worth the energy expended in restoration, from which it benefits tremendously!

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oh,I'm not disagreeing with you,but somehow the task seems so daunting!Before attempting to do it you have to know the score "by heart",and I haven't listened to 1941 enough for that.witht he SW scores it seems easier to memorize all the music.

K.m.

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John! I'd be interested in your editing work on 1941 for sure... which IMO it has always been an underrated score! Thow it in in our trade!

I always love film and television about that era of history, even if its a comedy like 1941 was. :)

Also, the Johnny Boy boot sounds TERRIBLE in comparison to the DVD iso score. I don't know where it came from, but it wasn't the DVD, which has clearly superior sound.

My 1941 set is just the DVD rip with the album version and concert tracks thrown on the end. It sounds good, but the editing that you're describing sounds great! Email me!

-Chris, Also eagerly waiting for when John finishes Sith... damn its gonna' be good I bet!

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  • 4 months later...

UPDATED!

After many months, I was able to go back and make one (hopefully last) round of fixes and updates! I have also added my comprehensive "quoted music" index. (Not including "I'll Be Home For Christmas" or "When I See An Elephant Fly", which I did not include on my set for reasons given above.) Modifications to my original post appear in red.

Enjoy! :sleepy:

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  • 3 years later...

Yes, I know I'm reviving an old thread (and so what if I do?), but I wanted to:

a) acknowledge that I LOVE this score, especially its march

b) thank Mr. Takis for his excellent analysis and editing instructions

and c) ask this question: I'm having trouble placing 4:39 to 4:50 on track 2, "The Invasion" (the OST track, not Mr. Takis' final edit). Any idea where this goes? Seems like a proper opening for War Nerves, but I'd rather put it in an appropriate place.

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I'm having trouble placing 4:39 to 4:50 on track 2, "The Invasion" (the OST track, not Mr. Takis' final edit). Any idea where this goes? Seems like a proper opening for War Nerves, but I'd rather put it in an appropriate place.

By gum, I think you're right! And unless my ears are playing tricks on me (it's been a while since I gave the score detailed attention), there's a short passage AFTER the film cut-off for "War Nerves" that sounds like it might also belong to that track, leading up to the crossfade to "To Hollywood And Glory!" at around 6:43. What do you think? At any rate, I must have written off this album track too early in the editing process -- thanks! Will update the main post accordingly...

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Oh, this is considerably less work than the Prequels require.

I'd also like to post a suggestion (correction?): the OST version of track 3 - The Sentries - seems to be 36 seconds longer than its film counterpart (no, I'm not referring to the whole track, just what compares to the film). This doesn't appear to be any JW microediting, apart from a rather gain spike at about 35 seconds in. Some mixing with the film version will have to take place, as the OST track's ending is mixed into another cue.

Relatively minute, but still, worth mentioning.

Well it's not crucially essential because we have all the music SFX free but I'd buy a properly edited release

We don't have the conclusion to Wild Bill Vs. Japan (although the reconstruction idea is devilishly clever).

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I'd also like to post a suggestion (correction?): the OST version of track 3 - The Sentries - seems to be 36 seconds longer than its film counterpart (no, I'm not referring to the whole track, just what compares to the film). This doesn't appear to be any JW microediting, apart from a rather gain spike at about 35 seconds in. Some mixing with the film version will have to take place, as the OST track's ending is mixed into another cue.

Relatively minute, but still, worth mentioning.

Absolutely! Another good catch! I think part of the trouble here is that I relied on someone else's album breakdown at the outset of this project (don't remember where from) rather than creating my own. Please let me know if you notice anything else -- I've spent so much time on this score, none of it feels minute at this point! :rolleyes:

We don't have the conclusion to Wild Bill Vs. Japan (although the reconstruction idea is devilishly clever).

Thanks! It sounds great, too! B)

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OK -- new theory! The bars that open "War Nerves" on OST Track 2 are from the end of "Out With The Trash," albeit editorially shortened (the film mix also adds a more forceful snare roll). THAT SAID, the segue into "War Nerves" sounds unforced and too perfect. My suspicion? The "War Nerves" scene -- which doesn't have a clean beginning in the film -- actually belongs BETWEEN "Lost At Sea" and "The Landing Party." Listen to the music at the END of "War Nerves" on OST Track 2. It's not all that dissimilar from the ominous parts of "The Landing Party." One can imagine a missing transitional bit of music that would connect that portion of OST Track 2 with Hollis' theme entering. I've done a careful test cross-fade, and it doesn't sound all that bad as it is! This leaves me with one big track that looks like this:

Out With The Trash/Lost At Sea/War Nerves/The Landing Party (5:05) ... and it sounds just fine to me! I'm updating the main post accordingly.

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As one of my all-time top 10 J.W. scores, it is nice to see "1941" being treated with the respect that it deserves. I do have one question, though; which version of "Swing, Swing, Swing" do we prefer, the OST, or the film version? Personally, I go for the OST, even if the strings are a little "out of place".

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