Tom Sawyer

[Bryant Burnette 654]

I've been listening to all my Williams CDs lately, and the one I listened to today was the Varese Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn release. Not one of my favorites; I'm a fan of the Shermans (especially Mary Poppins, which is sublime), but this one is just really rather dull.

Anyways, my question is this. Can anyone give me any details as to Williams' involvement on this project? (I know, obviously, that he adapted and conducted the music; I'm looking for deeper insights, if anyone has them.) The liner notes say merely that he "collaborated with the [sherman] brothers in a similar capacity [to his work adapting Fiddler on the Roof]," so it may be that little is known about this chapter in his filmography.

I love Fiddler on the Roof, and thanks to the excellent FSM Goodbye, Mr. Chips, I've developed a liking for that one, too. However, in both of those cases, I can hear Williams' presence. I don't have the musical vocabulary (or the memory) to be particularly specific, but there are plenty of instances when Williams' voice seems to be speaking up.

However, I hear practically none of this in Tom Sawyer. About the closest I can come is by noticing the substantial drop-off in quality between the Tom Sawyer music and the Huckleberry Finn music (which Williams was not involved with). It may be, however, that I'm just missing it.

If anybody has thoughts on this topic, I'd love to hear them.

[Guest macrea]

This was mentioned in this interview. The thought is that Williams kept it sounding simple and American rather than European and lush like his other two musical adaptation and that it was more in the style of other scores he was writing at the time like Conrack, The Sugarland Express, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, etc.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

This was mentioned in this interview. The thought is that Williams kept it sounding simple and American rather than European and lush like his other two musical adaptation and that it was more in the style of other scores he was writing at the time like Conrack, The Sugarland Express, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, etc.

That's a good interview -- thanks for bringing it to my attention.

It had sort of slipped my mind to try and listen to Tom Sawyer as a member of the Reivers/Sugarland/Conrack club, but it makes sense to do so -- I may give it another listen with that in mind.

Thanks!

[Guest macrea]

You've got me listening to this and I'm reminded how good it is. A couple of things occurred to me about your observation. There may have been a conscious effort on Williams' part to keep it American sounding because both Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Fiddler on the Roof both obviously required a classical European approach that wouldn't have fit with this. The other things is that on those two projects it seems like he was given a very free hand in doing the arrangements and that may not have been the case with the Sherman Brothers. Maybe they were very specific about what they wanted.

[Lurker 5]

That's a good interview...

Thank you!

Neil

[Bryant Burnette 654]

You've got me listening to this and I'm reminded how good it is. A couple of things occurred to me about your observation. There may have been a conscious effort on Williams' part to keep it American sounding because both Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Fiddler on the Roof both obviously required a classical European approach that wouldn't have fit with this. The other things is that on those two projects it seems like he was given a very free hand in doing the arrangements and that may not have been the case with the Sherman Brothers. Maybe they were very specific about what they wanted.

It's music that I'm just not taken with at all, but I ought to admit that I often have hard time enjoying musical numbers if I haven't seen the movie or show that they come from. Context counts for a lot in my brain, I guess.

It may be that on this particular project, Williams was far more active as a conductor than as an adapter; there's no reason why that couldn't have been the case. There's also no reason why it couldn't also be the case that Williams' musical fingerprints are all over Tom Sawyer and I'm just not hearing it due to a tin ear. I'm just really not at all sure what to make of this particular CD in a John Williams context. But I'll keep working at it!

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

You've got me listening to this and I'm reminded how good it is. A couple of things occurred to me about your observation. There may have been a conscious effort on Williams' part to keep it American sounding because both Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Fiddler on the Roof both obviously required a classical European approach that wouldn't have fit with this. The other things is that on those two projects it seems like he was given a very free hand in doing the arrangements and that may not have been the case with the Sherman Brothers. Maybe they were very specific about what they wanted.

It's music that I'm just not taken with at all, but I ought to admit that I often have hard time enjoying musical numbers if I haven't seen the movie or show that they come from. Context counts for a lot in my brain, I guess.

It may be that on this particular project, Williams was far more active as a conductor than as an adapter; there's no reason why that couldn't have been the case. There's also no reason why it couldn't also be the case that Williams' musical fingerprints are all over Tom Sawyer and I'm just not hearing it due to a tin ear. I'm just really not at all sure what to make of this particular CD in a John Williams context. But I'll keep working at it!

Personally, I find the original song material on this project to be the weakest of the three. That may also be the reason.

Yes, there is a more American feel to it, but I don't think the real problem here is the arrangements/orchestrations, but rather the stuff with Williams had to work with.

Also, in Chips, he was working as orchestrator/arranger/condutor for a friend and somewhat regular colaborator. On Fiddler, Williams worked with some of his usual collaborators (he did aknowledge the great help of Sandy Courage on this one). I'm not sure he was so fortunate on his work with the Shermans.

[Guest macrea]

I agree that it's the weakest of the three musicals by a wide margin, but I also agree that a musical soundtrack makes more sense if you've seen it. It's too bad there isn't a good DVD of this film. It's quite a charming telling of the story with a good cast. The LD was widescreen and had the overture on it, plus a featurette and footage of JW rehearsing with the Shermans. The DVD has none of that and is pan&scam.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Yeah, I just can't seem to like the Tom Sawyer CD, but I would like to see the movie; too bad the DVD is such a poor one.

Of course, Williams also worked in an adaptation/conducting on Valley of the Dolls, which has got to be THE worst CD in my Williams collection -- there's almost nothing of any redeeming value there whatsoever. But again, I haven't seen the movie, so I don't want to be too harsh in my opinions, since the CD might -- might -- just be a complete butchering.

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

Yeah, I just can't seem to like the Tom Sawyer CD, but I would like to see the movie; too bad the DVD is such a poor one.

Of course, Williams also worked in an adaptation/conducting on Valley of the Dolls, which has got to be THE worst CD in my Williams collection -- there's almost nothing of any redeeming value there whatsoever. But again, I haven't seen the movie, so I don't want to be too harsh in my opinions, since the CD might -- might -- just be a complete butchering.

Williams also served on that capacity on Previn's "The Swinger", but most of Previn's work was thrown out of the film. On the soundtrack album, only the title song survived.