Movie List
Monster Bios
Aliens & SDF
Staff of Toho
Actors
DVDs
Soundtracks
Video Games
Books
Comic Books
Animation
Television
Box Office
Pictures
Concept Art
Cutting Room
News
Release Dates

Articles
Reviews
Media

Forums
Search
Site Staff
Credits
Updates
Title
 Crest of the Wolf · Random Mechanism - Music File
International Title
 Crest of the Wolf / Murder in the Doll House
Music By: Riichiro Manabe/Yuji Ono
Record Label: VAP
 
Running Time: 68:23 Discs: 1
Release: November 1996 CD Number: VPCD-81175
Comments
Anthony Romero
This 1996 release from VAP combines the soundtracks for the only two Toho produced films to feature actor Yusaku Matsuda: Crest of the Wolf, which was also the actor's first movie, and Murder in the Doll House. Despite the fact that the features are separated by six years, the two scores actually fit together rather well. This is due in large part to the fact that the offbeat style of Riichiro Manabe, who scored the 1973 production, and composer Yuji Ono, best known for his work on Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), tend to sound similar in their more unique approaches to film scoring.

Of the two soundtracks, the first by Manabe tends to be the favorite here, and ended up getting re-released five years later for the Toho SFX Champion Festival set. Now Manabe is certainly a notorious composer among many for his work on Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), yet the man does a fairly noteworthy job with this score as he produces several nice themes, including the excellent Piccolo dominated "Main Title" and the very soothing "The Phantom Frolics". This movie also features two songs by Jiro Sugita, which includes the outstanding title song and the " Ballad of the Wolf".

As for Yuji Ono's score for Murder in the Doll House, it's an interesting body of work, but not too memorable as most of the themes tend to just mesh together without a standout cue to the score's credit. Overall, it tends to have a slight jazz flavor to it, brought on mostly by the heavy use of the saxophone during the score, although a few like "The Two People at Dusk" sound like they might have been more at home in the Outer Limits. Those hoping for something that might be similar to the composer's work on Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) will be undoubtedly disappointed with this score, though, as beyond a few instances, like the very start of "Temptation in the Cave", they really sound nothing alike, despite the fact that he composed both of these soundtracks in the same year.
 
Tracks
    Crest of the Wolf (1973)
  1. Toho Logo - Prologue, Snowy Wilderness (M1)
  2. Crest of the Wolf (M2-2)
    By: Jiro Sugita
  3. Main Title (M3)
  4. The Incident on a Moonlit Night (M4)
  5. Meeting the Tomei Chairman's Son, Do Haguro (M5/M6)
  6. Akira Inugami and Do Haguro (M7-2)
  7. Masquerade Rape (M8)
  8. "Inu" Crest (M9)
  9. Haguro's Blade (M10-2)
  10. The Phantom Frolics (M11-2/M12)
  11. Beauty and the Wolf Guy (M13)
  12. Era of Lynching (M14)
  13. With Hate and Anger (M15)
  14. Ballad of the Wolf
    By: Jiro Sugita
  15. Large Battle (M16)
  16. Self-Defense (M17)
  17. Women Who Return to the Wolf Guy (M18)
  18. Forbidden Love (M19)
  19. Rape (M20)
  20. Law of the Wolf (M21)
  21. Bond Between the Woman and the Wolf (M23)
  22. Transformation (M22)
  23. The Heretical Doctrine of Man! (M23A)
  24. Wolf Guy's Tragic Rage (M24)
  25. Roars Amidst the Panoramic Foothills (M25)

    Murder in the Doll House (1979)
  26. Toho Logo (M1)
  27. Main Title - Credits (M2 + M3)
  28. Aspiring Detective Katsu Toshio (M4)
  29. Interview (M5)
  30. The Spiral House Stretch (M6)
  31. Pursuit (M7)
  32. The Car Engulfed by Flame (M8)
  33. Bandaged Arm (M9)
  34. Katsu and Maiko at the Teahouse (M10)
  35. Katsu is Invited to the Umawari Residence (M11)
  36. The Spiral House Forest (M12)
  37. The Murder of Ozato Ko (M13)
  38. After the death of Ozato Ko (M14 + M15 + M16)
  39. Masao's Painful Past (M17 + M18)
  40. The Invitation of Death from the Tea Carrying Doll (M19)
  41. Katsu's Inference - To Kanazawa (M20 + M21)
  42. The Truth Hidden in the Ancient Records (M22 + M23)
  43. To the Cave (M24)
  44. The Storehouse Homicide (M25)
  45. Masao's Impulse - Two People in the Cave (M26 + M27)
  46. Escape (M28)
  47. Temptation in the Cave (M29 + M30)
  48. The Shadow of the Chance Mechanism Doll (M31)
  49. To the Depths of the Cave (M32)
  50. The Two People at Dusk (M33-T2 + M34)
  51. End Title (M35)
This website is for noncommercial use only and is not affiliated with, or authorized or endorsed by Toho Co. Ltd. Toho is the owner of all copyrights and trademarks in its respective films and characters, and all of its rights are expressly reserved. © 1943-2008 Toho Co. Ltd. and its related entities. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, duplication or distribution of these materials is expressly prohibited.