First,
I'd like to thank Sam Scali
for sending in this disc for review!
Now this CD has the score to the 1961 film The
Last War,
which was composed by Ikuma
Dan.
Dan's work here, while not being a career high,
is pretty
solid.
One thing the score does very effectively
is introduce a reoccurring theme, heard in tracks like
"Takano Returns to his Country" and
"The Dream of Two People", that has a almost hopeful
tone to it. Consequently, due to the lack of repetition
else where in the score, this causes the general theme
motif to stand out, and really makes a impact in the
movie itself when it's utilized in the quite sad finale,
which can be heard here on "Ending 2". The most impressive
thing about the disc, though, is that Dan shows his range
with The Last War soundtrack.
There is everything from the very upbeat and playful
"The Tamura Family" theme, which appropriately sounds
like something from a televised cartoon of the period,
to the "The Federalists · The Far East
Missile Base" which has a more sinister tone to it.
Oddly enough, for this this being a movie with a more
depressing outlook on the Cold War, the music is often
more upbeat than not; however, it still has its share
of somber themes, such as "World War Crisis" and my
favorite cue off this disc "Fire is Blown!! Thirty-Eighth
Parallel". On the downside, the "Main Title" here is
pretty much a reprise of the main theme for the 1960
movie The
Storm of the Pacific,
although it's really the only cue to suffer from being
lifted from a previous score by Dan.
Overall, this is a pretty good offering from Dan. I
will attest to being a fan of his work, particularly
on the Samurai trilogy,
and was very pleased
with his effort here.
Rating:  |
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