World premiere release of dynamic thriller soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein for Richard Fleischer film about blind woman terrorized by sadistic killer, written by Brian Clemens, starring Mia Farrow. Outdoor farm setting, English countryside set stage for relentless pursuit of defenseless woman while one-by-one, loved ones around her are brutally slain. Bernstein fashions music only where it is needed, totaling just under a half hour in fact. But his approach is powerful, exciting, hard-hitting from the get-go. Opening three-note motif, spanning a mere minor third, launches one of Bernstein’s most aggressive “Main Titles” ever. Motif becomes longer idea as propulsive action material takes over. In stunning move, Bernstein takes idea into exciting major key territory for very next cue as sonorous main theme for Mia comes into play. Melody is sweeping, lively, takes command during horse-riding sequences. But spotlight also goes to incredibly sensitive, sadness-tinged minor key treatment of same melody during “Mia’s Theme”, “Ambulance (End Titles)”. Here, piano leads with strings in tow. Cool extra treat: most exposed version of theme in film (“Mia’s Theme”) is dialed out quickly in picture but here plays complete as recorded for the first time ever! Other notable ideas include composer’s trademark lean, transparent suspense writing. Intrada presents complete score, including three brief source cues written by Bernstein, all in dynamic stereo from newly-discovered original two-track session masters mixed by Richard Lewzey at CTS Studios in London, courtesy Columbia Pictures. One of Elmer Bernstein’s finest previously-unreleased works is now finally available! Elmer Bernstein conducts.
The 1971 Columbia thriller See No Evil pits a blind woman against a savage killer. The film is spotted very sparingly, allowing many tense scenes to play out unscored. Even within composer Elmer Bernstein’s cues the music is often made more powerful by being silent. Chamber music textures abound throughout the orchestration. Bernstein’s use of strings, alto flute, piano, electric guitar, forceful trombone octaves, bass clarinet, glittering glockenspiel, brittle xylophone, clarinet doubled two octaves higher by piccolo are colors carefully calculated to make the most impact but often with the least “noise.” Everything in this
concise-but-superb score has its point.
For this premiere release of Elmer Bernstein’s complete soundtrack (the third and final score commissioned for the film), Intrada fortunately was able to locate the two-track stereo session masters, recorded and mixed by Richard Lewzey at Cine-Tele Sound Studios (CTS) in London in July 1971. For decades these tapes appeared to have been lost but, in fact, they survived in full stereo and in beautiful condition, with every cue present—including Bernstein’s three brief original source music cues.
In the film, Sarah (Mia Farrow), a young woman recently blinded in a horse-riding accident, is adjusting to her new circumstances under the loving care of her aunt, uncle and cousin. One morning she wakes and, thinking everyone else is still asleep, goes to the kitchen to make coffee. She has no idea that her cousin lies dead in the next bed, that her uncle’s bloody corpse lies in the bathtub and that her aunt’s dead eyes are staring at her from the living room. Nor does she realize that the murderer’s safety will soon hinge on one more death: hers.
TRACKLIST
01. Main Title (2:00)
02. The Car (1:01)
03. Memories Of Steve (0:28)
04. First Night, First Prize (0:29)
05. The Stable (0:58)
06. The Dance Club (1:25)
07. The Upper Field (0:45)
08. Phonograph Record No. 1 (0:46)
09. Phonograph Record No. 2 (1:08)
10. The Silver Bracelet (0:40)
11. Sarah’s Theme (2:09)
12. Jacko To Stable (0:31)
13. Sandy Is Dead (2:24)
14. Dandy Star (3:31)
15. Blind Terror (1:28)
16. Broken Glass (1:20)
17. Jacko Pursues Sarah (1:12)
18. Escape! (1:00)
19. Field And Clay Pit (3:55)
20. End Credits (1:01)
