Disappointing
Major Kong | California USA | 06/26/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"La Grande Illusion is one of the greatest films of the 20th century and, if you enjoyed the movie, you might like this CD. Like Hitchcock and Herrmann or Spielberg and Williams, the collaboration of filmmaker Jean Renoir and composer Joseph Kosma deserves serious attention. This CD, unfortunately, does a disservice to both artists. The soundtrack is lifted directly from the film; dialogue and sound effects obscure Kosma's music. In addition, the liner notes provide a useful filmography of Kosma's career but little else. Kosma scored over 100 films between 1936 and 1971 and is as important to French cinema as Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, Miklos Rozsa, or Erich Wolfgang Korngold are to American film. Surely a better treatment of Kosma's work than this is possible."