Search - Robert B. Sherman, John Williams :: Tom Sawyer (1973 Movie Soundtrack)

The Sherman Brothers and John Williams

Staysun | Downers Grove, IL USA | 09/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After 30 years of oblivion, the Sherman Brothers' musical film versions of two Mark Twain classics comes to CD, thanks to the visionaries at Varese Sarabande. The 1973 version was intended as a return of the live-action family musical and was very successful at the box office. John Williams was fresh from his Oscar win for the spectacular adaptation of the songs from "Fiddler on the Roof". Williams provided the same pristine, dramatic arrangements for the Sherman Brothers songs which sound Broadway-worthy in the splendid, catchy orchestrations that Williams provided. The music sounded so good that Williams and the Sherman Brothers picked up an Oscar nomination. At closer inspection, the songs appear inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" but the lyrics are sometimes awkward and ill-fitting. The tunes are all terrific, especially "Gratifaction" and "Freebootin'". "The River Song" bears a connection to Jerome Kern's "Old Man River" and while it may seem trifling at first hearing, it deserves additional attention as a carefully crafted melancholy song that sets the tone for the whole score. Hopefully, the Sherman Brothers will dust off the rejected songs and expand this score for the stage (as they recently did for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") so that we can fully appreciate what is probably a much larger and more varied and interesting series of songs.

The 1974 "Huckleberry Finn" was a financial and critical disaster and brought a quick end to the idea of a series of Reader's Digest sponsored family musicals. This was most unfortunate since it starred the great Jeff East who would have brought depth and excellence to a better film version. The Sherman Brothers were rushed and the entire project seems half-baked and overwhelmed by the complexity of the material. Nevertheless, the songs are fun, especially "Cairo, Illinois" and the terrific song for Jeff East, "What's Right, What's Wrong". John Williams did not participate in this production. This CD set includes all the released songs and the lyrics to the "Tom Sawyer" songs are included in the liner notes as they were in the original LP."

"Tom Sawyer" songs sound great 30 years later!

Darryl M. Haase | Cleveland, OH United States | 09/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's easy to pigeonhole any family movie musical which cannot compete with the classics like "Wizard of Oz" and "Mary Poppins". Despite its occasional mediocrity, "Tom Sawyer" has some incredibly catchy tunes by the Sherman Brothers. The Shermans definitely had their own style and synchopation, and you can immediately tell a score of theirs after you listen to enough of them. "Huckleberry Finn" seems to have the most forgettable songs, but I'd like to see the movie again to judge more fairly. I hope these two movies will be put out on DVD soon, fully restored, letterboxed and in a double feature pack. Now that would be GRATIFACTION!"

What a Disappointment!

codiferous | Pleasanton, CA USA | 09/20/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Varese Records usually has some pretty classy releases, this is NOT one of them. After waiting years for these soundtracks to be released, we have been treated to sub-standard transfers and missing tracks. Especially annoying is the "Huckleberry Finn" soundtrack; a missing overture and an almost unlistenable transfer. This is actually an insult to injury being as the DVD transfer has "Been formatted to fit your TV" (no widescreen!). Although, the sound is much better on the DVD than on the CD. Unfortunately, this is all we get, that is why I gave this 3 stars instead of 2. By the way, one of the other reviews states that all the lyrics are contained in the booklet, this is not true, only the "Tom Sawyer" lyrics are printed. What a mess!"