KING RAT

World premiere of John Barry soundtrack plus remastered original album on CD! George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox, Denholm Elliott, Todd Armstrong, Patrick O’Neal, James Donald, John Mills play WWII POW’s in Japanese prisoner of war camp in 1945 Singapore. Changi jail requires few guards for the captured soldiers make little attempt at escape. Indeed, there is no safe place to escape. The men simply exist, starved, emaciated. American corporal “King” (Segal) is different. Well-fed, mannered, clean. King Rat is the powerful story of why. Bryan Forbes directs from James Clavell’s 1962 novel, based on his own experiences. Clavell also fashioned the scripts for the landmark POW film, The Great Escape (1963) and the WWII aerial combat picture, 633 Squadron (1964). Burnett Guffey handles the Academy Award-nominated b&w cinematography. Columbia Pictures releases in 1965. For original music, Forbes turns to his composer-of-choice, John Barry. In an incredibly fertile period for the composer that also saw Thunderball, The Ipcress File, The Knack, Four In The Morning and Mister Moses that same year, Barry scored a dramatic, arid and claustrophobic score for strings emphasizing the lower registers, plus cor anglais, flute, oboe, French horn, solitary trumpet, harp, piano, xylophone, tympani… and the striking color of cimbalom. Often Barry takes his opening theme and moves the idea through various highly exposed solo players, now oboe, now muted trumpet, now cor anglais, now cello. And by keeping most of the score in the key of F minor, Barry generates an almost hypnotic effect. Here’s some really cool news! Intrada planned on bringing to CD the best-sounding stereo presentation of the original 1965 re-recorded Mainstream album as part of our acclaimed CD series of classic 60’s Mainstream and Ava titles. In fact, this album is included here as tracks 26 - 37. For this classic record, Barry completely re-scored much of the music, uplifting its tone considerably, expanding a small secondary motif into an entire marching theme and developing the main theme into full-fledged instrumentals he sub-titled “Just As You Were”. When the album masters arrived, in an incredible find within, we located the long-lost actual film scoring session elements, complete and in excellent condition, revealing a much darker and graphic soundtrack - one that had never been previously released! While its duration is similar to the LP program, the contents are considerably different. What a treat for fans of that original album in particular and John Barry’s music in general! Turn over enough stones and one can discover the most precious gems hidden underneath!! Authoritative notes by Jon Burlingame and flipper-style cover designed by Kay Marshall offering both original film artwork and Mainstream LP art completes important package. John Barry composes, conducts. Intrada Special Collection CD release available while quantities and interest remain!