Press Release from Dragon's Domain:
Dragon’s Domain Records presents the world premiere release of the original motion picture soundtrack for SILENCE OF THE NORTH, featuring music by Allan Macmillan. Including music adapted and scored by Jerrold Immel (HOW THE WEST WAS WON, DALLAS, DEATH HUNT, MEGAFORCE).
Released in SILENCE OF THE NORTH is a semi-autobiographical Canadian film based on the life of author Olive Frederickson as chronicled in the book of the same name written by Frederickson and Ben East. The film was directed by Allan King, screenplay written by Patricia Louisianna Knopp (THE PASSOVER PLOT, LADY OSCAR, 9 ½ WEEKS), starring Ellen Burstyn as Olive Frederickson, Tom Skerritt (MASH, ALIEN, TOP GUN) as her first husband Walter Reamer and Gordon Pinsent (COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT, THE SHIPPING NEWS) as her second husband John Frederickson, produced by Murray Shostak (DEATH HUNT, SLIDERS) and Robert Baylis.
SILENCE OF THE NORTH follows the story of Olive Frederickson (Burstyn) from when she was a girl, then becoming a wife to trapper Walter Reamer (Skerritt) and later a widow with three small children struggling to survive under rugged conditions in northern Alberta Canada, from the early 1900’s and continuing into the great Depression as she returns to civilization with her children.
The score for SILENCE OF THE NORTH is credited to Allan MacMillan and is his sole feature film credit. There is an additional music credit for composer Jerrold Immel (HOW THE WEST WAS WON, DALLAS, DEATH HUNT, MEGAFORCE, THE SHADOW RIDERS) that reads ‘music adapted and scored by’. These duties included arranging the instrumental versions of the Neil Young song ‘Comes A Time’.
While SILENCE OF THE NORTH was considered a flop despite good reviews upon its original theatrical release, a combination of SelecTV picking it up for its programming lineup and award recognition for the title song written by Neil Young eventually led to the film having a cult status with people of a certain age. All three main actors and director Allan King were nominated for Genie Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars.
Dragon’s Domain Records presents SILENCE OF THE NORTH, featuring music by Allan Macmillan, music adapted and scored by Jerrold Immel for the first time on compact disc. The music has been mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland from elements provided by the Film Music Society.
