9
The music to
Unchained Melody
was the work of composer/
arranger Alex North (real name Isadore Soifer). North enjoyed
a successful Hollywood career, operating well outside of the
public eye. He was credited with writing the first jazz-based
film score for ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
(1951)
.
His other
famous work includes scores for ‘Cleopatra’ (1963) and ‘Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf’
(1968). That list might also have
included ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ had Director Stanley Kubrick
not discarded North’s commissioned film score at the last
moment. His TV work included the opening theme to CBC’s
‘Playhouse 90’
and the critically acclaimed series ‘Rich Man,
Poor Man.’
Unchained Melody
was not North’s only Oscar nomination.
He amassed a total of 14 such honors before winning a Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Academy in 1986.
Obscurity
You might wonder why you never heard of ‘Unchained’ or saw
it. Unless you are of a certain age and saw the filmwhen it flickered
through theatres briefly in 1955, you won’t be seeing it on TV or
finding it on a DVD anywhere. Despite its musical namesake, the
film ‘Unchained’ is a poster child for Rare Movies. Even in this day
of cheap old films on DVD and free digital downloads, good luck
finding this one. Perhaps the present CD will change all that, but
as of Fall, 2013, a copy of ‘Unchained’
was about as rare as the
proverbial cold day in Hell.
