On the Beach

Label: Film Score Monthly
Catalogue No: FSM Vol.5 No.7

Release Date: Jun-2002

Total Duration: 69:58

UPN: 0638558013625
Also contains music from: The Secret Of Santa Vittoria

Though the 1950s spawned a variety of (often ridiculous) Hollywood mutations, the first film to deal seriously with nuclear issues was Stanley Kramer’s ON THE BEACH in 1959, the restrained screenplay of which documents the last days of a varied group of survivors who await the end as fallout from the ultimate nuclear conflict slowly but inevitably drifts towards the southern hemisphere. With the death of French composer Georges Antheil, Kramer’s initial musical choice, the job of scoring this major film went to Ernest Gold, a Vienna-born musician who had been labouring in Hollywood since the 1940s. BEACH launched Gold into the upper echelon of late studio-era Hollywood composers, and he achieved even greater success with EXODUS (1960). But Gold’s BEACH break came with a condition: that “Waltzing Matilda,” a kind of unofficial Australian national anthem, be integrated into the score. Though initially resistant, Gold ultimately transformed the upbeat (yet also somehow poignant) tune into a versatile motif and ultimately a wrenching elegy for mankind. Put through every kind of musical variation, “Matilda” appears throughout the score, and is a fascinating study in inventive thematic/contrapuntal development.

However, Gold produced original themes as well. What was known as the official “Theme from ON THE BEACH” is actually the “Peter and Mary” theme. There’s also a bittersweet melody associated with Moria/Ava Gardner, and a brief Copland-esque motif for Dwight/Gregory Peck, both of these beautifully melded with “Matilda” in the haunting “Australian Summer Night” melody. The most innovative cues (“Desolate City,” “Mysterious Signal”) have nothing to do with any previous thematic material, but underscore the American submarine’s futile voyage to investigate a mysterious Morse code signal. Unlike the recent Showtime re-make, Kramer’s ON THE BEACH eschews any sensationalized depiction of nuclear aftermath, the devastation instead evoked by Gold’s brilliantly sci-fi-esque fusions of archaic open 5ths, atonalism, and touching lyricism. This welcome new FSM CD of one of the best scores of the late studio era is a duplication of the original Roulette LP from original three-track stereo tapes, and is coupled with THE SECRET OF SANTA VITTORIA, from a United Artists LP. The latter features one extra theme.

Originally published in Soundtrack Magazine Vol.21 / No.84 / 2002