Rita and George Again

A little while ago I wrote about the LP from the movie Salome, with Rita Hayworth and music by George Duning. Now here comes Miss Sadie Thompson, with Rita doing a different kind of dance (trading in her seven veils for a cocktail dress) and music by George Duning again - I think.

In soundtrack days of yore, the actual musical artists were sometimes uncredited, or nearly so. Then as now, a soundtrack was a sales tool for the film - a poster of Hayworth with musical accompaniment. Who cares who wrote the music?! So this LP does not provide any credits for the soundtrack composer, and in some contemporary sources the credit goes to Morris Stoloff, who is listed as directing the orchestra on the jacket. But the film shows up in Duning's filmreference.com resume, so let's assume he actually was the one who did the score.

As a practical matter, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, because you don't hear much of the actual score on this record. What you do hear are a few songs by Lester Lee with lyrics by Ned Washington. The tune about the Marines has words by Allan Roberts. Those three do get a credit. Poor Jo Ann Greer, who dubbed the vocals for RH, is (like most such artists) uncredited. She was a Les Brown band vocalist for a long time and also made some records under her own name. The harmonica player you hear is Leo Diamond, who made a number of notable space age pop records.

Besides the music, the record also contains a dramatic scene, in which Jose Ferrer, playing a religious fanatic, confronts Hayworth's "fallen woman." It isn't much of a confrontation - Ferrer displays all the passion of a radio announcer. After the confrontation, he favors us with a reading of Psalm 23. I've never seen this movie, but I can't imagine that this sort of thing went over all that well even in 1953. The whole effect is quite dull - not nearly as ostentatiously pious as the Sermon on the Mount scene on the Salome OST - perhaps it would have worked better if it had been.

The cover photo is interesting, but Rita reclining for the Salome cover is far more attractive than Rita squatting and grimacing for this one.