Malcolm Arnold's Inn of the Sixth Happiness

I thought I might bring you a few unreissued film scores by the English composer Malcolm Arnold, who died in 2006.

Arnold, who started as an orchestral trumpeter, is perhaps equally well-known for his concert music and his music for the movies. His most famous score is for The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

As Christopher Mowat says in an obituary of Arnold in The Guardian, "his music gave immediate and unconditional enjoyment to performers and listeners alike. It was full of tunes, technically brilliant, extravert, unselfconscious and fun. Occasionally, a darker side to his personality would surface, sometimes in his music or, sadly during several periods, in his mental wellbeing."

Malcolm Arnold

In fact, Arnold was quite a turbulent personality, and some of his later music is desolate. But there is no trace of that in this marvelous score for The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, from 1958. The Swedish Ingrid Bergman stars as a cockney missionary in China, and the main Chinese parts are played by the English Robert Donat and the German Curd Jurgens. The plot involves Bergman leading 50 Chinese orphans to safety in the face of the 1937 Japanese invasion, led by Charles Boyer. (OK, I made that last part up.)

Arnold's music, performed by the Royal Philharmonic led by the composer in this early stereo recording, is varied but entirely delightful. The finest music is during the "Jennie Lawson Passes On" scene, and naturally, that is where my pressing had some issues, which I have patched briefly making use of a separate rip made by a friend of mine. You may notice a few changes in sound during that passage.

More Arnold coming up.