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In August the National film theatre in London is having a season of TV variety shows. Included is a complete 1960 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' featuring Adam Faith and the John Barry Seven.

Dates:

1st August 1820 NFT2
31st August 2040 NFT2

Also, in July the NFT is showing the 1947 film of Brighton Rock directed by Roy Boulting

Dates

10th July 1830 NFT1
12th July 2040 NFT2
29th July 1810 NFT3

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It has been revealed in the July 2004 issue of the Collector's Choice Music Catalog that the original soundtrack of "Born Free" has been released on CD.

"John Barry's score for BORN FREE is one of the most famous ever written, and Matt Monro's rendition of the title song was a huge hit, yet---unbelievably---this is the first time the original soundtrack album to this landmark wildlife film has been released on CD! Film Score Monthly's loving reissue adds newly remastered sound and new liner notes to a flat-out classic."

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Following clues offered by Lukas Kendall on www.filmscoremonthly.com "60's bestseller goes free", speculation is mounting on FSM's message-board that Born Free is their July 'Silver' release!

Hmm, we will gratefully accept Born Free, if so, but Alice's Adventures would have been nice!

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We would like to congratulate Bryan Forbes who has been awarded a CBE (Commander of the order of the British Empire) for services to the arts.

Formerly a decent actor in a host of British films, Forbes turned to screenwriting at an early age and won critical acclaim for his screenplay for Basil Dearden's The League of Gentlemen. The following year, he wrote one of his most controversial screenplays for Guy Green's The Angry Silence, starring Richard Attenborough, following firstly the formation of Beaver Films (with Attenborough) and then Allied Film Makers (with Basil Dearden, Michael Relf, Carl Foreman, Richard Attenborough and Guy Green).

His directing career began in 1961 with Whistle Down the Wind, starring child star Haley Mills and his films which featured a John Barry score included Séance on a Wet Afternoon, King Rat, The Whisperers and Deadfall. He also directed his wife, Nanette Newman and Malcolm McDowell as paraplegics who fall in love, in the excellent The Raging Moon.

More recently, Forbes had a hand in the writing of the screenplay for Chaplin, another film scored by Barry.

He has been married to Nanette for nearly 50 years and they have two children: Emma and Sarah. Emma is a television presenter and Sarah is married to the actor, John Standing. Bryan Forbes IMDb page

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SONY LEGACY CELEBRATES JOHN BARRY WITH TWO RELEASES

Expanded Reissues of DANCES WITH WOLVES and THE CHASE Showcase the Talents of Legendary Film Composer John Barry

(April 8, 2004) - New York, NY - In celebration of his recent 70th birthday, Sony Legacy will release two titles by legendary film composer John Barry: THE CHASE (Columbia/Legacy/Sony Music Soundtrax) and DANCES WITH WOLVES (Epic/Legacy/Sony Music Soundtrax). Barry has been nominated for seven Academy AwardsT, and has won five times.

At age 33, Barry, who had been writing film music less than 5 years at the time, celebrated 1966 with his first two Oscars for Best Original Score and Song with BORN FREE. That year also saw the theatrical release of THE CHASE. Starring Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford and Angie Dickinson, directed by Arthur Penn (THE MIRACLE WORKER, BONNIE AND CLYDE), based on a book by Horton Foote (who won an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD), and produced by Sam Spiegel (ON THE WATERFRONT, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA), the film wasn't well received by the critics or the public in spite of its outstanding pedigree. Barry's score, however, was extraordinary.

The British-born Barry would have seemed an unlikely choice to score the uniquely American film which follows the prison escape of Texan Bubber Reeves and the subsequent chase that ensues as he tries to go home to see his wife. His contribution was a wonderfully nuanced score, aptly described in the liner notes by journalist Richard Torres as "an aural landscape which is uniquely Southern and utterly ominous."

The 1990 release DANCES WITH WOLVES was a landmark film and a landmark score for Barry, who had been out of commission for the previous two years due to health problems. The film earned twelve Academy AwardT nominations, winning eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director (Kevin Costner), and Best Original Score - Barry's fifth career win. With this reissue Barry's score for DANCES WITH WOLVES is presented for the first time in its entirety. This package includes the previously unreleased film versions of "The Buffalo Hunt" and "The John Dunbar Theme", with liner notes by Jon Burlingame (Variety).

The two titles, DANCES WITH WOLVES and THE CHASE will be in stores on May 18, 2004.

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It's now official: John Barry's music will not be featured in The Incredibles.

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"Royal grandeur from the movies John Barry's soundtrack for a king and Prokofiev's score for a czar make for a lush night at Carnegie Hall" Interview with John Barry at www.newsday.com, by Marion Lignana Rosenberg. Very interesting read. (Link is gone.)

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James Southall reviews the new expanded Dances With Wolves CD "Dances with Wolves is a quite wonderful piece of film music, truly beautiful throughout and blessed with some of Barry's finest themes. This new album certainly shows off the score at its finest, and it comes highly recommended."

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Hot off the press comes news of the Almeida Theatre's new season, which opens with BRIGHTON ROCK

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Now adding a lyrics page to the site. We have only just started adding titles, so no lyrics there yet. But, if you like, you can submit.