Soundtrack Information

The Children's Hour

The Children's Hour

Limited Edition of 1,000 Copies

Kritzerland (KR 20014-4)

Release Date: January 5, 2010

Conducted by Alex North

Format: CD

Music By

Track Listing

1. Main Title (original version)

Get this album or track at:

 1:38
2. Proposal

Get this album or track at:

 5:01
3. Shame

Get this album or track at:

 1:51
4. Mary's Lie

Get this album or track at:

 1:58
5. Tantrum

Get this album or track at:

 1:29
6. Hooky

Get this album or track at:

 0:56
7. Gossip

Get this album or track at:

 2:20
8. Results

Get this album or track at:

 1:03
9. Confession

Get this album or track at:

 0:28
10. Alone

Get this album or track at:

 3:37
11. Caress

Get this album or track at:

 1:30
12. Shock

Get this album or track at:

 1:09
13. Realization

Get this album or track at:

 5:15
14. Peace

Get this album or track at:

 1:22
15. Martha's Decision

Get this album or track at:

 0:41
16. End Title (original version)

Get this album or track at:

 1:10
17. BONUS TRACKS: Main Title (film version)

Get this album or track at:

 1:06
18. Radio Source Music

Get this album or track at:

 1:03
19. Martha's Decision (with alternate ending)

Get this album or track at:

 0:43
20. End Title (film version)

Get this album or track at:

 0:38
  Total Album Time: 34:58

From the Manufacturer

Kritzerland is proud to offer a limited edition soundtrack—a world premiere release of The Children's Hour with music composed and conducted by Alex North.

For the first time ever, Alex North's brilliant score to William Wyler's 1961 film of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour comes to CD. One of three scores written directly after Spartacus, The Children's Hour is classic North.

Interestingly, both [Wyler and North] had just come off huge epic films—Wyler with Ben-Hur and North with Spartacus. So for both, The Children's Hour could not have been more different; a drama filmed in black-and-white, with nary a toga, a chariot, a slave, or a cross in sight.

And what a score North delivered, with music that was astonishing and complex, with a memorable main theme that runs throughout the score, along with the clever use of children's nursery rhyme tunes (especially "Skip To My Lou"). North's music sounds like no other Hollywood composer of that era—there was just nobody like him, and this is North at the peak of his powers.

Over the years, other labels had inquired about The Children's Hour—but no tapes existed in the MGM vaults. Thankfully, North had kept a copy of this score in his archives, which are housed at the Margaret Herrick Library, and through their good auspices the tape was made available to us and it is that tape which was used for this CD.

We had both a copy of the chosen takes from the recording session, and also a tape North had put together for a soundtrack release that obviously never happened. We used his sequencing and track titles and both tapes were used to create the CD master. The album contains North's original main and end title music, both of which, at some point, were rescored, and we've included the rescored versions, as well.

It's fascinating to hear the two approaches to the main title—North's original works beautifully and times out perfectly with Wyler's images, while the rescored version works well, albeit in a completely different way, setting a completely different mood. We've also included two other bonus tracks, a brief source music cue, and one cue with an alternate ending. The sound is mono and very crisp.

This release is limited to 1,000 copies only.

Missing Information?

If any information appears to be missing from this page, contact us and let us know!