The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Track Listing

01 - War March of the Priests (2:28)

02 - Dr. Phibes' Waltz / Cage Full of Bats (3:24)

03 - Phibes Visits Dr. Longstreet /

The Curse of Blood / Injection (1:30)

04 - Phibes' Preparations / Locusts (4:35)

05 - Phibes Revealed (1:59)

06 - Vulnavia (2:34)

07 - Dr. Phibes' Theme (2:19)

08 - The Operation (0:40)

09 - Charmaine / Medley (2:25)

10 - Vulnavia (reprise) (3:14)

11 - Dr. Phibes Theme (reprise) (1:16)

12 - Phibes' House (source) (0:34)

13 - Music Box (source) (0:28)

14 - Suite of Unused Music (11:48)

Conducted by Basil Kirchin

Produced by Robin Esterhammer

Released by Perseverance Records on July 18, 2003

Total Running Time: 39:49

I so wanted to check out this film. As I was reading through the liner notes (and a very nice booklet Perseverance has provided at that), it occurred to me that I’ve only seen one-third of any Vincent Price film and that was The Fly. Yes, I do feel like I have shortchanged myself. So I tried to find this one at any of the local video stores, but it obviously wasn’t meant to be as I haven’t found it for rent anywhere. The main reason I wanted to see this one is that I have to find out just what the tone ended up being. Price played his character straight, and the music on here follows suit for the most part, but much of it was ultimately replaced in the final version. Of course, throughout film history, replacement of scores has generally been a bad decision, so I was interested in seeing how the final film played (the music was replaced by other pieces that spoofed up the content). According to the liner notes, the music ended up being a conglomeration of classical music, pop songs from the Roaring 20s, and what was left over of Kirchin’s score. As any good record label should, this release presents the original score as completely as possible. Given that this film is not widely known, and has changed ownership more times than anyone would care to remember, it’s not surprising that most of the music has been lost. From what info I did glean about it, those associated with this project have done their very best to insure that this is the most definitive album that will ever be released.

Kirchin’s score is set in a very straight, romantic mood. The horror of Dr. Phibes is hardly alluded to at all. It’s a very pastoral score, with lush strings and brass that merely supports the mood. There are occasional moments of harshness in the composition, but these are very short. The theme for Phibes himself is a waltz, and serves as a contrast to the ugliness of his real form. The first moment of horror comes from "The Operation", a cue that was written by Kirchin, but comes across (and is labeled as such) as a source cue. It’s clearly taken from the film, and the quality drops noticeably (there is a rough fade-out at the end). This stems from the necessary limitations in collecting the cues necessary for this film. There are only three of these, all varying in quality (and with sound effects that come through at times).

As I stated at the top of the review, the liner notes are very well done, though with a curious omission in their track-by-track description of a few of the normal cues on the disc. Since there is some occasional repetition in musical ideas, this is somewhat understandable. The rest of the content is top-notch, and was nice for a Dr. Phibes novice like myself.

An interesting score, this will nevertheless appeal mostly to fans of the film. Apparently, there have been other “releases” in the past (with the validity of these still in question to my mind at this point), but for the ultimate presentation of this score on CD, you should look no further than this album from Perseverance Records.