John WILLIAMS’ music for Alfred Hitchcock’s FAMILY PLOT Universal Home Video 044 5513 purchase from Yalplay

		Family Plot was Hitchcock’s last film and John William’s first and only score for the master of suspense. Family Plot was more of a black comedy than a thriller with no murders, (at least at the time of the action) and no thrilling final climax. The critics were divided about this unusual film in the Hitchcock canon. Yet time has been kind to it and I for one appreciate it much more now than when I first saw it in 1976; its virtues probably suit the small screen better for, as Halliwell says: "…this is a Hitchcock suspenser in an unusually friendly vein." The Plot Madam Blanche, a medium on the make, is asked by elderly wealthy Miss Rainbird to find her missing grandson. Miss Rainbird had banished both him and his mother because his illegitimacy would have besmirched the family name. Blanche (Barbara Harris) and her cab driver boyfriend George (Bruce Dern) make enquiries. George learns that the grandson, Edward, is dead but when he visits the cemetery to visit the family plot he discovers that Edward has a newer and separate gravestone to that of his parents buried alongside. George’s suspicions are aroused and he visits garage owner Muloney who had erected Edward’s gravestone. Muloney in panic goes to see Edward who is alive and well and living under the alias of jeweler Arthur Adamson (William Devane). Meanwhile Blanche gets another clue from Miss Rainbird about somebody else who knew Edward – a priest who is now a bishop. George hurries to the Cathedral to interview the bishop only to see him kidnapped by Arthur and Fran (Karen Black). They are professional kidnappers ransoming their victims for priceless diamonds. We had actually met Fran earlier when she picks up a jewel and returns a kidnapped victim. A perfect integrating of plot elements this as Hitchcock has George nearly run over Fran, heavily disguised and on her way to the pick-up point. (George and Blanche are returning from their first meeting with Miss Rainbird.) Complications ensue with Blanche and George just interested in tracking down Edward/Adam for Miss Rainbird so that they can earn their $10,000 fee. Adam, on the other hand, is more interested in keeping them off his trail because he thinks they are pursuing him as the kidnapper and even tells Muloney to kill them in an auto ‘accident.’ How Blanche and George capture the villains forms the thrilling and amusing climax to the story.     The Music The few recordings that exist of this score concentrate entirely on the End Titles which neatly sum up all the major themes into a nice cohesive mini-suite. The Varese Sarabande Alfred Hitchcock recording has the best of these (together with suites from Suspicion, Strangers on A Train and Notorious.) This policy is understandable because Hitchcock uses John Williams’s music comparatively sparingly. For instance, he follows his precedent set for the crop spraying sequence in North by North West by not employing any music at all to underscore the sequence where Blanche and George go hurtling down the mountain road in their car which that has been disabled by Maloney. The music only starts when Maloney comes to investigate their "deaths" but seeing them alive turns his car and prepares to run them down in a second assassination attempt. Forte tympani rolls support crashing staccato string chords as Maloney advances. Williams uses his tympani prominently throughout this score. Their rolls and beats are most pronounced in the early scene where Fran in blonde wig and high boots marches up to collect the ransom to an additional accompaniment of snare drums, a harpsichord carrying the melodic line, and electronic organ whinings. The tympani alone, in staccato, almost heart-beatings underscore the scene in Adams jewelry shop where the police interview him. But the most bizarre usage is in the cemetery scene where they are reinforced by a forte stroke of the bass drum when we first see the graves of Edward and his parents (Arthur/Edward having killed his parents with the aid of Maloney some years previously). As the gravedigger emerges from a hole several yards away we hear some grisly low woodwind figures and a piano plays a cold remote version of the theme associated with Fran and Arthur. The other major element in the score is for the opening séance sessions. An other-worldly choir hums a sweet sentimental soaring melody supported by violins, and harp arpeggios to such magnificent effect that you are almost taken in, by Blanche, as much as Miss Rainbird. After such a promising start, it seems a great pity that Hitch did not live long enough to allow his new collaboration with Williams to develop. Who knows, it might have rivaled that of Hitchcock/Herrmann! Reviewer Ian Lace Video Film Music	Reviewer Ian Lace Video Film Music Reviews from previous months Reviews carry sales links but you can also purchase from:
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