MovieChat Forums > Gallery of Horror (1967) Discussion > anybody have info on the music score/sou...

anybody have info on the music score/soundtrack?

posted 16 years ago by phasedin
6 replies | jump to latest

I've always loved the music for this production. But based on what is obviously a very low budget, my guess is that this music was probably recycled from another production altogether (much like the castle scenes and the outdoor carrige ride are taken from Roger Corman movies).
Does anybody out there know anything about the music for this? It's really quite a nice, odd selecion of instruments, with organ and vibraphone along some more traditional soundtrack elements...

[–] InjunNose 13 years ago

Some very well-chosen, atmospheric music here, yes...I say "well-chosen" since no one is credited with composing the soundtrack, which means that it's stock. (The credit for music and sound effects goes to Commercial Sound Recorders.) In fact, a little snippet of music from the 'Monster Raid' segment can also be heard during some of the grisly murder scenes in Herschell Gordon Lewis's "The Gore Gore Girls".

[–] phasedin 12 years ago

Thanks. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner-but considering the professionalism and quality of the soundtrack, I guess it's what's now called "library music". Matter of fact the recent DVD issue of "The Hypnotic Eye"(1960) (a movie I had never seen until it's recent DVD release) also contains some of the same music.

[–] InjunNose 12 years ago

Cool! I'll have to check out "The Hypnotic Eye", too. I always try to picture the music being recorded: I'm sure overdubs were done, but it's fun to imagine the harpsichordist and brass and string sections all in the same room at once, shaking the walls as they reach the crescendo of the piece that was used as "Gallery"'s closing theme :)

[–] phasedin 9 years ago

Yes indeed the actual soundtrack is excellent, imaginative music. Great combination of instruments with the organ, vibraphone and traditional orchestral instruments. The "Hypnotic Eye" doesn't use as much of the music as "Gallery" does however. We get quite a lot more of the music in "Gallery" simply because the opening & closing credits are so long.

[–] messick_us 11 years ago

Marlin Skiles, who composed music for films in the 1940s, and did stock music for many 50s and 60s televison shows provided some cues for this movie. " The Spark Of life " with Lon Chaney Jr. has a cue heard in " Death Valley Days ". The incidental music played in the various stories sounded like the basic stock music used by many television production companies in the 50s and early 60s. I don't know if Skiles scored the bell music heard over Carradine's narrations, or the beginning and closing title scores, though.

[–] phasedin 9 years ago

Thanks so much for the info. Yes indeed the actual soundtrack is excellent, imaginative music. Great combination of instruments with the organ, vibraphone and traditional orchestral instruments