Stage and Screen Thomas and the King (Wil iams / Harber0— original London Cast (prinCpal members). Eye of the Needle (ROzsa)—original Motion Picture

Score. Prince of the City (Chihara)—original

Soundtrack Recording. True Confessions (Del erue)—origina I Soundtrack Recording.

That's Entertainment TERS1009 (E9.99);

TER1010,TER1012, TER1013 (E5.49 each).

Although many composers have made the successful transition from writing for the stage to the screen, I don't believe there have been any who have negotiated the reverse journey with comparable success. Maybe the favourable Californian climate and luxuriant surroundings of the studios induce a sense of inertia that's difficult to throw off when travelling East, but no great theatre score came from the pens of Warren, Mercer, Van Heusen or more recently, Henry Mancini, whose name has been linked to several unrealized projects. John Williams is a fine arranger of film musicals (his Goodbye Mr Chips is a favourite of mine) and a composer of at least one sterling original score, Star Wars, yet his one 'go' at a stage score went to an early death at a time when Her Majesty's Theatre was the graveyard for many a similar specimen. Actually, his contribution to this musical about the relationship between Henry II and Thomas a Beckett is the best point about this record, and is certainly more original than his partner's work; they seem to have borrowed the Camelot legend, complete with optimistic finale, and if that libretto was uncertain in its tone then this one is incapable of any insight at all, to the extent that even that oftquoted line "will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" is spoken over ostinato stabbing chords. Richard Johnson played the part of Beckett in the original productions, taken on this recording by Lewis Fiander. The conductor and the recording producer have treated the score for more than it's worth.

Of the three film scores, Miklos Rozsa's Eye of the Needle is by a long way the most enjoyable listening experience outside the cinema; although he is not a composer I'm particularly partial to, you can recognize his style within a few bars. It's a pity then that with his flair for the sweeping melodic line the recording gives no more than adequate representation of his gifts. Prince of the City has one good theme going for it, a big-city blues on the saxophone which recurs throughout the record. George Delerue is the conductor and he himself composed True Confessions, which seemed to me all too ready to fall back on to the `religioso' cliches of Hollywood film music prevalent in the forties and fifties. The film though has been highly praised so this score may have its admirers. ADRIAN EDWARDS.