Frank De Vol - The Big Knife

Based on the play by Clifford Odets, THE BIG KNIFE was directed and produced in 1955 by Robert Aldrich. Known for his intense atmosphere and scathing criticism of the pressures and moral compromises inherent in show business, Aldrich's film is perhaps the most ferocious indictment of Hollywood we have ever seen on the silver screen. Starring Jack Palance, Ida Lupino and Rod Steiger, THE BIG KNIFE plunges the viewer into the darker side of Hollywood, exploring themes of corruption, betrayal and the destructive nature of celebrity. Jack Palance gives a powerful performance as a conflicted film star, trapped by his own success and the manipulations of the film industry...
From the age of 16, Frank De Vol was arranging with such professional flair that, from the 1940s onwards, he was entrusted with arrangements for the studio recordings of many leading singers, including Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Doris Day and Vic Damone... The success of Nature Boy, recorded for Capitol Records, led to a management position at rival Columbia Records.
It was precisely in the early 1950s that he recorded his first film scores (World for Ransom - 1954, Kiss Me Deadly - 1955), including of course THE BIG KNIFE. Against a backdrop of jazz and dramatic scores, De Vol succeeded in conveying corruption, the diktat of power and an unvarnished description of the world of show business. It should be pointed out that this score was only released as a double 45 rpm album when the film was released, and to this day it seems that there has never been a second edition.