BONUS MUSIC FROM
THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS

Near the end of The Day of the Triffids, the protagonists find themselves travelling in a circus wagon.  Although some people think it’s an ice cream truck, the screenplay refers to it as a circus wagon.  Not knowing what a circus wagon is or isn’t, we will not argue with the screenplay.

The circus wagon’s tape machine plays a very catchy 13-note tune, which was composed by Johnny Douglas.  As our Monstrous Movie Music suite from this film only contains Ron Goodwin’s music, we did not record the repetitive Douglas cue.  After you hear Douglas’ piece in the movie for the umpteenth time, you are one step from going completely insane, and that’s another reason why we decided not to include that music in our suite.

There’s no definitive evidence proving what Ron Goodwin originally composed for the circus wagon sequence, but it’s likely he wrote something, as the sequence was much more important in the version of the film that he scored, as opposed to the edited, released version featuring Douglas’ music. 

Amongst the sketches and scores in Goodwin’s collection was a childlike waltz written for organ, and notated as “10.M.1.”  This alphanumerical title refers to its location in the film, and “10.M.1” would have placed it near the end of the picture, just before the end title music that Goodwin wrote.  This doesn’t make sense, as the circus wagon music was first heard much earlier in the movie. 

The only other scene that “10.M.1” could have been used for was at the Spanish church near the end of the picture.  And the fact that the cue was written for organ would seem to suggest that this music was supposed to be heard at that location.

However, when you listen to the music, it does NOT sound like church music.  Rather, it sounds like the kind of music that a circus wagon (whatever that is) or an ice cream truck would be playing.  So, until we get any evidence to the contrary, we will assume that despite the anomaly of the cue’s alphanumerical title, the music you’ll hear by clicking on the RealAudio link below is the cue that Ron Goodwin wrote for the musical circus wagon.  Although this thematic material is entirely different from the rest of Goodwin’s music in the film, you can hear a little of the Spanish influence that can be heard in other parts of Goodwin’s score.

Circus Wagon Music

 

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