Veteran Hollywood composer died of a heart attack at age 56 on November 11, 1956, three-and-a-half weeks after the premiere of , one of the last of hundreds of movies for which he wrote music. The 167-minute epic film version of 's 1873 novel about a man who wagers he can accomplish the journey suggested in the title was a cinematic extravaganza mounted by brash producer in a widescreen process he had immodestly dubbed Todd-A-O. It was also a considerable success, winning the Academy Award for best picture and out-grossing every movie of 1957 except the similarly epic . In fact, it won five Oscars, one of them for , a sentimental favorite given his recent demise, since the composer had never won previously despite having been nominated 21 times before. In the aftermath of the Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 1957, the album for became a massive hit, entering the chart for the week ending April 13 and rising to number one for the first of ten weeks on July 22, which made it second only to the as the most successful LP of 1957. Its popularity was aided by the release of the film's main theme, a called as a single that reached the Top 20 in the version, with competing chart renditions by and (with lyrics set by ) and . Does all this mean that 's score for was his best? No, but it may be his most characteristic. had an unusual gift for melody and was known for scoring hits with his tunes, among them That gift certainly hadn't abandoned him at the end; the lilting was one of his most memorable themes. He was also known for using existing material and weaving it into his own writing, to the point that he sometimes seemed as much an arranger as a composer. offered extensive opportunities for this tendency, as the main character, , and his valet, , travel from country to country. 's own theme, not surprisingly, was and it turned up repeatedly in many different guises. It suggested that , viewing the movie properly as one big entertainment, wasn't going to be worried about indulging in cliches. On the contrary, his score reveled in them. No sooner were the heroes in Paris than a bit of the would be heard. And so it went, with accompanying the movement to the U.S.; heard in a Southwestern sequence; the Cavalry arriving to ; and so on. This is not to say that didn't write plenty of his own music, and that much of it wasn't engaging, but even when he was being original, he was drawing on standard notions of what the music of a country or ethnic group sounded like. Of course, it was all in fun, just like the movie it accompanied, and the music was a major element in maintaining the light mood over the hours and continents. [The 50th anniversary expanded edition of the adds nearly half-an-hour to the album as originally issued. Many of those additions are minor or repetitious, but a 72-minute version of 's score is more appropriate to the scope of this film that the version that was edited down to the length of an LP in 1957.] ~ William Ruhlmann