Maurice Jarre

Maurice Jarre was the man we brought in to compose the music for our film “Shout at the Devil” - it was a bit of an epic set in Africa so we were up for the huge orchestral score. We noticed that there were several grand pianos which I didn’t understand. Why would you need a row of several pianos? He informed us that they were all to play the same menacing notes simultaneously- I asked Maurice if he’d thought about multi tracking but he was apparently convinced that this method would not give the same resonance. Ho hum. In those days the studio head provided a special welcoming lunch in their boardroom. We all started and we’re having a nice time when the director stood up and cane up to me to say, “I’ll just be a little while.” He left and I didn’t see him again for about twenty five years when we ran into each other at Pinewood Studios. I asked him what time he would be back? He laughed. What had happened was that he’d gone to chase up a potential directing job for Carlo Ponti in Italy who had telephoned my father to ask what he thought of that director, my father’s response was epic, “I don’t have anything at all to say about that man.” Mr Ponti clearly understood that message about the director Peter Hunt. My thought was right name except for the first letter of his second name.