Des Teufels Saat (1977)

Des Teufels Saat: Directed by Donald Cammell. With Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham, Berry Kroeger. A scientist creates Proteus–an organic super computer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creators wife.

“My mixed (at best) feelings about the film as a whole are reflected in the range of previous comments. My response to the contributions of composer Jerry Fielding, however, is unadulterated awe. The harmonic richness and complexity of his music sometimes seemed wasted on the films they accompanied – i.e. u0026quot;Funeral Homeu0026quot;, u0026quot;Grey Lady Down, some of the Michael Winner collaborations et al – both the attention to detail his scores displayed and the complexity of response his music evoked were simply not supported by what was on screen. In fact, some of these films probably could have been served just as well if not better either by a relative hack or simply by a composer more able to work at u0026quot;half-mastu0026quot; on a given project – i.e. Goldsmith, Williams etc. Fieldingu0026#39;s effectiveness was not restricted to scoring intense and/or violent scenes – witness his brief, exquisite interludes early and late in u0026quot;u0026quot;Junior Bonneru0026quot;, the heartbreakingly beautiful music underscoring Warren Oatesu0026#39; tortured efforts to express his feelings to Isela Vega in u0026quot;Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garciau0026quot; or for that matter the many gentle moments of respite in u0026quot;The Wild Bunchu0026quot; itself. Still, some of the most imaginative and memorable marriages of sound and image in the history of film are provided by Fielding in just such intense contexts, often in scenes anticipating or immediately following violence and especially scenes of violation – i.e. the rapes of u0026quot;Straw Dogsu0026quot;, the near rape of u0026quot;Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garciau0026quot;, the rough sex / bondage of u0026quot;The Nightcomersu0026quot;, or the not-in-itself particularly violent but perhaps even more disturbing – more violating – situation played out in u0026quot;Demon Seedu0026quot; u0026#39;s centerpiece. However unbelievable or even ludicrous this sceneu0026#39;s premise – or the u0026quot;scienceu0026quot; underlying it – may seem, the emotional journey the filmu0026#39;s protagonist is forced to take is massive and mind bending (the scene turning into something somewhat reminiscent of the penultimate scene of 2001). Fieldingu0026#39;s music is more than up to the task, amply supporting and even expanding the scope of this journey.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnyway, I think Iu0026#39;ve expended enough syllables. Fielding is one of the extremely small group of film composers whose work is just as absorbing and memorable with or without the image. So, to all those who are interested – follow the IMDb links and search … and look and listen …u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eP.S. As a previous poster has noted, the soundtrack recording is available on a cd pairing it with the score from u0026quot;Soylent Greenu0026quot; by Fred Myrow. It was released by FSM (Film Score Monthly) on their Silver Age Classics label.”