Ferde Grofe, one of America's great composers, was somehow persuaded by Lippert Productions to write the music score for their low budget production of ROCKETSHIP X-M. It is a wonderful operatic score, because RXM, after all, is a space opera. The main title is heroic in nature; the weightless music conveys that feeling perfectly, and there is a lovely tune, begun by a solo violin, that suits Lisa and Floyd's mild flirtations perfectly( very similar to THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY by Tiomkin, but written two years earlier). When the ship approaches and lands on Mars, the theremin is included in the orchestration for music that truly sounds alien. As the crew faces doom as they attempt to return to earth, the music takes on very dramatic moods. The picture's music ends with an upbeat Hollywood thrust. This is truly one of the outstanding sci-fi scores, and except for an original soundtrack LP album on the Starlog label (released in the 1970s) it has been virtually ignored. This score deserves a new and updated recording.
Review of Rocketship X-M
