Cover art for CD

La-La Land Records and Sony Music have teamed up for the release of a remastered and expanded digital recording of Dimitri Tiomkin’s score for 55 Days at Peking on a double CD set. The 1963 Samuel Bronston Production, directed by Nicholas Ray, stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven in an historical epic set during the Boxer Rebellion in China around 1900.

Buy the CD from La-La Land Records

Buy the CD from Screen Archives Entertainment

The soundtrack includes previously unreleased music as well as music that was not used in the film. Both Tiomkin’s music score and the song, “So Little Time,” received nominations for Academy Awards. Lyricist Paul Francis Webster supplied the words for “So Little Time,” also known as “The Peking Theme.” Vocalist Andy Williams can be heard singing the song in the “Exit Music.” The bonus tracks include single play or extended play versions for several pieces.

The recording was produced by veteran soundtrack producer Didier C. Deutsch and Mark G. Wilder. Wilder mastered the music using elements from the Sony Music vault. The 24-page booklet contains in-depth liner notes by Frank K. DeWald, who also provided the notes for the Prometheus Records release of Fall of the Roman Empire. Sample tracks for 55 Days at Peking can be heard at both La-La Land Records and Screen Archives Entertainment. The limited edition release is catalog number LLLCD 1184. Both “55 Days at Peking” and “The Peking Theme (So Little Time)” appear in the Dimitri Tiomkin Anthology.