[Blaize]

I can’t speak for “Roaring Sounds and the Earth”, but the tapes for “Castle of Flames” are lost except for some pre-scoring materials. As for “The Great Wall”, those tapes are most likely lost possibly under the same circumstances as how the tapes for Daiei Kyoto’s “Buddha” (1961) ended up lost. I’ve naturally seen all three films and I can safely say it’s a shame we don’t have tapes for them.

Regarding Ifukube’s output for Nikkatsu, the reason everything on the fourth disc of the Three Shells set was lifted from their respective films are due to the tapes for all of them being lost. An incredibly small amount of music from “Silver Suicide” (1956) and “Who Committed Murder” (1957) did make it to LP and CD before those tapes vanished. I’m actually surprised that Three Shells didn’t include them as King Records hold the LP album masters that contain that material.

Another thing I want to bring up is “The Burmese Harp” (1956). Everything on the surviving tapes (two reels if I remember correctly), were released on that set. Unfortunately, most of those cues are outtakes with some being remarkably different than the lost film takes. Something a bit unusual is the recording session date on those tapes, that date being October 29, 1957. I’ve actually been working on combining all surviving cues with all usable material from the film itself to create a more definitive presentation of the score.

You have some good choices in your list. Choices 5, 7, 8 and 9 are in need of full releases, but I feel it’s unlikely going to happen.

I’m thankful you pointed out that YouTube channel! Snippets of my favorites can be found throughout those videos! I’m glad you you have found a deeper appreciation for Ifukube and are discovering there is more to him than what many others think.