It was a Solid Killing Match

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Monty on the beach

Delia created music and effects known as "It was a Solid Killing Match" for a 55-minute[1] BBC film Monty Returns to El Alamein, an outside broadcast for TV produced by Ray Colley[2] for which the "Film and music editor" credit goes to Norman Matthews[3] but Delia is never mentioned.

In the programme, Field Marshall Montgomery returns to the battle fields of El Alamein and describes the conditions they lived through and the tactics used to win this key battle of World War II. He also mentions his view of “national and personal tastes in fighting” in which “Australians like a "solid killing match".”[4]

The programme is the cover story of Radio Times issue #2292 for programmes broadcast from 14-20th Oct 1967[5] and its catalogue entry at the Imperial War Museum reads:

Main title: MONTY RETURNS TO EL ALAMEIN
Catalogue number: PMM 16
Production date: 1967-10-19
Place made: GB
Creator: BBC Television (Production company)
         Colley, Ray (Production individual)

Track list

The film contains the following music and composited effects. The dissolvences and scene changes are obviously Delia's work; other parts may be hers or may have been assembled by the film and sound editor.

  • 00:15-01:44 Intro

It Was a Solid Killing Match - Intro - Spectrogram.jpg

  • 02:46-05:34 It Was A Solid Killing Match

The accompanying video alternates between scenes of Cairo and scenes of marching Nazis, followed by war scenes and finally shots of the dead. It Was a Solid Killing Match - Spectrogram.jpg

  • 12:46-13:08 Dissolvence

It Was a Solid Killing Match - Dissolvence - Spectrogram.jpg

  • 17:35-17:43 Dissolvence (same as before, but worse quality)
  • 22:49-24:16 A Tremendous Artillery Crash

It Was a Solid Killing Match - A Tremendous Artillery Crash - Spectrogram.jpg

  • 36:10-36.20 Tel-el-Aqqaqir scene change

It Was a Solid Killing Match - Tel-el-Aqqaqir scene change - Spectrogram.jpg

  • 43:32-43:53 Rommel Smashed in Battle (also present at the end of the Intro)

It Was a Solid Killing Match - Rommel Smashed in Battle - Spectrogram.jpg

Availability

  • Broadast on the 19th October 1967 on BBC1.[4][5][6]
  • The BBC Sound Archive tape TRW 6718 is missing.[2]
  • The copy on 16mm film at the Imperial War Museum[1] has been digitized[7] but is not among those viewable on their web site. You may be able to make an appointment to view it in person at the IWM in London.[8]
  • A torrent has appeared of the IWM copy.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Monty Returns to El Alamein on film.iwmcollections.org.uk
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Tape Library List's entry for TRW 6718.
  3. The credits at the end of the film.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Monty Returns To El Alamein on iwm.org.uk
  5. 5.0 5.1 The entry for Radio Times #2292 on radiotimesbacknumbers.com
  6. Monty Returns to El Alamein on the BBC Genome Project.
  7. Personal communication.
  8. film.iwmcollections.org.uk's "Contact us" page