Elfman made no secret of his disgust with "action films" when questioned over Batman Returns and his relationship with Burton (all appears to have changed since, with Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow, although the degree of "action" they contain in comparison with Batman Returns is an arguable point). He is reported to have said:

I don't want to write music that will compete with an opera (!!) of sound effects. Contemporary dubs to my ears are getting busier and more shrill every year. The dubbers actually think they are doing a great job for the music if a crescendo or horn blast occasionally pops through the wall of sound.⁷

A possible explanation for why he has intermittently returned to the loud blockbusters of the nineties (one that might attract him more than the prospect of further money and big-name directors) is his adoption of the MIDI soundworld, with its capacity for sampling sounds which might give the "action" score an edge over invading sound effects and poor dubbing. However, in Batman Returns the so-called standard orchestra with some novel extras (such as wordless chorus, celesta, xylophone and harp) holds sway, and yes, it might lack some of the punch which more recent scores have dealt.

I have a problem with this accusation, though. Perhaps because of my interest in the composer I may be mistaken, but I assure any readers who are not familiar with both films (there must be a deaf-blind hermit with a Braille-directed Internet-accessed computer out there somewhere who has an interest in film music) that the soundtrack on Batman is of distinctly inferior quality to that of its sequel. In fact Batman Returns has one of the most audible musical scores of any movie of its time. Its themes are both distinct and recognisable; it is heard above dialogue (miraculously, considering the second movie had a LOT of snappy lines and denser plot); and benefits from fewer sound-effects-driven action scenes. In my view Elfman's comments should have been directed towards his music's treatment in the first movie: the only reason it can be heard and so readily remembered there is because its sound is so strikingly original and so loud in the dense use of orchestral forces. Furthermore, the orchestration in Batman may have caused great interest and excitement among soundtrack fans (myself included) but in retrospect it is full of easily muddied textures, and clouded by loud and unsubtle vocal and effects soundtracks, which leave it a shadow of its glorious CD self. What lets Batman Returns down is its performance by an orchestra of contracted musicians - uncredited, and therefore highly unlikely to be a regular performing orchestra.⁸ This is incontrast to Batman's usage of The Sinfonia of London Orchestra: committed and virtuoso playing (and conducting, through the now recognised Shirley Walker) which somehow makes sense of the first movie's cacophony of sound.

In Batman Returns both Elfman and the mixers appear to have learned their lessons: in Elfman's case there is a new sense of transparency to the music which follows along the lines of the clearer textures of Beetlejuice. In addition, the image-to-music synchronisation could scarcely have been bettered, although a few moments such as the taking of Gotham's first-borns hint at the odd wrangle (the CD's excellent transition from Penguin to plot is marred in the film by clumsy editing).

In his Film Score Monthly interview Elfman claims:

An audience very seldom realizes when they're hearing a terrible score, any more than they realize when they're watching terrible editing. If they could magically see a scene edited much better, they would notice the difference, and likewise, if they could suddenly, magically see the same scene with a very effective score, they would find themselves unconsciously more involved.⁹

It really is such a pity we do not have a soundtrack-only option for the DVD format, given that the sound is so well difined. However, what we do have is a good CD release, which, I concluded, fails to confirm Elfman's views on the matter. The sound on both is brilliant, if sometimes lacking a little bass, and as for the film, the score appears to dominate the proceedings rather than be hidden by them: this is pure fantasy, and in fantasy the music is a primary source of escapism's anchor. Contrary to Elfman's statement, it appears that Burton after all knew what he was doing.

7 Film Score Monthly #64 December 1995
8 Batman Returns' end credits read: "Music Produced by Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek; Orchestrator Steve Barkek; Conductor Jonathon Sheffer; Music Recording Engineer Shawn Murphy; Additional Orchestrations Mark McKenzie; 'Face to Face' Words and Music by Danny Elfman and Siouxsie & The Banshees"
9 Film Score Monthly #64 December 1995