The Last Flight of Noah's Ark

Maurice Jarre returned to Disney for his second score at the studio, six years after 1974's The Island At The Top Of The World. Unlike his first assignment, which had been an adult adventure, The Last Flight Of Noah's Ark (1980) was a comedy adventure intended for a younger audience.

Jarre's music had to speak to children, so his score is necessarily eclectic, sometimes broad, and always heartfelt. Jarre scored his music for a large orchestra featuring nine percussionists as well as additional brass that included both baritone horns and euphonium (small tuba). He then added Yamaha E-70 keyboards, three pianos, steel and electric guitars and one harmonica to his growing ensemble. To bring ethnic color to the Japanese elements of the tale, Jarre added koto, samisen and shakuhachi into the mix. Then, when the instrumentalists were fully assembled, he added still further to his group by bringing in a large chorus for some key moments.

To capture everything in the new digital format, Disney's scoring crew synchronized two separate 16-track digital recorders to facilitate capturing 32-channels of information. The studio maintained everything intact in their vaults and during May of 2006, updated paperwork and digital transfers of the elements into newer storage methods, preserving all 32 channels of information right down to the smallest percussion detail. It's all here in crisp, detailed sound for the first time, closing out the Jarre chapter at Disney.

In The Last Flight of Noah's Ark, Elliot Gould plays Noah Dugan, a cynical pilot up to his neck in debt who reluctantly takes on the job of flying missionary Bernadette Lafleur (Bujold) and an aging aircraft full of animals to Hawaii. During the departure, two young orphans, Bobby (Ricky Schroder) and Julie (Tammy Lauren) stow away on the aircraft, but the rust-bucket airplane goes off course during the night and Dugan crash lands on an uncharted tropical island with his cargo of people and animals.