One of the best (and personal favorite) soundtracks for any sci-fi film in this era of cinematography!!!

One of Barry's very best! 1979 was an incredible year for space-themed scores.

I don't know this movie, but to this day, I haven't heard any work from John Barry that I didn't love instantly! This man was a musical genius and each of his compositions have his own unique style.

Wonderful music by Barry and an excellent epic overture and main title. All of the hallmarks of John Barry are there. I actually have this on vinyl. An interesting film that was ultimately undone by having too many writers and being Disney. Its premise (the drones -no spoilers!) would have made an interesting sf-horror film though! Thank you for another great suite of music by the legend that is John Barry.

I still recall seeing this in the theater when I was 13. And this was Disney Studio's first PG release (those who know the movie can figure out why it was not G, haha). Barry's title theme is so effective here because it is repetitive like a circle, almost like a vortex. Wikipedia says that this score was the first to be recorded digitally. This film has a good ensemble cast, plus the voices of Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens which add such charm and fun to the robot characters. Man, talk about two distinct and memorable Hollywood voices.

Hi, Fred! In a distant era, when composers had style, the British John Barry, if not highly experimental and daring like Vangelis or Goldsmith, was the one who achieved the best results with little more than the orchestra. But mark well: the efficient mix of adventure & suspense in " The Black Hole " is one of the last gasps of a John Barry that, gradually, would become another John Barry. Afterwards, the vibrant and vigorous composer of 60s and 70s would only exist in a few more films of 007 by contractual forces. The Barry of the following years, after two divorces, plus the premature death of his brother Patrick ( who would encourage him to use important brass instruments in his future orchestrations ) and, worse, a serious 12- months hospitalization due the poisoning by caustic substances, which took him 30 surgeries and two cardiac arrests, would become increasingly quiet, meditative and melancholy, reflecting the state of mind in projects chosen according to his new way of looking at life . This, of course, would lead to having several of your scores rejected ( " Cotton Club ", " The Golden Child ", " Prince of Tides "... ) among other unsatisfactory results. The outstanding composer of " Zulu "( 1964 ) and " The Man With the Golden Gun " ( 1974 ) was one; from the mid- 70s onwards, it was another, with a view that reached an unreachable part of the horizon. Well... Thanks again, Fred, and nice weekend!!

Apparently, when George Lucas was looking for a studio to pitch his 'Star Wars' idea, he approached Disney first since he loved the company's previous films and animation, but Disney executives rejected his script and idea because they felt that sci-fi and space fantasy films were not profitable. So, he went to 20th Century Fox instead and the rest is box office and merchandising history. 'The Black Hole' was Disney's attempt to cash in on the massive and global box office success of 'Star Wars', but 'The Black Hole' turned out to be a costly box office flop. However, it did receive two Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects and it has a bit of a cult following. Like many people commenting here, I'm a huge fan of the movie despite some of its shortcomings and one can appreciate how ambitious the movie was in terms of special effects, production design, and of course, John Barry's fantastic score which really carries the movie.

One of my absolute favorites! Thank you so much for putting this together!

Along with Berry's "Raise The Titanic" score, this one ranks pretty high on my list of all-time favorites. And I remember seeing this movie at a one-screen theater on the last base where my father was stationed (Brunswick Naval Air Station) and enjoying it. Though the scene with the red robot (Max-something) in "hell" sort of freaked me out.

Thanks Soundtrack Fred! This video answers my question on one of your other OST videos about any Barry postings by you. I have both the original vinyl & complete cd versions of this. John Barry is my favorite film composer. While The Black Hole is certainly one of his top scores, I believe OHMSS and Dances With Wolves are his masterpieces. I have more of Barry's scores in my collection than any other film composer. Thanks again from Joe in Chicago!

The Black Hole along with Moonraker with Roger Moore and Time After Time with Malcolm McDowell are the most underappreciated films of all time and I really love The Black Hole so much. The Black Hole as well as Moonraker and Time After Time are all way more better films than any Star Wars film made after 1983's Return of the Jedi, Star Wars was never the same after 1983, and The Black Hole is a very underrated and brilliant sci-fi Disney film. The Black Hole just like Moonraker both had great music scores by John Barry, Dr. Hans Reinhardt and Maximilian were both excellent villains, and Roddy McDowall as V.I.N.CENT was a very good robot character. I also love both Moonraker and Time After Time. Moonraker is a very underappreciated and awesome Roger Moore bond film, Moonraker is one of my absolute favorite James Bond films, and Time After Time was brilliant time travel film with Malcolm McDowell. Overall, I always loved The Black Hole, Moonraker, and Time After Time from 1979, John Barry was a great music composer for The Black Hole and Moonraker, and The Black Hole along with Moonraker and Time After Time are all brilliant cult classic 1979 films.

"Into the Hole". I am sure Disney would not approve of that title lol. Saw this twice in 79. It also ran the trailer for TESB. I liked The Black Hole. A bit of silly sci fi action post STAR WARS. We were 12yo so it suited us down to the ground.

I love John Barry's score for 'The Black Hole' and I have it on vinyl LP both sealed and used as well as on CD, not to mention the movie on DVD as well as a digest version on Super 8 mm film which is fun to watch on a Super 8 sound projector. Thanks for posting this magnificent score, Soundtrack Fred. :)

Very James Bond like.

El soundtrack completo del "Abismo Negro" (The Black Hole) es una verdadera obra maestra de JOHN BARRY...!!! 🙏 📖 🍷 Lamentablemente está joya no ha recibido el reconocimiento que merece. 🔎 ✨ 💎

I didn't know the movie, but it's very interesting!

In Walt Disney’s production of “The Black Hole” (1979) an exploratory ship discovers a black hole and a lost ship, just outside its event horizon. The crew decides to go aboard the abandoned ship and is welcomed by its captain, the only one there, who seems to hide a mystery… Starring Anthony Perkins, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Forster, Ernest Borgnine and Maximilian Schell “The Black Hole” is a very entertaining and well made sci-fi adventure from the beginning of the new age of sci-fi-cinema, at the end of the 70s for young and old. Musical support is given by no less than John Barry, who composed a handful of wonderful themes, including a flourishing overture and a main title that hypnotically sucks you in, as the black... The recording you are listening to, wrote a little bit of film music history itself, at least by technical view: It was the first digital recorded soundtrack, ever. Enjoy!

There are two soundtracks of John Barry that hold special places in my heart : The Black Hole and Star Crash. I grew up around the time Star Wars came out and all the space opera wannabes that followed. I went to see every single one. While many of them were weak or poor, their soundtracks were awesome and this is one of the very best of them.

Grazie Fred.😀 Grandissimo John Barry!👏🏻 Il film non l'ho ancora visto, ma desidero molto vederlo. Ho ascoltato in molte occasioni la colonna sonora. I viaggi e i pericoli spaziali sono tra i miei temi preferiti! Ampiamente riconosciuto come la risposta della Disney a "Star Wars", il film fu la pellicola più costosa mai prodotta dalla Disney a quell'epoca. Ottenne due nomination ai premi Oscar 1979 (per la fotografia e per gli effetti speciali). Questo film, valutato PG (parental guidance suggested) dall'MPAA, portò la Disney alla sperimentazione di film orientati a un pubblico più adulto, cosa che portò alla creazione della Touchstone Pictures per trattare film considerati di natura troppo matura per portare il marchio Walt Disney. Il film è stato distribuito più volte in VHS e in DVD + il merchandising. Anche se all'epoca non fu un enorme successo, negli anni ha prodotto una schiera di grandi appassionati.

Disney Pictures very first PG film (1979). pew pew...I'm a nerd.

The first digital soundtrack, if I’m not mistaken.

I seen this movie back in 1979, bought the album a few years later, then cd years after that. Is there an "expanded" edition of this? 🙂 Because of this movie, and 1980's Somewhere In Time, is probably the reason he couldn't do the 1981 James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only". Bill Conti did a great job on that one!

On a slightly related soundtrack note, a new ballet based on the classic film "The Red Shoes" has a score using music of Bernard Herrmann. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rNGKnKSTt7eXp4k.html It's the only show where people go *IN* whistling the tunes. 😸

Please can you upload the Original Soundtrack of the movie "hotel Paradiso"

A tip of the hat to Fred and his dedication to the complete complete library of film scores, however worthy. Thank you! But as for this flick... Awful film. Just...awful. It was 1979 and Disney was 25 years behind the times. Though it was unintentional, Black Hole is essentially a cheap remake of Forbidden Planet (1955) - itself a setting of Shakespeare's The Tempest - now set on a spaceship at the edge of a black hole that really plays no role in the plot at all. Others see similarities to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In actuality, development of Black Hole predates Star Wars as a glam on to the disaster movie trend of the early and mid-70s - Poseidon Adventure in Space, or something. And a disaster it is. Whatever its inspiration, it is anything but original. Black Hole was proof that by 1979 Disney as a creative force was utterly spent, the film and its title metaphors for the disposition of the studio's once mighty creative abilities. On the plus side, John Barry came up with a dramatic, pulsing theme that makes the opening credits the best part of the movie. But in his usual fashion he could not develop it further. The march, on the other hand, is as cheesy as it gets and completely out of place. Most of the rest is the usual "sounds like James Bond" stuff, the black hole of Barry's compositional abilities that he could never really escape. I imagine that had he written music for a rom-com set in a little cafe in Provence, it still would sound like James Bond. [Enter spy chord here]. It all was fine for this turkey, but it is hardly more inspired than the eyes pasted on the faces of the film's comic-relief, Star Wars rip-off "droids". Barry = Zulu - still his GOAT.

Good Soundtrack, weak movie.

Good score! Revisited the film last week and it's aged poorly. Visually, love the design. But wooden acting. Clunky dialogue. This film would benefit greatly from a reboot, which is kind of the only thing modern Disney is capable of these days

Pretty ordinary.