 In 1955, Cordell left the BBC to become musical director of HMV Records, known subsequently as EMI, a post held until 1962 when he decided to become a full-time film composer, and scored the music for the film "The Captain's Table" (1959).In the early 1960s, he divorced Magda who went with McHale to America.Cordell married his second wife, Anja, whom he met on film location in Japan while doing the music score for the film "Flight from Ashiya" (1964).