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REVIEW ARCHIVES: 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

E Ridendo L'Uccise
Ennio Morricone
Beat

Set amid royal court intrigue of the 16th Century, Florestano Vancini's 2005 film E Ridendo L'Uccise is considered by some observers to be a masterpiece. Among its fans is its illustrious composer — none other than Il Maestro Ennio Morricone.

What sounds — at first flush — a bit self-congratulatory in the composer's brief contribution in this Beat CD's liner notes is probably justified. While this reviewer hasn't had the pleasure of seeing the film, I can whole-heartedly recommend the soundtrack. It effectively transports the listener to a time and place of rarefied elegance that not only provides authentic period color but also never loses sight of plot intricacies.

In other words, Morricone provides a convincing 16th century musical backdrop that also insinuates itself into one's imagination as it pertains to indulgent royals, romantic rivalries, backstabbing siblings, and a perceived buffoon who operates imperceptively at the heart of Machiavellian machinations. Clearly, Morricone's fine score for E Ridendo L'Uccise honors what he clearly considers superior filmmaking, and it shows.

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8 1/2
Nino Rota
CAM Original Soundtracks

Fellini's brilliant and frequently imitated meditation on creativity and filmmaking features another outstanding OST by Nino Rota (conducted by Carlo Savina). Like other Rota/Fellini scores, this one has an orchestrated jazz flavor, but this one also features classical passages from Rossini, Wagner and others. Rota's theme variations range from swinging to pulsating to circus like. Originally released in 1962, the movie (named for its numeric placement in the director's ouevre) went on to win Academy Awards for Foreign Language Film and Costume Design. Sadly, its stellar soundtrack was overlooked.

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El Cisco
Bruno Nicolai
DigitMovies

In 1966 the Italian western genre really got hot with the release of Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, featuring Ennio Morricone's legendary and influential score. There were many other spaghetti westerns released that year including Sergio Bergonzelli's much lesser known El Cisco, featuring a score by Bruno Nicolai that bridges the gap between the epic Hollywood vision of the Old West and Italy's brutal revisionist treatment.

Trumpet solos, cleanly played electric guitar, Jew's harp accents, and Franco De Gemini's famous harmonica are just a few of the familiar western sounds that color this sometimes lush, sentimental score. On the other hand, the high strings that carry the main theme are more likely to remind one of a big Hollywood western.

El Cisco isn't likely to overshadow the more famous Italian western soundtracks, but it's a worthy addition to a genre that is more collectible than ever before.

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Emanuelle Perche' Violenza Alle Donna?
Nico Fidenco
Beat

Nico Fidenco Emanuelle Perche' Violenza Alle Donne? is a re-issue on Beat Records for one of the "Black Emanuelle" sleaze fests. Some of these tracks turn up on Black Emanuelle's Groove, so if you have that compilation, it isn't critical to pick this up (unless you have a thing for the women-in-bondage art work on the sleeve).

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The Enforcer
Jerry Fielding
Aleph Records

Coming out in late June of 2007 from Lalo Schifrin's Aleph Records is the world premiere of Jerry Fielding's soundtrack for the third Dirty Harry film The Enforcer ('76) — the first release on the label by a composer other than Schifrin. It was the only DH film that Fielding scored, though he was — along with Schifrin — one of Clint Eastwood's most frequent scorers during the actor's most productive period. Following The Enforcer Fielding also scored Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales ('76), The Gauntlet ('77), and shortly before the composer died, Escape from Alcatraz ('79).

Schifrin, who was unavailable for The Enforcer, scored the other four DH films, including Dirty Harry ('71), Magnum Force ('73), Sudden Impact ('83) and The Dead Pool ('88). Aleph already released the first two and allegedly plans to release the latter two (tracks from Sudden Impact can be found on Aleph's Dirty Harry Anthology and Viva's Sudden Impact and the Best of Dirty Harry and Warner Brothers' Dirty Harry compilations, but music from The Dead Pool remains unreleased).

But enough history! What about Fielding's score? So, to answer Mr. Callahan's famous question: Yes, you can feel lucky, punk — the long-awaited release of The Enforcer soundtrack is justice served. This is the sound of Fielding at his most vital and vivacious. He makes no attempt to reinvent the DH sound, and shrewdly follows Schifrin's established style for the series through the deft use of throbbing electric bass, wah guitar rhythms, percolating percussion, dissonant strings, brash brass and keyboard atmospherics. "Rooftop Chase" is the requisite bit of cop funk, but other tracks such as "Warehouse Heist" and "Alcatraz Encounter" are tenser and exercise Fielding's mastery of texture and ambience.

It's really quite apparent that Fielding is having a ball. The sound he's cooked up is by turns lean and mean, funky, swinging and — most surprisingly for a hard-as-nails cop drama — emotionally poignant. That's because he builds the score around Harry Callahan's new, ill-fated partner Inspector Kate Moore (played by Tyne Daly, who contributes to the liner notes). This feisty female match for Dirty Harry provides Fielding with an emotional focal point. That's not to say The Enforcer is soft — it's compellingly tender when it needs to be — but otherwise just as tough as anything on the series' first two soundtracks.

The Enforcer is essential listening for fans of Fielding, Schifrin, Eastwood and crime funk.

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Enter The Dragon
Lalo Schifrin
Warner Bros.

Ercole al Centro Della Terra
Armando Travajoli
DigitMovies

The fifth installment in DigitMovies' ongoing series of Mario Bava movie soundtracks is Ercole al Centro Della Terra (aka Hercules in the Haunted World, or Hercules in the Center of the Earth, '61), which is the third Hercules soundtrack in the label's catalogue (the first two by Enzo Masetti appeared on one 2CD set).

As anyone who has seen the movie knows, it isn't your usual sword and sandal (or "Peplum") epic. Steve Reeves descends into a nightmarishly surreal underworld to take on Lycos, the Lord of Darkness (played by a guy who knows a thing or two about portraying "dark lords," none other than Christopher Lee). As Bava's second official directorial effort, Haunted World is a feverish technicolor dream, and Armando Trovajoli's magical score is perfect for it.

Italian soundtrack fans who associate Trovajoli mostly with the groovy sex romps featured on the Beat at Cinecitta and Easy Tempo series are likely to be surprised by his work on Haunted World. It's spooky and strange, delirious and disorienting with one foot in the golden age of film scoring (think Universal horror) and one foot in avant-garde psychedelia. Using ominous woodwinds, shuddering strings, rumbling percussion and otherworldly effects, Trovajoli conjures the Haunted World with sorcerous sounds of beyond.

Tim Lucas of VideoWatchdog.com provides the excellent liner notes.

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Ercole Alla Conquista Di Atlantide
Gino Marinuzzi Jr.
Digitmovies

One of several Hercules flicks from the '60s, Ercole Alla Conquista Di Atlantide (aka Hercules and the Captive Women, '61) also is the fifth volume in Digitmovies' "Italian Peplum" soundtrack series.

Collectors will recognize Marinuzzi as the composer of Mario Bava's sci-fi horror film Terrore Nello Spazio (aka Planet of the Vampires, '65). Marinuzzi is noted as an electronic music expert, but most of his Hercules score uses standard acoustical orchestration. "Ercole Contro Proteo" is the exception as electronics provide monstrous shockwave sound effects against a backdrop of restless percussion for Hercules battle with a demon.

Otherwise, Marinuzzi's score is precisely what one expects of a sword and sandal epic. Percussion rumbles, brass blares, strings soar, woodwinds soothe and choirs "ooh" and "aah" at the majesty of it all. Like any good symphonic-style score, Hercules and the Captive Women transports the listener to a mythic time of magic, romance and adventure. Listen closely and one can practically follow the story without knowing the plot.

Marinuzzi's mastery of large scale orchestration and his apparent love of percussion is evident throughout the score, making Hercules and the Captive Women a captivating listen.

Other volumes in Digitmovies' "Italian Peplum" series include:

Previous Peplum volumes include Enzo Masssetti's Le Fatiche di Ercole and Ercole e la Regina di Lidia, Carlo Rustichelli's Arrivano i Titani, Piero Piccioni's Il Figlio Di Spartacus and Roberto Nicolosi's Roma Contro Roma (aka War of the Zombies). Arguably, volume five of Digitmovies' Mario Bava series, Armando Trovajoli's score for Ercole al centro della terra, also belongs in the Peplum series.

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Le Fatiche di Ercole / Ercole e La Regina di Lidia
Enzo Masetti
DigitMovies

Steve Reeves was one beefy slab of man steak. He strides through these cheesy sword-and-sandal epics like a bronzed Adonis (is there any other kind?) You might even say that Reeves was born to play Hercules. Well, why not? He makes Charles Atlas look like so much puffed chest.

Suitably, the scores that accompany these masculine fantasies are sturdy and purposeful, moving forth with a heroic purity of tone. This is golden age adventure music par excellence. Certainly there are somber moods when low brass threatens to pull the listener into murky villianous depths. But then, strings sweep in with magnificent even romantic earnestness to rescue you from the brink of some hideous fate.

Yes, it's like that.

Enzo Masetti's soundtracks for Hercules and Hercules Unchained (as they were dubbed for wholesome American consumption back in the late '50s) are presented on this two-disc offering for the first time on CD. The original LP releases blended dialogue with music (to appeal to children), but thankfully the DigitMovies release is free of grand pronouncements — except, perhaps, those made by the orchestra when horns blare and the choir "oohs" and "ahhs" with dramatic intent.

Like so many of DigitMovies releases this one features informative notes and reproductions of vintage movie posters and stills. A classy package for a couple of near classic scores from the era when heros were really fucking heroic and not some ego maniac jocks with sneaker endorsement contracts.

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The Erotic & Painful Obsessions of Jess Franco — 3 Scores by Gerhard Heinz
Gerhard Heinz
All Score

The Euro-trash soundtrack revival of the past 15 years or so began with a compilation of music from three early '70s psychedelic sexploitation movies by the notorious Jess Franco, namely Vampyros Lesbos by Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab aka The Vampires' Sound Incorporated.

The latest collection of Franco soundtracks comes from All Score Media and focuses on three scores by the flexible Gerhard Heinz from 1980-81. The movies include Lolita am Scheideweg (aka Eugenie—Histoire de una Perversion, '80), Die Sage Des Todes (aka Bloody Moon, '81), and Die Nackten Superhexen vom Rio Amore (aka Linda, '81) — sleazy stuff full of gratuitous nudity and bloodshed. What's not to love?

Not surprisingly, the music heard on The Erotic & Painful Obsessions of Jess Franco is stylistically different from the earlier compilation due to the difference of a decade and the different composer. Heinz is more keyboard-oriented than Hubler & Schwab, makes use of lush orchestration, and has a romantic streak that is absent in the Hubler & Schwab compilation.

That's not to say that Heinz doesn't lay down some seriously sinister, sexy grooves, because he certainly does ("Versuchung ouf der Terasse", "Die Sage des Todes Suite"). But there also are some super cheesy tracks ("Holiday Feeling", "Disco Nights").

In addition, there are exotic tracks reminiscent of Nico Fidenco's Black Emanuelle scores ("Gesprach am Vorhang"), some throbbing proto-techno ("Disko Alternativ") and queasy horror moods ("Bungalow 13"). Suffice it to say that Heinz demonstrates an impressive range.

Given the high quality of this 23-track compilation of previously unreleased music (on CD anyway), it should be a given that any fan of European soundtracks needs to have it and the rest of you should give it a listen as well.

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Escalation
Ennio Morricone
Digitmovies

Escalation ('68) found Ennio Morricone working with first-time director Roberto Faenza, who had no preconceived notions about what the score should sound like, according to the liner notes. This situation afforded Morricone the luxury of free experimentation, and the results are characteristically and stunningly original.

Frankly, Morricone having free reign on a project probably isn't that unusual, especially back in the heady days of the late '60s. So, it comes as no surprise to hear a track like "Dies Irae Psichedelico," which combines the famous 13th century Latin hymn ("Day of Wrath") sung by I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni with a bitchin' rock beat, sinister fuzz guitar and a cascading harmonically rich horn arrangement. While that track has turned up on plenty of compilations, the rest of this score deserves to be discovered as well.

The main theme is an elegant bossa nova featuring harpsichord, oboe, celesta, harp and guitar, as well as typically '60s wa-wa vocalisms. Morricone also explores various musical periods from baroque classical to Jazz Age swing, along with madrigals and lullabies. Naturally, this being a late '60s film, there is a fair amount of sitar noodling and experimental sound effects as well.

In other words, Escalation is yet another brilliantly varied score from Il Maestro, conducted by Bruno Nicolai, and reissued with excellent production values typical of all Digitmovies' releases.

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Agi Murad Il Diavolo Bianco /
Ester E Il Re / Gli Invasori
Roberto Nicolosi / Angelo F. Lavagnino
Digitmovies

For Digitmovies' sixth volume of Mario Bava movie soundtracks the label has excavated three historical adventure epics from the late '50s and early '60s: Agi Murad Il Diavolo Bianco (aka The White Warrior, '59), Ester E Il Re (aka Ester and the King, '60) and Gli Invasori (aka Erik the Conqueror, '61). Only one of these films, Erik, was directed solely by Bava who otherwise shared the credit with Raoul Walsh and served as cinematographer on Ester, and served as cinematographer and shadow director for Riccardo Freda on White Warrior. Lavagnino's appearance on Ester reflects the co-director credit with Walsh. Otherwise, Nicolosi was Bava's composer of choice from '59 to '64.

History aside, these scores are suitably symphonic in style, with emphasis on heroic themes featuring brass and percussion ("L'attacco dei Russi" from White Warrior) and romantic passages favoring harp, strings and woodwinds ("Una Donna Da Amare" from Ester). Occasionally, there are more mysterious moods (such as "Balletto Nel Tempio" from Ester) where female vocalisms take center stage alongside percolating percussion like something from a Les Baxter exotica record.

The best soundtrack of the three is probably Erik the Conquerer, which was made to capitalize on the popularity of the Hollywood film The Vikings. Stylistically, it's similar to White Warrior and Ester, but is more dynamic in execution and more precise in describing on-screen action. And, as Mario Bava expert Tim Lucas points out in his insightful booklet notes, Nicolosi clearly excels in scoring this type of film as opposed to Bava's early horror films. He simply captures the moods of heroism and romance better than the moods of horror and suspense.

Overall, this is a fascinating volume that includes one excellent score and two decent scores.

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Exorcist II: "The Heretic"
Ennio Morricone
Warner Music France

Experiment in Terror
Henry Mancini
RCA Spain

Mancini composed many soundtracks for Blake Edwards, including Experiment in Terror. The title is perhaps a bit misleading, since most of the soundtrack wavers between Mancini's sophisticated balladry and his take on the dance craze of the early 60s: the Twist. The best of these is the catchy title track, which gets two distinctively different treatments, a twist and a tension builder. There are a couple of later tracks, including "Teen-age Hostage", that repeat the tension-building motif from the title track; but aside from these cuts, there is very little in the way of terror.

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