Christopher Lee had not achieved star recognition until appearing in Hammer Film Productions' late-1950s remakes of classic Hollywood monster movies, such as Dracula and the Mummy. The popularity of these flicks ignited increased production of genre movies in Italy, with its eye cast toward acquiring international talent and distribution.
Christopher Lee, not wishing to be type-cast in vampire films, temporarily reduced his Hammer assignments during the early 1960s and accepted work in other countries' cinema.
As early as 1959, after Lee had appeared in THE MUMMY, he surfaced in a Franco-Italian parody TEMPI DURI PER I VAMPIRI (UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE). After this, Lee had worked in West Germany, Italy, Spain, and later on in France, too.
This article will focus on five Italian productions (or co-productions) which were scored by Italian composers and whose sound recordings have been issued onto soundtrack albums.
ERCOLE AL CENTRO DELLA TERRA (aka HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD), premiered November 16, 1961
This Mario Bava-directed Peplum merges the sword-and-sandals genre with the fantastique. Composer Armando Trovajoli inherited the assignment to score this movie via the film producer, for whom Trovajoli had scored a previous Hercules opus.
For this "haunted world", Trovajoli achieves a Herculean feat himself by seamlessly weaving standard genre trappings into a consistently atmospheric whole. Epic elements are co-mingled with other-worldly elements. The heroic cohabits with the hallucinogenic.
Indeed, the most remarkable facet about this soundtrack is how Trovajoli captures a proto-psychedelic sound world (years before psychedelia existed in pop music) utilizing ordinary acoustic musical instruments. Cascading harps (at times with an offstage echo) with sustained organ chords and a number of percussion effects lend much of the dream-like qualities into the overall fabric of customary strings and woodwinds. The brassy fanfares, at times accompanied by low-end piano ostinatos, are reminiscent of Gerald Fried's late-1950s genre scores, though this is likely more coincidence than in any way derivative.
LA VERGINE DI NORIMBERGA, premiered August 15, 1963
Composer Riz Ortolani must have been really ... inspired ... by leading actress Rossana Podesta, for Ortolani belts out a saucy big band tune as if he was scoring THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER instead of a B-movie. It's a catchy theme, to be sure, and it's probably the main reason why C.A.M. released THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBURG soundtrack on vinyl (at the time, albums for such horror, sci-fi and/or fantasy pictures were extremely rare).
Younger audiences will likely not connect with the post-WW II/pre-rock aesthetic which informs Ortolani's approach. They may be in good company, though, because it is doubtful that the opera-loving Christopher Lee (who praises the 1959 THE MUMMY score by Franz Reizenstein) would think highly of this Ortolani opus.
To Ortolani's credit, his more descriptive music to underscore the suspense passages avoids any Germanic late-Romanticism a la Golden Age Hollywood and looks forward a bit towards some of the Australian thrillers scored by Brian May. Still, if one does not prefer to have scenes of Iron Maidens and other devices of torture to be underscored by something which might sound like it came from THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, then one can very well pass on this VIRGIN.
As if the theater screens of Italy weren't satisfied with only one movie with Christopher Lee in August of '63, here's another ...
LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO (aka THE WHIP AND THE BODY), premiered August 29, 1963
If Ortolani had referred back to the pre-rock big band era in the previous entry, then Carlo Rustichelli reaches even further backwards in time to the late-Romantic idiom circa 1890s with his "Windsor Concerto" as the main theme for LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO.
Christopher Lee is at it again in a Mario Bava flick, except this time in THE WHIP AND THE BODY Lee engages in S&M with the lovely Daliah Lavi instead of grappling with Hercules.
Rustichelli's unabashedly fervid melody for piano and orchestra is better suited to this film's period setting and lurid content than any jazz could ever be. Nevertheless, this showpiece of a theme is over-ripe from the start, with respect to its heart-on-sleeve romanticism, and requires judicial restraint to prevent over-staying its welcome. However, the "Windsor Concerto" is reiterated at least 7 times throughout the score's duration to the point of over-indulgence. Like eating a box full of chocolates in a single sitting, either one purrs like a satisfied cat afterwards or else one wretches as a result of the gorging (depending upon one's sensibilities and internal constitution).
Speaking for myself, I've had enough of this so-called concerto after its 3rd rendition by track #5 that I skip past subsequent reoccurrences to listen to the quasi-atonal crypt-like atmospherics (which harvest greater aural intrigue with their mercurial shifts in tones).
I feel the Windsor Concerto would be better described as a romance for piano & orchestra. It is, in essence, an orchestral song and does not possess the developed movements found in a real concerto, such as the Allegro, Scherzo, Andante, Cadenza, etc.
FYI, portions of Rustichelli's score for LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO, like the "night" music and the "terror" music were recycled into Mario Bava's 1966 OPERAZIONE PAURA (aka KILL BABY, KILL), demonstrating how pliant Rustichelli's suspense music could be, bereft of its Windsor Concerto.
LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO (aka CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE), premiered May 27, 1964
We progress onwards with more movie music by a Carlo, only this time around it's not by Rustichelli - it's by Carlo Savina.
Even in this Italian-language print, the beginning credits lists the composer as Herbert Buckman (an Anglicized pseudonym for Carlo Savina). Gratitude is due to the Carlo Savina Estate and the Digitmovies label for making available on CD this curio (which doesn't appear to have been released theatrically in the U.S.A., to my knowledge).
Perhaps LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO's early attempt to associate vampirism with lesbianism was still too taboo in 1964 to allow for any significant distribution. Had this CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE been made a half-dozen years later (after the MPAA commenced application of its rating system in 1968), it could have been a contemporaneous companion piece to items such as DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS and Hammer's THE VAMPIRE LOVERS.
The subject matter may also have been the reason why Mr. Savina elected to compose textural music for this picture in contrast to the more typical narrative-driven musical depictions. In other words, Savina's music does not describe story plot points so much as provide still portraits of moods.
Whether intentionally or unwittingly, Savina's music for LA CRIPTA emerges as one of the most modern film scores in its resemblance to late-1950s academic trends, such sonorism and musique concrete and the avant-garde. Even more so than Trovajoli's HERCULES score, Savina's relies greatly upon pitch modulations from the keyboard and percussion instruments to an extent that the accumulations and relaxations of intensity function just as much as the underscore as the orchestrations.
The performing ensemble is made of acoustic instruments; sporadically a Theremin-type sound occurs (like a singing saw). Yet, these instrumental sounds can achieve, at times, effects similar to concert works with magnetic tape or radiophonic collage.
Another similarity LA CRIPTA shares with ERCOLE is the occasional love theme, which provides respite (however brief) from the atmospheric tensions. The string section comes forth, typically accompanied by a woodwind, to take a spotlight for a minute or two. One aspect, fortunately, which LA CRIPTA does not need to contend with is the obligatory brassy fanfares (as ERCOLE requires as a matter of convention).
IL CASTELLO DEI MORTI VIVI (aka CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD), premiered August 5, 1964
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD treads upon similar aural territory as Trovajoli's HERCULES and Savina's CRYPT, namely to produce forward-thinking psychedelic sounds from lower-budget resources. Lavagnino's music for IL CASTELLO DEI MORTI VIVI may not be as deliriously hallucinogenic as the other two are, but Lavagnino the melodist proved himself to be 'up to the task' of delivering "chiller" music when the situation arose.
There's more thematic variety within this Lavagnino score, as is to be expected from a senior practitioner of the art. Lavagnino provides a caravan-like theme for the traveling acting troupe. Elsewhere, he surprises us with some strident musical "stings". The score's overall disposition is to be less hypnotic in effect and more astringent.
Lavagnino accomplishes the task via a Stravinskian-type chamber orchestra. Curiously, the ensemble is augmented with anachronistic electric bass guitar (the film is set in the early 1800s) and bongo drums, lending a "mod" feeling to the proceedings not unlike Jerry Goldsmith's TV scores for THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
This CASTELLO soundtrack almost screams "nineteen-sixty-four" despite the flick's Napoleonic time frame.
This picture was also the first feature film credit for Donald Sutherland, who had started out doing episodic British television, and within this movie Sutherland plays 3 different characters (one in drag portraying a elderly female witch!).
Both Christopher Lee and Donald Sutherland worked next on DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, the first of Amicus Productions' horror anthologies.
With Amicus, Christopher Lee received additional work in England and resumed assignments for Hammer with more frequency. Lee's "comeback" (so-to-speak) in the U.K. meant that his half-dozen years' flirtation with Italy comes to an end.
In summary, here's how I rank these 5 soundtracks:
FOUR CHEESE PASTA FLORENTINE
1. LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO 2. ERCOLE AL CENTRO DELLA TERRA 3. IL CASTELLO DEI MORTI VIVI
THREE GLASSES OF ETNA ROSSO SAN LORENZO
4. LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO
TWO HAZELNUT GELATOS
5. LA VERGINE DI NORIMBERGA
Interestingly, LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO and IL CASTELLO DEI MORTI VIVI were both made in 1964, both in black-and-white, both conducted by Carlo Savina, & both had their world-premiere soundtrack album CDs released in 2011 by Digitmovies ...
...what can we expect in the future from Digitmovies?
Excellent work, agent Tone. I never got around to seeing any of Lee's Italian horrors (they were never on the telly when I was a kid), nor have I ever delved very deeply into the scores, but I did like your descriptions.
Good stuff Tonerow I enjoy all those ones especially the atmosphere of Trovajoli's score
1. ERCOLE AL CENTRO DELLA TERRA 2. LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO 3. I LUNGHI CAPELLI DELLA MORTE (Rustichelli score I like better the one Lee should have been in
Really hope that Digit can exhume a few more scores like those ones maybe with a bit of luck we will get Piccioni's Il Demonio before the year is out.
Feel the same way about Rustichelli's La Frusta E il Corpo it needs some kind of editing down he is still a bit of a hit or miss by me two of his that I love that have got a lot of play by me lately are Delitto D'Amore and Amici Miei.
Thanks from me, too. Sold me on La cripta, have to check that one out (I imagine film-wise though La frusta is the best of the lot?)
Hi, Mr. Drive.
There's no sound samples for LA CRIPTA that I could find, so that YouTube video will have to serve for the present. I actually quite like LA CRIPTA from what I have seen of it despite its poor reputation.
IL CASTELLO is regarded more highly, according to some authors.
LA FRUSTA is now regarded as one of Mario Bava's best films, though only since its restoration around 1999 or 2000. Before LA FRUSTA's DVD debut, though, most people (including myself) have never seen it.
Bava's HERCULES is, too me, much better that I ever expected (having only just watched it this past Saturday).
The only one which I would not recommend is LA VERGINE...
Excellent work, agent Tone. I never got around to seeing any of Lee's Italian horrors (they were never on the telly when I was a kid), nor have I ever delved very deeply into the scores, but I did like your descriptions.
Hi, Graham.
Hope you will delve a little further now into early '60s Italian soundtracks.
This is perhaps my favorite period of Italian scores - the pre-Ennio Morricone era.
Good stuff Tonerow I enjoy all those ones especially the atmosphere of Trovajoli's score
1. ERCOLE AL CENTRO DELLA TERRA 2. LA CRIPTA E L'INCUBO 3. I LUNGHI CAPELLI DELLA MORTE (Rustichelli score I like better the one Lee should have been in
Really hope that Digit can exhume a few more scores like those ones maybe with a bit of luck we will get Piccioni's Il Demonio before the year is out.
Feel the same way about Rustichelli's La Frusta E il Corpo it needs some kind of editing down he is still a bit of a hit or miss by me two of his that I love that have got a lot of play by me lately are Delitto D'Amore and Amici Miei.
Thanks, wayoutwest.
I passed over that Rustichelli title when it appeared and didn't give it a second thought until now. Just realized this is from a Barbara Steele movie that I haven't seen.
YouTube clips have been added on 4 of the 5 titles on page 1.
These YT videos are uploads of individual CD tracks, which can help those unacquainted with the material to hear a little bit on what I have written about.
They're basically sound samples for Digitmovies CDs which didn't have sound samples prior to being posted onto YouTube.
This article will focus on five Italian productions (or co-productions) which were scored by Italian composers and whose sound recordings have been issued onto soundtrack albums.
Jackpot (1992) is a bizarre Italian sf/comedy movie directed dy Mario Orfini and played by Lee and Adriano Celentano. Soundtrack is based on oldies by Glenn Miller.
HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD-63-Years ago was shown often. like so many of those action films from Italy during that period a lot in syndication, However by the later 70's it got rare showings and cable pretty much has ignored it.This was basically the same case for WHAT,TERROR IN THE CRYPT, AND CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD. All three got shown often on local TV stations in America in the late 60's and 70's. But has been ignore on cable, Thank God for video and DVD.However it was a nice surprise to see HORROR CASTLE get a cable showing in 07 once.
I contemplated last year spelling Italy as EE-TAL-LEE, but chose the formal spelling as the content of my thread is obscure enough on its own without my puns.
Good to check out this thread again the music in the clips and those scores are to die for I'm surprised that there is not more interest in this thread this music is very seductive to my ears irresistible.
Would love to play this music at a funeral parlor if I was the director.
