In 1964, William Holden, Susannah York and Capucine starred in this movie set in the jungles. According to Wikipedia, "Three friends who fought the Japanese in Malaya during World War II end up on opposing sides in the Communist insurgency following the war. Ferris (William Holden) becomes a prosperous rubber plantation owner, while his mistress Dhana (Capucine) is now head of a schoolteacher's union. The third, former guerrilla Ng (Tetsuro Tamba), goes to Moscow to obtain an education. He returns an even more committed revolutionary than during the war, and Dhana is torn between the two men.
"Ferris, whose friendship with Ng makes him and his holdings immune from attack, tries to steer clear of the conflict, but he is inexorably drawn in when Dhana is arrested and sentenced to death for carrying explosives for the insurgents. As an additional complication, Candace Trumpey (Susannah York), the daughter of the British Resident whom Ferris had met at the end of the war, is infatuated with the worldly Ferris. Candace, naive, offers herself as a hostage and falls into Ng's hands; he threatens to kill her if the sentence on Dhana is carried out. Ferris offers to flush Ng out in exchange for Dhana's life, but he is given only seven days to do so."
The music score is what I remember best about this film. It registered very strongly with me at the time, and I still find it interesting to listen to. Ortolani was melodically gifted, as well as complex in his writing.
Per Wikipedia: "The film's score was composed by Riz Ortolani following the popularity of his score for Mondo Cane that was released in the US in 1963. The theme song The Seventh Dawn was sung by The Lettermen on the movie soundtrack. Their version can be reviewed on YouTube.[5] Sergio Franchi recorded the song on a 1964 single – RCA 47-8409[6] and Roland Shaw provided an instrumental cover version."
Does anyone know, absolutely and definitively, if he pronounced his first name “Ritz” or “Rizz”? The first one sounds much better, and is how I’ve thought of it forever. The second way kind of becomes Resort O’Larney, which sounds like an Irish seaside town.
I see that Kino are releasing the film on Blu-ray on 11th January. The album soundtrack was in the FSM MGM box set, I'll have to dig it out & listen to it again (I did see & enjoy the film at the cinema a lifetime ago).
His full name is Riziero. Aint no T in there, is there? You see a T there, tall one? Lol
And his Daughter's name is... Rizia.
At a glance, I thought you wrote “Rizla”… (see telegraphed joke below)
After searching the web for almost fifteen seconds, I found a pronunciation site (Forvo) which confirms that you pronounce Riziero with something that could either be a T or a D - but definitely not just a Z.
And so his daughter would be “Ritzia” or “Ridzia” - for preference there isn’t a fagpaper between them - both of which sound better than rhyming with “fizzier”.
One of the pleasures of Ron’s gentle stroll down memory lane has been the references by others to unfamiliar scores and themes from the same composer. So thank you Ron, and thanks also to Joan and Bill.
I won’t watch Cannibal Holocaust again. Gruesome. However, the opening theme is lovely, especially when the strings come in at 1:51. I think Josh and I discussed this at one time. I wondered why would such a bloody movie with such a lovely theme? Josh mentioned its ironic usage.
Does anyone know, absolutely and definitively, if he pronounced his first name “Ritz” or “Rizz”? The first one sounds much better, and is how I’ve thought of it forever. The second way kind of becomes Resort O’Larney, which sounds like an Irish seaside town.
Italians do not pronounce the "z" as we Americans do. The "i" also has an "ee" pronunciation. So, "Riz" would sound like "Reetz".
- both of which sound better than rhyming with “fizzier”.
