| Digitmovies releases for the first time on CD as volume XVII
of the series dedicated to the Italian Peplum soundtracks the
OSTs by Francesco De Masi from the following movies:
Maciste Nelle Miniere Di Re Salomone directed in 1964 by
Piero Regnoli and starring Reg Park, one of the most famous
faces of of the Italian Peplum as the mighty Maciste, and
in supporting roles Wandisa Guida, Eleonora Bianchi, Nino
Persello, Bruno Scipioni, Carlo Tamberlani, Bruno Piergentili,
Loris Loddi.
The story is placed in Africa:
King Namar has built a temple in the place where once the
fabulous King Solomon's mines did exist.
Some nobles of the kingdom, thirsty for power and money, succeed
in overthrowing the sovereign with a coup d'état and
in converting the temple back into mines.
They force all the population to work into the mines as slaves.
Maciste (Park) is informed about the situation and he decides
to solve it by overthrowing the tyrants and restoring the
former sovereign on the throne.
La Rivolta Delle Gladiatrici directed in 1974 by Steve Carver
and it seems also by Joe D'Amato (uncredited), produced by
Roger Corman and Mark Damon, edited by John Carver and Joe
Dante who ten years later would direct that cult movie called
Gremlins and with a cast of famous faces like Margareth Markov,
Lucretia Love, Pam Grier (the queen ofthe black exploitation),
Rosalba Neri, Maria Pia Conte, Mimmo Palmara, Pietro Torrisi.
In the land of Gallia the high priestess Bodicia is captured
with other girls by Roman soldiers.
At the same time a black dancer called Mamawi is captured.
The girls are led to Italy and sold as slaves to sexually
satisfy the gladiators.
Mamawi unleashes a brawl in the kitchen and the shady Timarcus
decides to let the girls fight in the arena, with the purpose
to reawaken the interest of the population in the fights.
The surviving girls are persuaded by Mamawi and Bodicia to
escape.
Among the female gladiators a revolt explodes which will lead
them to freedom.
Il Figlio Dello Sceicco directed in 1962 by Mario Costa and
starring Gordon Scott, Cristina Gaioni, Moira Orfei, Alberto
Farnese, Jany Clair, Maria Grazia Spina, Gordon Mitchell.
In Egypt of the 19th century B.C. the tyrant Omar (Farnese)
uses an Iron Fist against the inhabitants of the province
whose governor he is.
Kerim (Scott), the son of the sheikh, is fighting to defend
the stakes of the weakest ones.
The unforgettable composer and conductor Francesco De Masi
has written three orchestral scores which appear on CD for
the very first time and we must thank our dear friends at
Beat Records that this project could finally see the light
of day.
Sadly the complete session mastertapes did not survive until
today and so for this record we had to use the mastertapes
assembled for the original long-playing records produced by
Beat Record as collector's limited edition in the mid-80s.
The biggest discovery was really made during the production
of this CD:
The mastertapes with the LP mock-ups issued during the '80s
were in mono, but full stereo copies of the mastertapes were
discovered and saw the light of day for the first time now
since the recording session times!
From the OST of Maciste Nelle Miniere Di Re Salomone five
tracks have been selected:
De Masi has written mysterious and dramatic music (Tr. 1,
Tr. 2) and themes that evoke the superhuman power of the hero
Maciste (Tr. 3, Tr. 5).
From the OST of La Rivolta Delle Gladiatrici seven selections
appear here which alternate heroic music (Tr. 6) with battle
themes(Tr. 7, Tr. 9, Tr. 10) and music with a sacred flavour
and choir (Tr. 8).
From the OST of Il Figlio Dello Sceicco fifteen tracks have
been selected which take the listener into an exotic dimension
introduced in Tr. 13.
De Masi has created several tracks for battle scenes (Tr.
14, Tr. 15, Tr. 16) and mysterious ones (Tr. 19) as well as
delicate love themes (Tr. 22, Tr. 23).
It was right and proper to rescue and preserve these 3 OST
of the Italian Silver Age as a sincere tribute to the musical
art of Francesco De Masi. |