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CD
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CDDM 193CD
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2011 release. Digitmovies presents on CD for the very first time Angelo F. Lavagnino's complete original soundtrack for the Italian gothic movie Il Castello Dei Morti Vivi (aka "Castle Of The Living Dead"). Directed in 1964 by Herbert Wise (Luciano Ricci) and starring Christopher Lee, Gaia Germani, Philippe Leroy, Jacques Stanislawski, Donald Sutherland, Luciano Pigozzi, Renato Terra Caizzi, Antonio De Martino, Ennio Antonelli, Mirko Valentin, and Luigi Bonos. In the early 19th century a caravan of vagabond artists reaches the far-away castle of the count Drago (Lee) who engaged them for a private performance. Dark omens obscure the journey. In fact, in the gloomy castle tragic events will happen: The nobleman does not have any interest for dramatic art and he only wants to get new bodies which he can add to his very singular collection of embalmed creatures. Inoculating a serum which he himself has extracted from a very rare plant, the count who is obsessed by the fear of death immediately petrifies every living being he likes to appease by contemplating a fragment of the eternity. Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, one of the most famous film music composers, has written a particularly gloomy OST, performed by few instruments that create gothic atmospheres and almost anticipate by a few years the psychedelia. These sound dimensions of big tension, sometimes aggressively dramatic, sometimes quietly magical, describe all the evil which resides in the castle of Drago, a true demon with a human aspect. As main theme Lavagnino has written a ballad with an ancient flavor introduced in the main titles and reprised later. A tech note: The only master tapes which have survived in mono until today, although in good condition, contain a notable hiss which in the slower passages did sometimes cover up the music itself. Therefore, although contrary to our usual approach, Digitmovies had to intervene by using filters of hiss reduction and they did add some light reverb for a better listening experience of material recorded in those days in 1964. A proper rescue and preservation of an Italian silver age OST and of the music art of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino.
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CD
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CDDM 153CD
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2010 release. Digitmovies releases, for the very first time on CD, the complete original soundtrack by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino for the movie Totò D'arabia (Aka "Totò Of Arabia") directed in 1964 by Spanish director Josè Antonio De La Loma with screenplay and scenario by Bruno Corbucci and Giovanni Grimaldi and starring the great Italian comedian Totò (stage name of Prince Antonio De Curtis), Nieves Navarro (aka Susan Scott), Fernando Sancho, Georges Rigaud, Mario Castellani, and Luigi Pavese. In the movie, Totò plays a former Italian soldier who is now working as a servant at the British intelligence service and is then upgraded to secret agent with the name of Agent 008 with the purpose to persuade the ruler of Shamara, sheik Ali El Buzur to yield oil to the United Kingdom. After a short stay in Barcelona to get further information, Totò moves to Kuwait where he succeeds in defeating the Egyptian, Turkish, and Russian secret services. To outdo the CIA, Totò uses the thirty wives of the sheik who at the end he will adopt and as El Buzur II he will run Shamara's refinery from Naples. The movie is a parody of the David Lean classic with similar situations and settings, and Lavagnino himself has written a theme which in a burlesque way quotes the famous motif by Maurice Jarre. For this CD, Digitmovies has used the original session master tapes recorded in mono sound, but they discovered two tracks which were mixed in stereo and which could be added as a coda to the mono OST. After an introduction that quotes the theme by Jarre, a theme for harpsichord and orchestra with a Spanish flavor appears. Lavagnino has written a very varied OST: A theme à la James Bond and several suspense tracks performed by few instruments, but very effective at the same time for mystery and spy scenes, alternated with tracks of various genres like funny little marches, Spanish music for the scene placed at Plaza del Toro in Barcelona, a sad western Deguello, romantic music for orchestra, and belly dances. The movie and this CD close with the "Finale" which after a romantic intro features a merry Tarantella as a tribute to the mythic Totò.
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CD
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CDDM 277CD
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2015 release. Digitmovies release Angelo Lavagnino's soundtrack for the film Samoa Regina Della Giungla ("Samoa, Queen Of The Jungle"). Directed by Guido Malatesta in 1968 under the pseudonym James Reed. An expedition in Hong Kong is organized to search for a diamond deposit on an island in Malaysia. The expedition group includes Clint, Professor Dawson, Doctor Schwarz, Stark, Nancy, Moreau, Muller, and Alain. Once on the island, Muller is killed by a tiger and the group is attacked by headhunters when they reach the waterfalls. Clint and the rest of the group are preparing to face another attack when Samoa, a dark-haired girl, appears. Through secret passageways, she guides the group to her village where her tribe is guarding the diamonds in a cave. Alain and his companions steal the diamonds and escape with Samoa, who has fallen in love with Clint. They are followed by the indigenous people of the village. Moreau, Stark, and Schwarz attempt to seize the diamonds but Clint manages to stop them after a furious fight. Eventually Alain decides to stay, Stark and Schwarz die, Nancy and Dawson drift apart and Moreau gets swallowed up by quicksand. Clint and Samoa head back to civilization after giving back the diamonds. Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (1909-1987) began his career as a soundtrack composer for the cinema in 1947. His most famous and important soundtracks were for Othello by Orson Welles, An American In Rome ("Un Americano A Roma"), and Nero's Mistress ("Mio Figlio Nerone") directed by Steno. During his artistic career, he composed music for numerous films directed by Luigi Zampa, Carlo Lizzani, and Luigi Comencini. Lavagnino composed soundtracks for dozens of Italian peplum and historical films as well as Italian spy movies. He was also very active with Western films. Additionally he composed the music for the Sci-Fi quadrilogy by Antonio Margheriti War Between The Planets ("Il Pianeta Errante"), War Of The Planets ("I Diafanoidi Vengono Da Marte"), Wild Wild Planet aka "Criminals Of The Galaxy" ("I Criminali Della Galassia"), and Snow Devils ("I Criminali Della Galassia"). Lavagnino also did the musical scores for various documentaries.
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CD
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DGST 020CD
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2016 release. Angelo F. Lavagnino wrote scores for all kinds of films: documentaries, historical films, comedies, and westerns. For Sapevano Solo Uccidere he composed a compelling soundtrack performed by just a few instruments such as organ, percussion, and piano, but for the melody of the gang of "Mexicans" the author brought in a large orchestra. Digitmovies used each and every note found on the original mono master tapes for this CD. Directed in 1968 by Tanio Boccia, Sapevano Solo Uccidere starred Kirk Morris, Kim Arden, Luciano Bonanni, Remo Capitani, Ana Castor, Aldo Cecconi, Dada Gallotti, Attilio Marra, Gordon Mitchell, Alan Steel, Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia, Larry Ward, and Rossana Rovere. Jeff Smart and his friend Hernandez are attacked by a gang of "Mexicans" who are carrying out the orders of a boss named Saguaro. Hernandez dies in the clash while Jeff is wounded in the shoulder but saves himself by hiding in a pond. After getting better under the care of a woman, Jeff leaves for Lake City to find the "Mexicans" who he believes killed his parents. In Lake City, after a duel with the gunman Clayton Foster, Jeff becomes the sheriff upon request by the citizens. As sheriff he is finally able to unmask the mysterious Saguaro and kill him and the entire gang.
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LP
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DOC 140LP
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Doxy present Angelo Lavagnino's soundtrack for the 1968 film, The Lost Continent. From an interview with the Maestro Lavagnino, one of the legendary Italian score masters: "If I talk about The Lost Continent, I talk about one of my favorites, just because it gave me the opportunity to show myself as a man and as a composer. I was gone for more than six months in Indonesia. At that time, for an Italian, going to Indonesia was like Marco Polo going to China! I found there what I expected to find: in their forests were many bamboo trees with which I created incredible sounds. The bamboo, opened at the middle and laid on the floor, made sounds in 'pitch'. Using the 'diapason' I made a 'scale' out of it! (...) I did not have any problem in scoring this movie. I loved the Indonesian music, but I wrote music that reflected my personality. The music took ten days to write, arrange and conduct, and I am very satisfied with what I did (...)" Edition of 500.
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