Ooo! More music!
_______
CD: Death Walks in High Heels / La Morte cammina con i tacchi alti (1972)
 
 
Review Rating:   Very Good
   
     
...back to Index
T to U
Label:

DigitMovies

Catalog #:

CDDM-056

 
Format:
Stereo
 
...or start from scratch
A
Released:

June 6, 2006

Tracks / Album Length:

18 / (48:25)

 

 
   
Composer: Stelvio Cipriani
   

Special Notes:

8-page colour booklet
 
 
Comments :    

The first of writer/director Luciano Ercoli's nutty ‘Death Walks' diptych was scored by Stelvio Cipriani, who had 11 other soundtracks to compose in 1972, including Mario Bava's Baron Blood. The previous year, Cipriani had scored Bava's Bay of Blood, and Riccardo Freda's Iguana with the Tongue of Fire / L'Iguana dalla lingua di fuoco – two films from which Cipriani appropriated a few thematic ideas for Ercoli's Death Walks in High Heels / La Morte cammina con i tacchi alti.

Using Nora Orlandi's vocals again for his High Heels theme, “Fantasia Tragica,” Cipriani crafted a more ditsy variation of Iguana's theme, with surging optimism that characterizes actress Susan Scott's campy film persona and glowing sensuality. The low brass and chirping flutes give the High Heels opening titles a special bizarreness, mostly because it echoes the intense optimism typical of an early seventies sitcom (think Mary Tyler Moore, with the profession transposed to stripper instead of journalist.), particularly the cue's closing bars than slow down to a natural, relaxing finish with vocals and sparkling keyboards.

“Night Club Girl” is the film's second major theme, which maintains Cipriani's use of repeated, breathy melodic clusters that anchor the cue's harmonic arc. Cipriani places a sleek rest in the middle, letting the flutes shift to low chords before repeating the cue's first third verbatim. Both of the album's two opening tracks place Orlandi's vocals in the forefront, though here the melody is very limited, and quite simplistic. It's the score's most frustrating aspect, because Cipriani rarely chooses to go beyond straightforward repetition.

The lone exception is the organ-heavy version of “Night Club Girl (versione 2),” where Cipriani allows for some slight ornamentation, and some funky diversions for the flutist in the cue's mid-section, and keyboards & piano in the final third. It's the album's standout cue because it perfectly encapsulates the high camp in Ercoli's ridiculous tale of a stripper who runs off with a wealthy customer, only to die mid-way through the film and kick-start the plot's investigation, much as Janet Leigh's death in Psycho signaled the beginning of that film's real mystery elements. The steady drums, metallic high hat and organ textures also match Susan Scott's striptease act, with endless jiggling, costume shimmering, and Ercoli's cutaways to delighted customers who politely watch from a bluish, smoke-filled background.

While “Night Club Girl” is utterly refreshing for its vintage Italian lounge sound, Cipriani reuses his “Evelyn Theme” from Bava's Bay of Blood in two very unusual guises: the lilting, string-blanketed “Shopping,” and “Felicita” in a bossa nova incarnation. Both are very brief cues meant as minor score filler, with the latter actually comprised of a second half where Cipriani ups the tempo, adds a harpsichord, and has Orlandi croon more goofy wordless vocals.

Lesser cues in the score include “Al Pub,” which has Scott and her wealthy husband seated in a coastal watering hole, while weird locals stare at them with cold, suspicious eyes. The scene itself is very odd, and Cipriani's half-comical Muzak approach was jarring, as was the bucolic “Il Comandante.” Both cues pretty much stop the album dead, while the bossa nova “Sola in casa” shifts the score back to its lounge roots, with luxurious piano in the background, and Orlandi's wordless vocals again propelling the cue on its leisurely journey. (There's also a strange variation called “Fantasia tragica,” performed entirely on organ, with shimmering dissonance that almost mocks the death of Scott's leggy character at the film's midpoint.)

The album does contain a few genuine dramatic cues, and they're adequate variations of Cipriani's thematic material. “Hallory mano di legno” is interesting for the staggering of quarter notes into 3 sections, with piano slowly stepping forward in retarded beats, and some background ornamentation using circular acoustic guitar, rippling bongos, and eerie flute for the slow but steady acceleration in tempo. “Spiata” adds harp and sustained organ notes, and the rippling flutes somewhat recall John Barry's use of the instruments in Thunderball, when Emilio Largo feeds a man to his pet sharks before that film's main title sequence.

“Rivelazioni di un assassino” alternates between dramatic string statements and bouts of galloping percussion, and being the album's longest cue, it delivers a suitable dramatic finish to the score, with suspenseful material underscoring Ercoli's wrapping up of events as Scott's killer is finally revealed just before that person tries to escape for good.

Of course, the film and score have to end on a thematic high, so Ercoli had Cipriani recap the film's opening theme, with male whistling carrying the melodic line, presumably because Orlandi's voice was overtly tied to Scott's character, and seeing how she's genuinely dead, all that's left is the blissful joy of Scott's former lover, who followed her flight from the strip club to British coast, and helped solve the case (hence the male tweeting).

Among Cipriani's giallo scores, Death Walks on High Heels is adequate, mostly because it was shaped to fit Ercoli's brand of campy drama, comedy, and eroticism (which isn't a complete criticism. One wishes Ercoli could've been consisted in at least one area, so that his films weren't so emotionally spastic).

As with prior Cipriani albums, DigitMovies' CD is a first-rate production, with rich graphics from the film's campaign art, and sharp mastering from the original (and very crisp) stereo elements.

Gianni Ferrio's score for Ercoli's Death Walks at Midnight / La Morte accarezza a mezzanotte is available from Easy Tempo, while Cipriani's Iguana with the Tongue of Fire / L'Iguana dalla lingua di fuoco is available from DigitMovies.

 

© 2007 Mark R. Hasan

 
 
 
Bzzz-bzz-bazzz-brzzoom!
   
_IMDB Bio ________DVD Review_______Composer Filmography______CD/LP Release History
   
_IMDB Detailed Entry____________Composer Filmography/Discography at Soundtrack Collector.com ___________Additional Related Sites
   
     
Brrr-boooshi-bzz-bazzah!
   
     
   
   
   
   
     
Vrrfpt-Voot-Voot-Voot!
   
     

Site designed for 1024 x 768 resolution, using 16M colours, and optimized for MS Explorer 6.0. KQEK Logo and All Original KQEK Art, Interviews, Profiles, and Reviews Copyright © 2001-Present by Mark R. Hasan. All Rights Reserved. Additional Review Content by Contributors 2001-Present used by Permission of Authors. Additional Art Copyrighted by Respective Owners. Reproduction of any Original KQEK Content Requires Written Permission from Copyright Holder and/or Author. Links to non-KQEK sites have been included for your convenience; KQEK is not responsible for their content nor their possible use of any pop-ups, cookies, or information gathering.

   
     
__