Samoa regina della giungla

Director and Cast:

Director: Guido Malatesta

Cast: Roger Browne, Edwige Fenech, Ivy Holzer, Ivano Staccioli, Andrea Aureli, Umberto Ceriani, Tullio Altamura, Wilbert Bradley, Femi Benussi, Claudio Ruffini, Ivan Basta, Antonietta Fiorito, Gianni Pulone.

Plot:

An expedition in Hong Kong is organized to search for a diamond deposit on an island in Malaysia. The expedition group includes Clint (Roger Browne), Professor Dawson (Tullio Altamura), Doctor Schwarz, Stark (Andrea Aureli), Nancy (Ivy Holzer), Moreau (Ivano Staccioli), 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. 

Composer:

Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (1909-1987) began his career as a soundtrack composer for the cinema in 1947 with music for the films “Christmas at Camp 119” (“Natale al campo 119”) and “Che Tempi!”. 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 such as “The Old Testament” (“Il vecchio testamento”), “Hercules against Rome” (“Ercole contro Roma”), “Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon” (“Ercole contro i tiranni di Babilonia”), ““Maciste vs. the Vampire” (“Maciste contro il vampiro”), “Hero of Rome” (“Il colosso di Roma”), ““Beatrice Cenci”, etc. as well as Italian spy movies like “Super Seven Calling Cairo” (“Superseven chiama Cairo”), “Agent 077 Mission Bloody Mary” (“Agente 077 missione Bloody Mary”) and “008: Operation Sterminate” (“A 008 operazione sterminio”). He was also very active with Western films and composed the music for “Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die!” (“Oggi a me domani a te”), “Kill the Wicked” (“Dio non paga il sabato”), and “Pistol for a Hundred Coffins” (“Una pistola per cento bare”). 

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 such as “The Empire in the Sun” (“L’impero del sole”), “Behind the Great Wall” (“La muraglia cinese”), “The Last Paradise” (“L’ultimo paradiso”). 

Director: 

Guido Malatesta (1919-1970) began his career as a professional journalist and was drawn to cinema after he moved to Rome. He wrote treatments, scripts and was an assistant director until eventually becoming a director in 1956 with the film “The Billionaires.” He continued to make films until a few days before his death in 1970. He made many peplum films such as “The Fury of the Pagans” aka “The Fury of the Barbarians” (“La furia dei barbari”), “Goliath Against the Giants,” (“Goliath contro i giganti”), “Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules” (“Maciste contro i mostri”), “Colossus and the Headhunters” (“Maciste contro i tagliatori di teste”), etc. He also directed the adventure films “Samoa, Queen of the Jungle” (“Samoa regina della giungla”), “Tarzana, the Wild Girl” (“Tarzana, sesso selvaggio”) and “Il figlio di Aquila Nera” under the pseudonym James Reed.