La morte cammina con i tacchi alti

"La morte cammina con i tacchi alti" (aka “Death walks on high heels”) shot in 1971 by director Luciano Ercoli (his second thriller movie after "Le foto proibite di una signora perbene") is a Giallo that follows the Argento-school, with a serial killer dressed in dark and a women destined for violent death. The Ercoli movie has its own particularity: mixing the thrilling sequences, black comedy tones and elements typical for the Agatha Christie novels, placing the plot in England. The real surprise of "La morte cammina con i tacchi alti" is the genial presentation of the murder’s scene just after half-time of the movie, when the viewer has already been conquered by the sympathy of the murdered female protagonist’s character. Digitmovies releases on record for the absolute first time the complete original score composed and conducted by Stelvio Cipriani. This CD project was made possible thanks to the cooperation of the C.A.M. archives where the original stereophonic master tapes have been preserved since the recording session date. This score is built around variations of a romantic main theme, introduced with a gentle beat mood featuring the sensual vocal by Nora Orlandi in the Main Titles (tr.1). M° Cipriani has created this particular motif for Nicole’s character, a fascinating Parisian night-club singer, and thereby giving more space to the Lounge-style music throughout the whole score (tr.2, tr.4, tr.8, tr.10, tr.14, tr.15, tr.16) so as to describe the atmospheare in that the girl lives. The Main Theme is then reprised with different arrangemens like tr.3 (slow and dreamy), tr.6 (an up-tempo valzer), tr.7 (a Bacharach-style version), tr.12 (a bossa vivace). The most dark moments of the story are underlined by a few but adequate tension cues ((tr.5, tr.9, tr.11) and by a long piece (tr.17) written for the scene of the final confrontation, where Stelvio Cipriani evokes a western-style motif written by him in the same year for the cult western movie “Blindman”. The movie as well as our CD conclude with the reprise of the Main Title theme featuring Nora Orlandi’s whistle instead of her voice (tr. 18).