ROMA CONTRO ROMA

Digitmovies is presenting the third volume of the anthology series dedicated to the original soundtracks from the Italian Peplum genre. As the first volume in our series represents the “pure” Peplum genre with symphonic scores by Enzo Masssetti from “Le fatiche di Ercole” & “Ercole e la regina di Lidia” (available on Digitmovies double CD DCDDM057) or the second volume “Arrivano i titani” with music by Carlo Rustichelli (available on Digitmovies DCDDM060) is a Peplum that incorporates all typical elements of the Italian comedy, this third volume dedicated to “Roma contro Roma” (aka “War of the zombies” – “Rome against Rome”) is actually a Peplum combining with the Horror genre, with symphonic and electronic music by Roberto Nicolosi. This 1964 movie was directed by Giuseppe Vari and it was realized by Galatea Film, the same company that has also produced many movies by Mario Bava. Among the protagonists we can find Ettore Manni - one of the greatest personalities of the Italian Cinema - playing the role of Gaio, a centurion who enlists himself as an investigator of the period of the Roman Imperium. His investigations lead him to the vestige of Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore), an atrocious priest of bloody pagan cult, who revitalizes the dead legionaries through black magic. After forming them into a legion of zombies, Aderbad sends them to destroy Rome. Frequent composer of Mario Bava’s movies, Roberto Nicolosi (Genova, 1914 – Roma 1989) – whose works recently released on CD by Digitmovies gave the soundtrack admirers the opportunity to discover this great musician – is the author of this symphonic score that alternates between orchestral elements typical for the Peplum genre and additional electronic experimental parts used for scenes where the perfidious priest and the army of assassin zombies appear. The score appears on record for the very first time, taken from the mono mastertapes that have been preserved in the archives of RCA for more than 40 years. M° Nicolosi provided an epic and dramatic main theme dominated by strings and percussions (Tr.1) that returns in a more rhythmic and aggressive way in Tr.2 and Tr.5. For the two protagonists Gaio and Tullia M° Nicolosi wrote a recurrent love theme in a moderate and a bit nostalgic mood (Tr.6, Tr.7, Tr.8, Tr.11, Tr.12, Tr.16, Tr.23, Tr.25, Tr.29). The macabre side of the story is emphasized by dramatic and mysterious symphonic music (Tr. 18, Tr.21, Tr.22, Tr.26, Tr.27). M° Nicolosi enriched the score with an exotic orchestral dance tune (Tr.24). The inferno of the living dead is emphasized by lugubrious electronic-experimental music (Tr.4, Tr.9, Tr.10, Tr.13, Tr.14, Tr.15, Tr.17, Tr.19, Tr.20, Tr.28).