AKA: Ursus in the Land of Fire (International) (informal literal title) (English title) / (USA)
Maciste dans la vallée des dieux (France) (video title)
The Son of Hercules in the Land of Fire (USA) (TV title)
Ursus dans la vallée de feu (France)
Ursus en la tierra del fuego (Spain)
Ursus, der Unbesiegbare (West Germany)
Digitmovies proudly presents on CD, as volume XII of the series dedicated to the Italian Peplum, the complete OST in full stereo by Carlo Savina from "Ursus in the Land of Fire". It was directed in 1963 by Giorgio Simonelli and did star Ed Fury in the role of Ursus, Claudia Mori as Mila, Luciana Gilli as Diana and Adriano Micantoni as Amilcare. This film is part of the series of Peplums with Ed Fury (former American beefcake model) as Ursus in the official trilogy which started with " Ursus " directed by Carlo Campogalliani in 1960 and was followed by " Ursus in the Valley of Lions " directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia in 1961. The character of Ursus had other cinematographic chapters and was performed by such different actors as Samson Burke in " The Revenge of Ursus " of Luigi Capuano (1961), Joe Robinson in " Ursus and the Tartar Princess" by Remigio Del Grosso (1961), Dan Davis in " Ursus, the Rebel Gladiator " by Domenico Paolella (1963), Reg Park in " Terror of the Kirghiz" by Antonio Margheriti (1964), Alan Steel in " The Invincible Three " by Gianfranco Parolini (1964). A detestable tyrant wants to extend his reign to the land of fire and tries to kill Ursus who is his opponent. During a terrible tournament Ursus beats all men of the tyrant who did not surrender, but even the God of fire intervenes to help Ursus and the right cause by liberating the world from the despot. Not a single note of this OST was issued at that time, but only in 1991 - supervised by the writer of these liner notes - Cinevox had produced a CD dedicated to the Ursus film series (published by Bixio Music) which featured the music of Roman Vlad, Riz Ortolani, Carlo Savina and Angelo F. Lavagnino respectively from " Ursus ", " Ursus in the Valley of Lions ", " Ursus in the Land of Fire " and " The Invincible Three ". This compilation (CIAK CD - CIA 5090), which was released in the autumn of 1991 and is now completely out of print, contained 10 selections (about 10:07) from " Ursus in the Land of Fire " by Carlo Savina in stereophonic sound; only recently we have found all the stereophonic master tapes of the original 1963 recording session which have allowed us to realize a complete CD of this OST (more than one hour of music). Our good German friend and OST expert Stefan Schlegel did also remind us of eight "lost" tracks from this OST (here Tr 1., Tr.10, Tr.15, Tr.21, Tr.22, Tr.24, Tr.26, Tr.33), respectively titled ""Ursus", "Variazioni", "Cronaca di guerra", "Concerto di morte", "Sera tenebrosa", "Impronta romantica", "Un attimo di sosta", "Immagine di donna", which were released in mono sound on the B side of the 1969 33 rpm OST album" I due Kennedy " by M° Savina (MDF 33 / 19) However there was no indication on this LP, either randomly or intentionally, that these tracks had actually been taken from this Peplum OST. But fortunately we have managed to find all of them in full stereo for the very first time! Carlo Savina has composed and conducted an orchestral music score where powerfully dramatic background music for battles with frequent use of French horns (Tr.1,Tr.2,Tr.3,Tr.7,Tr.11,Tr.18,Tr.19) alternates with sensitive love themes (Tr.12,Tr.13,Tr.17,Tr.24,Tr.29) as well as with suspense and slightly magical themes (Tr.5,Tr.8,Tr.14). Another OST between Italian Golden Age and Silver Age duly saved and preserved in digitally remastered sound.
|