Mondo Cane Score

I don't think there was ever another time when such a beautiful and famous score came from a more bizarre and often unpleasant film. The film took the world by storm in 1962-63, becoming such a runaway hit that it inspired a whole genre of "Mondo" films, including a Mondo Bizarro. It was presented as a documentary about unusual practices in the world often contrasting similar subjects such as tearful mourners at a dog cemetery in L.A. followed by a Taipei restaurant that specialized in serving dishes made from dog meat. The various scenes went from mildly amusing and occasionally funny to upsetting and disgusting. From female Life Saver Brigades in Sydney to young men cutting their legs with broken glass on Good Friday in Calabria and bulls getting their heads chopped off in Nepal. Most everything was clearly staged for the camera, but could have been depicting actual customs.The score on the other hand contained the instrumental original of the song that became "More" with lyrics added by Marcello Ciorciolini and adapted into English by Norman Newell. It became one of the big songs of the early 60's and was recorded by nearly every singer of note. The album, duplicated here in its entirety was also a hit, spending 74 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaking at #15. "More" was nominated for an Academy Award but the Oscar went to hometown favorites Sammy Kahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's Call Me Irresponsible, a real blunder by the Academy. Ortolani got an entire film-scoring career out of it, doing over 100 films in his lifetime (1926-2014) that included American/British films such as The Yellow Rolls Royce, Anzio, buona Sera Mrs. Campbell and in the 80's Cannibal Holocaust.The soundtrack album was made like all soundtrack albums of its day (and at least until recently). It is not the actual soundtrack, which would be too long and have odd cuts and jumps. Soundtrack albums were always recorded later by a usually smaller orchestra in tracks arranged to fit the two to four minute lengths that album buyers were used to in pop albums. Henry Mancini used to do this to perfection, but even the big Western and War Film soundtracks were done this way. The result is a highly tuneful soundtrack album. It's not all the music and even some entire themes were left out, and the order of the tracks is not the same as the film, but it works well for listening. In the way of many scores it relies on just a few themes but they are arranged so differently and cleverly that they don't wear themselves out."More" is actually the second theme, appearing four times (as Life Savers Girls, L'Ultimo Volo, Ti Guardero Nel Cuore & Repabhan Strasse). The most-used theme first appears as a sad and mournful L'Isola Maldetta and is used six times including the finale (Cargo Cult) where it goes from mourning with a chorus that almost sounds like a 50's religious epic to a big, swaying theme used for the final credits. The only difficult to listen track is the Fishermen of Ragjput (I Pescatori Di Ragjput Gli Squali) which goes from a tragic theme accompanying shots of people who lost parts of their limbs to sharks to a screechy, almost science-fiction-type theme when the fishermen stuff poisonous sea urchins down the throats of the sharks which will slowly and painfully kill them in a week or so.Such a fine score from such a strange film. It's a must for any film score collector and really, just about anyone.EXTRA NOTE ON KAI WINDING: Despite everyone from Frank Sinatra to Vic Dana recording it, the only hit version of More was done by jazz trombonist Kai Winding, which got to #8 in the Fall of '63. It's not like anything else he ever did, and his contribution to it was mainly with the trombone providing the rhythm. The tune was arranged by Claus Ogerman and the melody was carried by a french electronic instrument called an Ondioline, played by French electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey. It is very reminiscent of the Tornados' Telstar which used a Clavioline, another French electronic instrument with a similar sound.

Wonderfully composed and utterly brillant,and became the album that introduce ORTOLANI to the world xinema as a stunning score composer.

Excellent!

Well , this soudntrack had an academy nomination back in 1963 . Oliverio and Ortolani have a great melodic sense and a good sense of humour.They wrote "China tarantella ""Hong kong cha cha cha " . "More " is an outstanding melody anyway you look at it or listen to it. It may be simple but you won't forget that melody after the first listening...Of course certains sounds belong to the 60s and sound a little lounge, but no more that certain sountracks of the age...Ortolani is one of great italian soundtrack composers , so I suggest that you buy this cd.

Mondocane is, for me, one of the best, if not the best piece of documentary ever done. And, it's music is on the same level. When I was a child, I spent hour listening to the old 45 rmp record that we have at home. Nowadays, I haven't any Recordplayer, but I still enjoy listening to the CD. If you have seen the movie you might well think that the music won't fit without the images, and, even though you are a little right, when you listen to the music, images will came to your mind inmediately. This, as almost no other score, can bring you the images as if you were in the cinema...

My copy of this album is a scratchy old LP that I bought at my local library for 50 cents, but the music held within is some of the most beautiful and unique I have ever heard. It is the sound one would expect to hear in heaven, the bellows of a sobbing planet, and the dust and grime coating the tracks of my record only adds to its timeless appeal. No matter what kind of music you're into, I guarantee that this purchase is well worth the money. Hey, you stumbled upon this page for whatever reason, so you're obviously in the right frame of mind already.

An offbeat film but a lovely score which was nominated for an Academy Award. The music is somewhere between the classic Italian cinema score style of Nino Rota and what would today be called "lounge" music. The best track is #9, which became the standard "More". The booklet reprints only the notes from the original LP sleeve, but the excellence of the music makes this a worthwhile purchase for film music fans.

From Riz Ortolani, the composer of the music of Cannibal Holocaust, and Nino Oliviero, comes the music of Mondo Cane. Although the movie may not be eye candy, the music is definetly the one you'll enjoy! Listen to the suspenseful "The Fishermen of Ragjput", the upbeat "China Tarantula", the tragic and powerful "House of Death" and the wonderful opening music. This music will inspire you! I guarentee you'll love it!