I found this clip fom Sweden, Heavan and Hell over at Bedazzled. It shows the incredibly well-known MahNa MahNa song in it’s original context, very surprising. Alessandro Alessandroni is the singer, and he told me he came up with the voice himself. Another example of his genius and his under appreciated role in world Cinema. [Note: this clip contains nudity, but it’s pretty mild by today’s standards].
I’m hoping to start uploading a series of Podcasts, interviews with some of the people I’ve met and worked with over my time in the film industry. Filmmakers, Actors, Composers, Cameramen, all sorts of interesting people who’ve worked on all sorts of historic Cinema. I’ll post more on this subject as I go, but I’m hoping to do roughly one a month.
Sergio Corbucci’s masterpiece Navajo Joe or A Dollar A Head will screen at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. I’ve always loved this film, partially due to the incredible Ennio Morricone soundtrack, featuring the amazing Alessandro Alessandroni, Gianna Spagnulo, and The Cantori Moderni, Alessandroni’s choir. The screenplay is co-authored by Fernando De Leo who later went on to direct some of the best polizotto or crime films of the 70’s, like Il Boss and The Italian Connection and Milano Calibre 9. I also must applaud Burt Reynolds, he did all his own stunts and it is one of the most impressive physical performance’s of all time. To top it off the film has an ambiguous ending, unlike anything I can recall and subsequentially one of my favorites. The only other film ending that struck me in a similar way (although completely different) is Luis Bunuel’s Diary of a Chambermaid and that ending was not ambiguous but surreal, completely out of character with the rest of the film. On reflection the ending of Tristana falls into this classification as well.