Broxton Comment-MB-005-57

ESCALATION (1968)

Escalation is an Italian psychological drama-thriller film written and directed by Roberto Faenza. It stars Lino Capolicchio as Luca Lambertenghi, a young playboy in 1960s London. Luca’s reckless behavior angers his father Augusto (Gabriele Ferzetti), who wants him to be more responsible and eventually take over the family business; to this end, Augusto arranges for Luca to be kidnapped and taken to a sanitarium, where he underdoes numerous torturous treatments meant to ‘cure’ his behavior. When he is finally released he is married to the beautiful Carla (Claudine Auger), and for a while all seems well – until it becomes apparent that the time in the institution has done terrible things to Luca’s psyche.

Morricone’s score for the film ranges from highly classical to highly experimental and abstract, with a few killer Europop dance tracks thrown in for good measure. The main theme, “Escalation,” is a pretty and florid melody for harpsichord, strings, and woodwinds, enlivened by some unusual but effective variations on the wa-wa’s from The Good the Bad and the Ugly, performed by a high pitched solo male vocalist.

Other cues of note include a terrifically dirty, groovy, sweaty-sounding disco dance version of the famous Latin liturgical chant Dies Irae in “Dies Irae Psichedelico,” light and effervescent classical pastiche in “Collage No. 1,” dark and twisted choral music in “Matrimonio” which is made to sound quite desperate and deranged via the inclusion of ragged bursts of percussion and fiddle cacophony, and pretty glockenspiel music in the decidedly un-erotic “Carillon Erotico”. On the abstract side of things, “Luca’s Sound” is literally someone making popping noises with their mouth for 90 seconds, “Senza Respiro” and the subsequent “Luca, Casa Londra” is a bank of guitars making like sitars in an Indian raga, and “Collage No. 2” further takes the Dies Irae to the limits of madness with bursts of cha-cha-cha and ‘Happy Birthday.’

The score for Escalation has been released several times over the years, including several different LP releases. The best CD release for me is the one released by CAM Records in 1992, which contains around 30 minutes of the best music in the soundtrack, and ends before the whole thing drives the listener insane, and that’s the one I have reviewed here. An expanded CD was released by Italian label Digitmusic in 2008, increasing the running time to over 40 minutes, and presenting the music in stereo for the first time.

Track Listing: 1. Escalation (2:18), 2. Dies Irae Psichedelico (1:57), 3. Collage No. 1 (2:19), 4. Luca’s Sound (1:21), 5. Senza Respiro (:50), 6. Luca, Casa Londra (5:12), 7. Matrimonio (2:54), 8. Collage No. 2 (1:53), 9. Carillon Erotico (2:24), 10. Primo Rito (1:25), 11. Secondo Rito (3:58), 12. Funerale Nero (2:16). CAM Records CSE-053, 28 minutes 47 seconds.

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