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FOREIGN INTRIGUE

Foreign is a relative term depending on where you are, but Europe was certainly the place to be in the 60's if you were a secret agent. The number of spy films from that period is staggering and the original soundtrack LPs are tough to find (here in the U.S. anyway). Luckily, there has been an explosion of Eurospy soundtrack CDs in the last few years and hopefully, readers will get in touch with info about what's missing.

"Operation Kid Brother" (1967) aka "O. K. Connery", on the Digitmovies label, composed by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai starred Sean's little brother Neil, and 007 alumnus Daniela Bianchi, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and Adolfo Celi. It's a goofy, over the top, sometimes Bond-esque score to an Italian spy spoof that's better than most of the Bond flicks after 1969. It includes both the Italian and English versions of the theme (Click on the image to compare the lyrics).

Daniella Bianchi was a busy little spy after From Russia With Love. Besides "Operation Kid Brother", she co-starred in "Slalom" (1965), with a score by Ennio Morricone. Released on a Dagored label CD and later on GDM which may have more music. The Dagored release ran several pieces of music together on each of it's 6 tracks making it difficult to tell.

She was back again with Harold "Oddjob" Sakata in "Baleari Operazione Oro" (1966) (aka "Balearic Caper") by Benedetto Chiglia on a Beat Records CD with some unreleased music they dug up!

...And with Stuart Granger in "Requiem For A Secret Agent" (1967), with a groovy score by Piero Umiliani

...And also in "Troppo Per Vivre" (1967) with a Francesco De Masi score on the Cam label.

Ken (Attack Of The Giant Leeches) Clark starred in a bunch of Eurospy films. Three of them as Dick Maloy, Agent 077...

A partial score to the first one, "Agente 077 Dall'Oriente Con Furore" (1965) is paired with another partial score to "Missione Morte Molo 83" (1965) (not 077), both by Piero Piccioni on the Tsunami CD label.

Piccioni's full score to"Missione Morte Molo 83" (1965) can be found on this Verita Note release.

The second 077 flick, "Mission Bloody Mary" (1965) scored by Angelo F. Lavagnino (with a main theme by Ennio Morricone) can be found on a GDM label CD, and...

"Operation Lady Chaplin" (1966) by Bruno Nicolai was released on the Digitmovies label. Oh, and Lady Chaplin is who else? Daniella Bianchi! Unfortunately, the title theme (performed by Bobby Solo) is lost or destroyed, or sitting in someone's garage, but can be on a 45 from Brazil.

"Tiffany Memorandum"(1967) by Riz Ortolani has been released on the CFS & BEAT label. Ken Clark again, but this time he's a journalist (Dick Hallan) who gets mixed up in some espionage shenanigans. This is a pretty catchy score and there is some unreleased material included which is always fun. Eight tracks were previously included on a CD with music from two non eurospy films so very nice to have the complete score (22 tracks).

A couple more with Ken Clark -

In "The Fuller Report" (1969) he's a race car driver (Dick Worth) who gets mixed up with some spies. On CD from BEAT Records with a great score by Armando Trovaioli.

Heres an EP from "FX-18 Secret Agent" (1964), by Frank Alamo. This was one in a series of five or six FX-18 films. In this one Clark is Francis Coplan - Agent FX 18

One more with Daniella Bianchi - Scacco Internazionale (1968). This time with Tab Hunter as a journalist with good spies and bad spies on his tail. The score by Carlo Rustichelli is on the BEAT label.

"That Man In Istanbul" (1965) starred Horst Bucholst with a nice score by George Garvarentz. On CD on the Harkit label.

"Musique Des Film" is a Garvarentz collection that includes an alternate version of the love song and one other track from "That Man In Istanbul" (possibly from a single released for this film?) There are also two tracks from "Le Vicomte Regle Ses Comptes" (1967) (aka The Viscount). The fantastic theme song sung by Dick Rivers and one other.

Bersaglio Mobile (1967) (aka Death On The Run, Moving Target) starred Ty Hardin as a thief with some microfilm and all sorts of spy goings on in Greece. The score is by Ivan Vandor and is available on the Digitmovies label.

George Nader starred as FBI agent, Jerry Cotton in a series of German flicks and the wild Peter Thomas music can be found on this 2-CD set, "100% Cotton". Great stuff!

A more recent release, "Jerry Cotton: FBI's Top Man" on the Allscore Media label has 6 unreleased tracks and a couple more from a rare EP. The others are all on the "100% Cotton" soundtrack, but what the hell.

And in case you didn't know, there was a "Jerry Cotton" (2010) movie released in Germany. There is a pop "soundtrack" with pop tunes, an updated "re-mixed" version of the original theme, and 5 tracks from the score. The actual score by Helmut Zerlett & Christoph Zirngibl arrived later. It's a nice action score with nods to the Peter Thomas music and worth tracking down.

Here are a few hard to find French EPs from the OSS 117 films. "OSS 117" (1963), "OSS 117 Mission For A Killer" (1965), and "OSS 117 Terror In Tokyo" (1966) (American Titles) There were about seven films in this series and most of them were composed by Michel Magne. Each EP has 4 or 5 tracks from the film.

All the music from these EPs (and a little more) plus Panic in Bangkok (1964) can be found on this great collection of Magne's music for the OSS 117 series put out by Universal in France.

This 2 CD set of Magne's music has the theme to each of the films mentioned above plus music from "The Deadly Decoy" (1962), "The Great Spy Chase" (1964), and the Fantomas films (A kind of a blue faced Blofeld) along with many other films he scored.

"Niente Rose per OSS 117" (1968) (aka OSS 117 Murder for Sale, OSS 117 - Double Agent, etc.) by Piero Piccioni starred almost Bond John Gavin, Luciana Paluzzi and Curd Jurgens. Hopefully this Beat Records release will lead to more complete OSS-117 scores!

"OSS 117 - Cairo: Nest Of Spies" (2006), is a fantastic send up of 60s eurospy flicks starring Jean Dujardin and the music is just what you'd hope for.

A sequel, "OSS 117: Lost In Rio" (2009) was released with only a digital download of the score...

However, The Rambling Records label has released a CD with BOTH scores!

"OSS 117: Alerte Rouge en Afrique Noire" (2021) (aka OSS 117: From Africa with Love) is the third in the series. Dujardin returns, but this time there is a new director, Nicolas Bedos and composer, Anne-Sophie Versnaeyen. An LP was released on the Milan label, otherwise there is only a digital download (Amazon).

Speaking of digital downloads... Carlo Savina's "Secret Agent Fireball" (1965) and Teo Usuelli's "Operation Atlantis" (1965) were released by the Cam label as digital downloads. I miss having a booklet and CD I can actually hold in my hand, but if it gets more music out there and cuts down on the price, so be it.

"Upperseven" (1965), "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" (1966), and "Agente Speciale LK" (1967), all by Bruno Nicolai can be found on a 3 CD set on the Quartet label. These three Eurospy scores had been released together a few years earlier on the Bruno Nicolai Spy Movie Soundtracks Collection. Even earlier they had each been released separately. "Agente Speciale LK" a couple of times! Each time someone found a new track or two. This latest release seems to collect everything in one package probably making it the one to get. One nice thing they did is separate many of the original tracks which originally seemed to be multiple tracks edited together. For example, Agente Speciale LK had a "suite" of music added on the second release which was really just shorter cues edited together. There are only a few minutes of actual new music, but you do get the actual title theme to Upperseven taken from film elements. The original release had a nice cover version using original instrumental tracks and singer Sabina Montes recreating the vocals because the original had been lost.

"Our Man In R.O.M.E." is a collection of music from several Italian Euro Spy flicks as well as some Italian crime films AND includes the Sabina Montes vocal theme for Upperseven.

Mario Nascimbene's score to "Kiss The Girls And Make Them Die" (1966) on the Avanz label is a tough one to find. The film has Mike Connors playing spy in Rio de Janiero accompanied by lots of bossa nova versions of the film's theme.

"Dick Smart 2.007" (1967) on the Hexacord label has more bongos and bossa novas by Nascimbene. Just what being an Italian spy is all about.

"SPIA SPIONE (1967)" and "Corri Corri Jimmy Logan" (1971) by Bruno Canfora and Italo Greco respectively. (The third score is not from a spy flick). Here's an interesting note: The theme to "Jimmy Logan" is note for note the same as "Run Spy Run" (an original tune) from the Billy Strange LP (and more recent CD) "Secret Agent File" released in '65. "Jimmy Logan" was written in '67. Hmmmmm.

"Operation White Shark" (1966) and "Assassination" (1967) are both good scores by Robby Poitevkin on CD from the GDM label.

"Mark Donen Agente Zeta 7" (1966) (aka "Z7 Operation Rembrandt") by Aldo Piga is on a Beat Records CD.

The spy spoof"Il Magnifico Tony Carrera" (1968) by Gianni Marchetti can be found on the Quartet Label. Apparently this was to be a Roger Moore vehicle after his stint in television's "The Saint".

"Sinfonia Per Due Spie" (1965) (aka "Serenade for Two Spies", also on Beat Records is a fun Francesco De Masi score with Sweeping romantic cues, twists, bossas, and blues to keep your toes tapping.

"IL Vostro Super Agente Flit" (1966) is a Eurospy parody of the Flint films scored by Bruno Canfora on the Digitmovies label.

"Jerry Land- Cacciatore Di Spie" (1966) (aka "Man on a Flying Trapeze"), a spy caper scored by Piero Umiliani can be found on a Beat Label CD.

"Ypotron" (1966) by Nico Fidenco on GDM stars Luis Davila as agent Lemmy Logan. It has a rockin' little score with a theme sung by a group called The Sorrows.

"Black Box Affair (1966)" by Gianni Ferrio on the Digitmovies label covers all the musical bases showing what fun death and danger can be.

"Operation Lotus" (1965) has a tense little score with some nice jazz and bossa novas thrown in by Luis Bacalov on Beat Records

"Spy Today, Die Tomorrow" (1967) by Gianni Marchetti stars Lex Barker as agent Bob Urban (aka Mr. Dynamit). Many musical styles represented and a fun score.

Five tracks from "Ragan" (1967) (AKA Devil's Angel) are included on this CD on the GDM label.

"Matchless" (1966) by Ennio Morricone, Gino Marinuzzi Jr., and possibly Piero Piccioni starred Patrick O'Neal as a spy who could turn invisible. (Why not?) There is a limited edition CD on the Avanz label which is the same as the original LP and a more recent CD on the Legend label that has more and/or different music.

"Spy In Your Eye" (1965) by Riz Ortolani has a mostly dramatic score on a Saimel label CD.

Colpo Maestro Al Servizio Di Sua Maesta Britannica (aka Masterstroke) (1967), which is really a caper film with spies thrown in has a great Francesco De Masi score.

Franco and Ciccio were in a number of Italian spy parodies including one of the Dr. Goldfoot films and this one, "Due Mafiosi Contro Goldginger"(1965) (Not a misprint. Someone was probably trying to avoid a lawsuit) by Piero Umiliani.

"Alphaville" (1965), aka "Dick Tracy On Mars" and "Tarzan Vs. IBM" was an odd film. It had Eddie Constantine as sometimes detective; sometimes spy Lemmy Caution visiting another planet. There are five tracks on this Paul Misraki collection, which I believe are the same as the original French EP. There is also a collectors CD out there for fans with the full title sequence on CD rom, which you can play in your computer.

One of the Cinecitta series of CDs, "Jazz In The Movies" has themes to "Mark Donen Agente Zeta 7" (1966), "Baleari Operazione Oro" (1966), "Intrigo A Los Angeles" (1964), and"F.B.I. Operazione Vipera Gialla" (1966) and possibly some other spy flicks, but my Italian isn't very good. A great collection in any event.

A loungy little jazz theme from Berlino - "Appuntamento Per Le Spie" (1965) (aka Spy In Your Eye) is tucked away on the Salon: Retro Chic CD from Rambling Records.

The George Delerue collection, "Le Polar Selon Georges Delerue" on the Universal label has three tracks from "Pleins Feux Sur Stanislas" (1965) (known as "Killer Spy" in the U.S.)

Several tracks from "Si J'etais Un Espion" (1967) by Serge Gainsbourg can be found on this collection on Universal France.

a 7 1/2 minute suite of quirky, but moody music from the Claude Chabrol film "Marie-Chantal vs. Doctor Kha" (1965) (aka "Blue Panther" in the U.S.) by Pierre Jansen is tucked away on this collection of French New Wave music on the Hortensia label. (a similar suite can be found on a Pierre Jensen collection on the Milan label).

"Kommissar X Operazione Tres Gatti Gialli" (1966) is a Gino Marinuzzi Jr. score on the Verita Note label to one of the fantastic Kommissar X films. Lots of eastern intrigue flavored music.

Another Kommissar X film, "FBI Operazione Pakistan" (1966) by Francesco de Masi is on a BEAT Records CD. This is the last of the Kommissar X films, but only the second score to be released. Hopefully there are more to come!

The only other Kommissar X goodie I know of is the 45, "I Love You Joe Walker" (1965) performed by Angelina Monti with Bobby Mladen Gutesha and his Orchestra. Only on a hard to find German 45.

Gianni Marchetti's score to "Killer Likes Candy (1968)" starring Kerwin Mathews is on the GDM label with a great driving baseline theme, bossa novas, bongos, twangy guitars,and plenty of zibba-dabba-dooba vocals from I Cantori Moderni.

"FBI Operazione Vipera Gialla" (1966) by Francesco De Masi from Beat Records.

"Superseven Chiama Cairo" (1965) (aka Super Seven Calling Cairo) by Umberto Lenzi on the Beat label is not the most exciting score has a couple of interesting tracks.

Digitmovies release of "New York Chiama Superdrago" (1966) (aka Secret Agent Super Dragon) by Benedetto Ghiglia has all the tracks from the original LP as well as 11 bonus tracks!

hero "Agente X1-7 Operazione Oceano" (1966) by Piero Umiliani has bossas, dinner jazz, and a catchy theme. On a Beat label CD

... "INTRIGO A LOS ANGELES (1964)" (aka "Intrigue in Los Angeles" (with Chet Baker on trumpet!) is mostly upbeat jazz tunes with a few "intrigo" tracks. On a Beat label CD.

"Agguato Sul Bosforo" (1969) (aka Colpo Grosso A Porto Said) on the Beat label with a score by Stelvio Cipriani has some cool spy jazz mixed with some so-so filler tracks

"Operation Poker" (1967) has Piero Piccione's jazzy score to the Roger Brown flick.

Piero Umiliani's score to "Agent 3S3, Massacre Au Soleil" (1966) (aka Agent 3S3: Hunter from the Unknown) is available on the Beat label. This one starred Eurospy fave, George Ardisson and was the sequel to "Agente 3s3: Passaporto Per L'inferno" (1965). It is a limited edition CD in their classical collector release series.

The CD comp, "Jerry van Rooyen At 250 Miles Per Hour" includes 4 tracks from his score to "Scorpions and Miniskirts" (1967).

Haven't actually heard this one, but this 7 inch from La Spia Che Viene Dal Mare (1966) has music by Berto Pisano and Nora Orlandi with a vocal by Ella Gaby in Italian.

"That Man from Rio" (1964) starring Jean Paul Belmondo in a fun spy farce with a Georges Delerue score on a Kritzerland CD.

And also by Delerue, a 5 track EP for "L'honorable Stanislaus, Agent Secret" (1963) (aka The Reluctant Spy) on the Disques Cinemusique label. (this seems to have been released in 2021. Not sure if there was a release in the 60's).