SAI COSA FACEVA STALIN ALLE DONNE? (1969)
Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? – which roughly translates as What Did Stalin Do To Women – is an Italian comedy drama with a political undertone, written and directed by Maurizio Liverani. The story focus on Aldo and Benedetto (Helmut Berger and Benedetto Benedetti), two young and idealistic Communist intellectuals who come to Rome under the patronage of an important left-wing politician. Benedetto is serious, and involves himself in political activities, but Aldo becomes quickly disillusioned with his new life, and exploits his coincidental physical resemblance to Stalin as a means to woo women.
Morricone’s score for the film is basically a series of variations on two central main theme, one unsurprisingly called “Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne?” and the other called “Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin?”. “Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne?” has a slightly comedic air, with quirky vocals and a peculiar tuba melody that eventually picks up a spiky, glittery arrangement that includes strings, harpsichord, piano, electric bass guitar, accordion, and tapped wooden percussion. The whole thing has an idiosyncratic, caper-like feel that is amusing and fun, that I like quite a great deal. Later, there is a more groovy lounge music arrangement (#2), a Europop/rock version (#5), and a truly bizarre version that breaks down the theme entirely and surrounds it with breathing and noises and the sound of someone scraping a wet finger down a window (#4).
On the other hand, “Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin?” is grittier, dirtier, and jazzier, with a terrific muted trumpet solo (#1), a tango variation (#2), a variation with wordless vocals (#3), and even a liturgical chant that sounds like medieval plainsong (#4)! Meanwhile, the “Scherzo da Guerra” is a piece of frothy renaissance-inflected dance fluff with a prominent organ, lively strings, and a soft rock beat, while “Filastrocca Per Cretini” is a near-indescribable piece which moves from something approximating a medieval jester’s march to a fun bossa nova beat, before ending with more of those ‘fingers-on-windows’ noises, kisses, and orgasm noises. Only Morricone!
There had been a couple of releases of the score for Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne by Italian label CAM, which usually paired it with music from the 1980 film Stark System. It was finally released as a standalone album in 2013 by Beat Records, and this is the one I’ve reviewed here. It’s a fun score, offbeat and creative, but of its more out-there moments might strike some people are being just too peculiar for words.
Track Listing: 1. Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? (2:23), 2. Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin? (1:54), 3. Scherzo da Guerra (2:08), 4. Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? #2 (0:55), 5. Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? #3 (1:48), 6. Scherzo da Guerra #2 (1:07), 7. Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? #4 (4:25), 8. Scherzo da Baffone (1:18), 9. Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? #5 (1:18), 10. Lo Sai Cosa Faceva Stalin Alle Donne? #6 (4:36), 11. Filastrocca Per Cretini (2:43), 12. Scherzo da Guerra #3 (3:05), 13. Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin? #2 (0:34), 14. Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin? #3 (2:36), 15. Filastrocca Per Cretini #2 (1:19), 16. Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin? #4 (0:57), 17. Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne a Stalin? #5 (2:24). Beat Records BCM-9524, 35 minutes 30 seconds
