FIORI DI LOTO COL SILENZIATORE "OSS-77 OPERATION LOTUS" (aka "Tonnerre sur Pekin") is an Italo-French co-production of 1965 directed by John Huxley (Bruno Paolinelli) and starring Robert Kent (Sandro Moretti), Yoko Tani, Dominique Boschero, Gaia Germani, Jean-Louis Tristan, Paul Albert. A scientist escaped from China to travel to the United Nations and reveal to the world that his country is in possession of the atomic bomb. The intelligence services of the countries behind the Iron Curtain, however, in the Italian sky succeed to put down the plane on which Chou Yen Fu is flying. The injured scientist is brought in a hospital clinic. In Rome the secret services of many powers are after the scientist, but all attempts are thwarted by the secret agent OSS-77 that, overcoming all obstacles, succeed to bring Chou Yen Fu in an American submarine off the Italian coast. However, the efforts of the protagonist will be in vain, in fact the very moment he reached the end of its vicissitudes, the newspapers announced that China had detonated its first atomic bomb. This film gives a nod to James Bond Agent 007 and the initials OSS-77 is inspired by the French film OSS-117 by André Hunebelle (with music by Michel Magne and Piero Piccioni). The Oscar winner Luis Bacalov made a very impressive and dramatic score, for the very first time on a record, using a symphony orchestra that makes the product quite important even if shot with modest means, using glimpses of the elegant Parioli district as a location in Rome, spaces in the countryside outside the city and also archive footage. This OST opens with an epic main theme, a piece of oriental flavor, very festive atmosphere immediately immerses the listener in Eastern Europe, and the same finally ends the movie and this CD. Several pieces of noir suspense and action themes alternate with pleasant lounge-type jazz, bossa nova and a song performed by a female voice survived in stereo. All music in this CD is from the master tapes in mono of the original session expertly restored and remastered. Claudio Fuiano |
