I wonder if anyone has looked into the possibility of releasing the score to this early Amicus film. It doesn't have a lot of music, but Douglas Gamley's distinctive cues and spooky Gregorian chants are applied gradually until the score really takes over. The use of Gregorian chants set this film apart from most others of its type.
Don't wish to discourage you, Richard-W, but it is unlikely that recording sessions done in the U.K. survive intact.
My impression is that the filmmakers wished to capture the atmosphere of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal ... so the chanting might have modeled after Erik Nordgren's score.
If the score tapes to THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, which is another Amicus film, can turn up maybe there's a chance for THE CITY OF THE DEAD.
Getting the music for HOUSE was partly luck, not that it doesnt mean the tapes or stems for CITY aren't sitting somewhere. Bruce doesnt say when he got it, but does say how:
"This is the premiere release of The House that Dripped Blood. The transfers were made from the 35mm magnetic music-only mixing elements and the mono sound is crisp and clear and really excellent.
"This came to me in a very odd way, but thank goodness I was there when the call came in, because these 35mm mags were about to be dumped in the trash. I was asked if I wanted them, I said yes. This was almost lost to the trash heap."
I admit the likelihood is slim but I hope someone pokes around on the chance the tapes might have survived. It's worth a shot.
Interesting that a 1960 film got rated X....
Only in England. The City of the Dead was a British film made under the iron heel of British censors who were then cracking down on the horror genre (that same year they prevented Hammer Films from producing I Am Legend). In the USA the title was changed to Horror Hotel and I don't think it was rated at all.
"Rated X." Now wait a second, is this the one that has a "Candlemass Eve" -or something setting? Because I remember seeing this as a kid on TV, if so. The one piece of music that stayed underscored an eerie waltz a la Disney haunted house.
