Attila (1954)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Pietro Francisci

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (writer)
Richard C. Sarafian (writer)

Release Date:

17 May 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Surging Spectacle and Savagery Overwhelms the Screen With Passion and Violence! Cast of Thundering Thousands!

Plot:

Attila, the leader of the barbarian Huns and called by the Romans "The Scourage of God", sweeps onto the Italian peninsula, defeating all of the armies of Rome, until he and his men reach the gates of the city itself.

Plot Keywords:

Barbarian | Emperor | Pope | Rampage | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Anthony Quinn	...	Attila
Sophia Loren	...	Honoria
Henri Vidal	...	Aetius
Claude Laydu	...	Valentiniano Caesar
Irene Papas	...	Grune
Colette Régis	...	Galla Placidia
Ettore Manni	...	Bleda, brother of Attila
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Onegesius, counsellor to Attila (as Eduardo Cianelli)
Georges Bréhat	...	Prisco
Christian Marquand	...	Hun Leader
Anthony Pawley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Antonio Amendola
Richard Bakalyan
Fabio Bellisario
Fernando Birri
Guido Celano	...	Capo della tribu
Mirella Di Lauri
Cristina Fantoni
Mario Feliciani	...	Ippolito
Piero Giagnoni
Marco Guglielmi	...	Kadis
Carlo Hinterman	...	Capo della tribu
Dickie Jones
Edilio Kim	...	Soldato unno
Renzo Malatesta
Scott Marlowe
Furio Meniconi	...	Capo della tribu
Aurelio Miserendino
Mimmo Palmara	...	Lottatore
Piero Pastore	...	Capo della tribu
Aldo Pini	...	Dominicus
Aldo Sprovieri
Mario Valente
Henri Vidon

Also Known As:

Attila (USA)
Attila fléau de Dieu (France)
Attila the Hun (UK)
Attila, il flagello di Dio (Italy)

Runtime:

100 min | UK:76 min (25 fps) (video release) | USA:83 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | Argentina:13 | Iceland:16

Company:

Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Trivia:

In 1962, Embassy Pictures reissued this in the USA on a double feature with Le fatiche di Ercole (1958) (English Title: "Hercules" starring Steve Reeves) with the tag line "The Mightiest Men In All The World! The Mightiest Show In All the World!"

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Sophia Loren: Actress Italian Style" (1997)

The mighty Quinn

The script is admittedly very badly written but it follows roughly Attila 's biography.Of course ,as it is a 75 min movie,many moments are passed over in silence but all that concerns the main characters is accurate: the brother was slain by Attila and his German vassals ,Honoria tried to forge an alliance with him,(but her brother locked her into a convent),and yes,the pope found the right words to stop the conqueror.He had previously failed in front of Paris ,reportedly with a little help from Saint Genevieve ,a woman of God who urged the Parisians to resist.

The film suffers from an international ill-assorted cast:an American (Quinn) ideally cast as the bar bar,an Italian (Sophia Loren) which made sense,but also a Greek thespian (Irene Pappas) plus three French actors :Henri Vidal cast as the noble loyal hero- a character not unlike the legionnaire he played in "Fabiola"-,who was formerly Attila's good friend (?),Claude Laydu who gives a passable performance of an effeminate fearful emperor ,probably influenced by Peter Ustinov's masterful portrayal of Nero in Mervyn Le Roy's "Quo Vadis" ,Colette Régis,an obscure actress plays his mother ,an over possessive one of course.

Also handicapped by a last scene which verges on Christian propaganda -the last picture is revealing-,the film is to recommend only for Quinn's fans.