I Am Semiramis (1963)
"Io Semiramide" (original title)

Story of an ancient Assyrian queen that supposedly took place around 810 B.C.

Director:

Primo Zeglio

Writers:

Fede Arnaud (screenplay), Luigi De Santis (story),

Stars:

Yvonne Furneaux, John Ericson, Renzo Ricci

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yvonne Furneaux	...	Semiramide
John Ericson	...	Kir
Renzo Ricci	...	Minurte
Germano Longo	...	Onnos
Gianni Rizzo	...	Ghelas
John Bartha	...	(as Gianbarta)
Nino Di Napoli	...	Adath, the King's son
Valérie Camille	...	Ballerina
Mario Laurentino
Piero Pastore
Antonio Corevi
Lucio De Santis	...	Marduk
Charles Fawcett
Annamaria Ubaldi
Massimo Giuliani

Storyline

General Onnos returns from a successful military campaign to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. He presents King Minurte with a number of newly-captured slaves including Kir, defeated king of the Dardanians. Kir attracts the attention of Semiramis, a beautiful young woman who's a member of Minurte's court and who has imperial ambitions. She persuades Minurte to give her a province and then uses slave labor, including Kir, to build herself a city which becomes Babylon. All this time she schemes to overthrow Minurte using shifting alliances with both Kir and General Onnos.

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Plot Keywords:

queen | water wheel | sword fight | murder | assyria | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

22 March 1963 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Slave Queen of Babylon

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apo Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Ericson's voice is dubbed by another actor in the English language version.

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Quotes

Onnos: [speaking to Ghelas of Kir] Possibly he could live a few more hours or days, according to the wishes of the gods, but now, thanks to you, his death will come much quicker.

User Reviews

Too much stuffing in this turkey

Trying to write a coherent synopsis for this sword-and-sandal extravaganza, (set in ancient Assyria), borders on the impossible. The main thrust of the plot seems to be the rise to power of the beautiful but scheming Semiramis. To achieve this goal she simultaneously works both with and against Onnos, a general in the Assyrian army, and Kir, a king defeated by Onnos in battle. Though her efforts eventually seem to meet with success, her murky tangle of shifting alliances makes for a messy story-line which never succeeds in giving us a grip on Semiramis's character. She's neither heroine nor villain and often appears to be controlled by the plot rather than in control of it.

Fortunately, this movie offers compensations: colorful costumes, exotic sets, and several flashy scenes which rise above the muddled plot. One of these scenes shows leading man John Ericson stripped to a loincloth and bound to the side of a water-wheel. As the wheel revolves, it plunges his head in and out of the water. This calls to mind a similar scene in Chapter 9 of the 1947 serial, "The Sea Hound," in which Buster Crabbe suffers a similar torture on another water-wheel.

Yvonne Furneaux is visually alluring as Semiramis and one wishes the script had furnished her with a more consistent and plausible character. John Ericson as Kir falls into the "passable" category and though he seems slightly out-of-place, his failure to ignite the expected romantic sparks with leading lady Furneaux can once again be traced to that hodgepodge of a script.