Hermann der Cherusker - Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald (1967)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Ferdinando Baldi

Writers:

Ferdinando Baldi (screenplay)
Adriano Bolzoni (screenplay)

Genre:

War | Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

In the first half of the first century A.D., the Teutonic tribes, led by Arminius The Terrible, rebel against the cruel and conquering Roman Empire...

Plot Keywords:

Ancient Rome

Cast

Hans von Borsody	...	Arminius
Antonella Lualdi	...	Tusnelda
Cameron Mitchell	...	Consul Aulus Sessina
Beba Loncar	...	Livia
Dieter Eppler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beli Bolin
Peter Carsten
Remo De Angelis
Andrej Gardenin	...	Fencer
Alex Gavin
Vladimir Medar		(as Alex Medar)
Paul Windsor

Also Known As:

Arminius the Terrible (UK) (video title)
Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald (West Germany)
Il massacro della foresta nera (Italy)
Massacre in the Black Forest (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:82 min

Country:

West Germany | Italy

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf)

Company:

Avala Film

MASSACRE IN THE BLACK FOREST (Ferdinando Baldi and, uncredited, Rudolf Nussgruberg, 1967) **1/2

This middling peplum is one of a myriad genre efforts which American actor Cameron Mitchell appeared in throughout the 1960s. As was the custom, the Italian names in the credits were Anglicized for the foreign market – sometimes comically so with, for instance, Lucky Stetson as cinematographer (even the director became Ferdy Baldwin)! Incidentally, the film is a German-Italian co-production – and the cast, apart from the obligatory American star, includes performers from both these countries (with a Rutger Hauer lookalike for the German villain, an allegedly legendary historical character, Antonella Lualdi – from Vittorio Cottafavi's splendid THE 100 HORSEMEN [1964] – as his lover and, again, a German actress providing Mitchell's tentative romantic interest).

The plot – to say nothing of the wintry settings – recalls THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964), one of Hollywood's finest spectacles from this era; the result is equally glum and, similarly, features an ominous score atypical of the genre. The film, then, is highlighted by two spectacular (if uninspired) battle sequences – the first depicting the titular ambush by the Barbarians, and the other being the Romans' elaborate retaliation.