Despite a seasoned cast (Jacques Sernas, John Drew Barrymore, Gianna Maria Canale and Gordon Mitchell), this is still a strictly average peplum – the direct result of a dreary narrative and indifferent handling. Sernas is a centurion sent to negotiate the surrender of Corinth to Rome but the king, instigated by his adviser Barrymore (who, as if his generally sinister countenance were not reptilian enough, is made to keep a variety of snakes
and, predictably, himself dies at their hands!) wants to keep up the fight. Leading the opposition is an elderly statesman who, unbelievably, has Canale for a wife (which leads her to subsequently pine for Sernas but he only has eyes for the king's own daughter!). Mitchell, then, is the Roman warrior dispatched to deliver the coup-de-grace to the country and who, naturally, finds Sernas' attempts to make the takeover bid a pacifist one weak-kneed and downright treacherous! Incidentally, this is the first of 7 films I will be watching in the same vein in the coming week, all of which happen to feature Mitchell in various guises and nationalities.
For the record, the TV-sourced copy I watched was marred by intermittent audio glitches – which occurs with an alarming frequency on this one channel, "Movies 4 Men"! – that sometimes made the dialogue (not that it was particularly inspired or even compelling) hard to make out! By the way, given that the original Italian-language version of this one is apparently 105 minutes long, it is no surprise that the 74-minute English-dubbed edition I watched felt somewhat rushed, particularly at the end; regrettably, although the cast list includes Luis Bunuel and "Fantozzi" regular Milena Vukotic I did not recognize her and, for all I know, it could well be that all her footage ended up getting trimmed! The film, then, is nothing special but the committed contribution of both Canale (engaged at one point in a one-on-one with the heroine, she not only unaccountably ends up on the receiving end of the latter's whip but is even impaled on her own dagger!) and a typically intense Barrymore (needless to say, his own advances towards the leading lady are also vehemently rejected) makes one regret that it was not any better
For the record, the TV-sourced copy I watched was marred by intermittent audio glitches – which occurs with an alarming frequency on this one channel, "Movies 4 Men"! – that sometimes made the dialogue (not that it was particularly inspired or even compelling) hard to make out! By the way, given that the original Italian-language version of this one is apparently 105 minutes long, it is no surprise that the 74-minute English-dubbed edition I watched felt somewhat rushed, particularly at the end; regrettably, although the cast list includes Luis Bunuel and "Fantozzi" regular Milena Vukotic I did not recognize her and, for all I know, it could well be that all her footage ended up getting trimmed! The film, then, is nothing special but the committed contribution of both Canale (engaged at one point in a one-on-one with the heroine, she not only unaccountably ends up on the receiving end of the latter's whip but is even impaled on her own dagger!) and a typically intense Barrymore (needless to say, his own advances towards the leading lady are also vehemently rejected) makes one regret that it was not any better