Ever wonder what would happen if Gina Lollobrigida were dubbed in one of her movies? You'll have to rent Crossed Swords to see her mouth moving in a slightly different pattern than the words coming out of her mouth. Whoever dubbed her obviously had no trouble with the English language, and the result is quite jarring to hear her speaking without any trace of an accent.
You might want to turn this one off when you first start it, but if you like Errol Flynn's adventure movies of the past, give it a second chance. Yes, the production values are terrible, the supporting cast isn't great, and the script is silly, but it's supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek semi-spoof of his earlier movies. Errol stars as a womanizing Don Juan type who refuses to settle down and is just as quick to seduce a married woman as a single one. When a law is passed in the kingdom that all men over the age of twenty must be forced to marry, Errol has to skip town. The trouble is, he gets distracted by Gina, and she tries to get him to return.
Crossed Swords is silly, but it's supposed to be. Errol's charming smirk is practically directed at the camera the entire time. He doesn't even try to make it look like he did his own stunts, because it's funnier that way. From the back, he swings from a rope and does a forward roll onto a table while brandishing a sword. The close-up cuts to his face, refreshed and smiling. While dueling, he notices a jug of wine and holds up a hand to his opponent: "Wait!" he commands before taking a drink. If you want something silly, you can't get much sillier than this. He's still classy, folks, just with a few miles on him. And since he knows it, he's not taking himself too seriously.
