The Loves of Salammbo

It is set in III century BC , the Carthagenian are battling Romans and then Carthage hires mercenaries to support their fight. But the Carthagenians don't execute the agreement about the terms of payment .Then the revengeful mercenaries carry out an upheaval against them . Meanwhile, Salammbo, gorgeous Jeanne Valere, the highest priestess of the bloody Goddess Tanit attempts to settle the conflict by gettting a covenant , but things go wrong when the mercenaries led by Jacques Sernas, are betrayed by the main member of the council of wise men, Edmund Purdom.

An acceptable sword and sandals movie with intrigues , thrills emotion and impressive battles . Freely based on the known novel by Gustave Flauvert, the film inspires itself on the prestigious book taking parts here and there. Here appears some historical characters, as the notorious general Amilcar Barca, father of Annibal and Asdrubal who battled fiercely the Romans in the Punic Wars . Decent main cast as the very young Jeanne Valere as Salammbo, the virginal priestess , daughter of Amilcar Barca and who falls really in love with the mercenary chief played by Jacques Sernas, he exacts a vendetta stealing the sacred veil of the Goddess Tanit from the temple where the Chartaginian practice human sacrifices . Support cast is pretty good, full of secondaries of the 60s and 70s such as Riccardo Garrone, Arnaldo Foa, Kamala Devi who subsequently had a brief Hollywod career, Nando Tamberlani, Raf Baldassarre, Ivano Stacciolini, Andrea Aureli, Franco Franchi , Pasquale Basile, among others.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Sergio Grieco. He was a good craftsman who made a lot of adventures, action and thrillers movies as Sergeant Klems, SOS agent 017, Rififi in Amsterdam, The mysterious swordsman , Lucrezia Borgia, La regina dei Tartaro, Il Capitano di Ferro, Pirates of the Black Hawk....