‘I’ll have her eat the dust at your feet.’
When the King of Nogara dies unexpectedly of plague, he names one of his two nieces to take the throne. The identity of the new Queen is written in his will, and each princess asks a legendary hero to retrieve the document…
Unusual mashup of swashbuckler and Peplum from director Umberto Lenzi, who co-wrote with Gabriele D’Annunzio and Guido Malatesta. Sergio Ciani takes the Maciste role under his usual pseudonym of Alan Steel, and Pierre Brice dons the mask and cape of Zorro.
The Royal Court in Nogara is thrown into uproar when news arrives of the sudden death of King Phillip IV. Both of his nieces, Malva (Moira Orfei) and Isabella (Maria Grazia Spina) have equal claim to the crown. However, Philip has chosen the successor in his will, which is being brought under seal from his final resting place by a troop of soldiers led by General Salvedra (Attilio Dottesio). Orfei is convinced the document will name her cousin the heir and plots with her lover, Garcia de Higuera (Massimo Serato), to substitute a forgery. Unable to move openly, they fool Maciste (Ciani) into taking on the mission to obtain it.
However, Spina suspects Orfei may try to seize the throne by any means necessary. She shares her concerns with lovestruck young poet Ramon (Brice), who suggests she enlists the help of daredevil swordsman Zorro (Brice again, of course). Before either Ciani or Brice can get their hands on it, however, the army column is attacked by rebels led by Rabek (Andrea Aureli). He realises the scroll in question may be valuable and plans to sell it to the highest bidder. Working in opposition, Ciani and Brice attempt to secure the vital document.
The pairing of Swashbuckler and Peplum probably would have been no surprise to Italian audiences of the early 1960s. Before the sudden popularity of the latter, historical costume dramas had been the mainstay of post-war Italian cinema, and many of those features involved square-jawed heroes crossing rapiers with grizzled pirates and the like in the name of fortune, love and honour. The sets, costumes and props would have been readily available if nothing else, and this adventure takes place firmly in that world rather than in Maciste’s usual stomping ground of the arena and the chariot race.
First and foremost, this is a very professional picture. It’s paced just right, with Lenzi establishing the plot and characters with a pleasing economy at the beginning and moving the story smartly between action scenes. These are competently staged, but there’s a sad lack of dash and style, a criticism that can also be levelled at Brice. He’s alright in the mask and cloak but seems to take little of the joy in his work exhibited by the best of the swashbucklers. Ciani is the more successful screen presence, likeable and fun, even if selling a fight with a barely moving mechanical crocodile proves a bridge too far for his acting prowess.
Our two heroes joust verbally and physically as the scroll passes from one to the other and back again, the situation complicated by a forgery that’s thrown into the mix. But it all lacks a sense of sparkle, although there’s a good scene where Ciani downs the inevitable goblet of drugged wine in a tavern at carnival time. All the patrons, including Brice, wear bizarre, outsized masks, making for some memorable visuals. Unfortunately, it’s the exception rather than the rule, and the project would have benefited from a little more imagination in most departments.
The supporting cast features some familiar faces, with Peplum veterans Orfei and Serrato reliably evil as the wannabe Queen and her ruthless captain of the guard. Surprisingly, the standout at court is Spina, who invests her generic ‘good girl’ role with flashes of quiet humour and bags of personality. Actually, she seems so capable that it’s hard to believe she’s surprised when Zorro reveals his true identity at the end of the film. Peplum heroines were often little more than window dressing, so it’s always pleasing to find one with a little more to offer.
Lenzi’s film has no obvious faults to highlight, but, by the same token, few points to praise either. If it feels like a Zorro film with ‘Hero of the Month’ Maciste crowbarred in, then that’s exactly what it is, but the final results work efficiently enough. The conflict between the two and their inevitable team-up to fight the forces of evil are well defined and credible, managed without the painful contrivances of similar celebrity crossovers, such as the awful ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016). Curiously, the film was retitled ‘Samson and the Slave Queen’ (1963) for release in America. Samson isn’t in it, and if there is a Slave Queen, she remains offscreen for the entire runtime.
Lenzi was initially a film student, journalist and novelist whose first film as a writer and director went unreleased in 1958. Appropriately enough, his official debut on Italian screens came with ‘Queen of the Seas/Le avventure di Mary Read’ (1961), a historical action romance featuring a female pirate captain. Lenzi was a workhorse of Italian cinema for the next quarter of a century, delivering films in whichever genre was selling tickets at the time. Peplum, Eurospys, Spaghetti Westerns, Giallo, Cop thrillers, Mafia films, and, eventually, the cannibal and horror movies for which he’s best remembered today. He ran up almost 70 directing credits before his final film in 1992. Afterwards, he returned to his career as a novelist and passed away in 2017.
Nothing very special, but an efficient, professional outing that provides a decent level of entertainment.