Hero of Babylon (1963)

Original title: L'eroe di Babilonia

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Gordon Scott, Geneviève Grad, Andrea Scotti, Moira Orfei, Mario Petri, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Siro Marcellini.

Collection Video Films (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Gordon Scott + the usual peplum bit players star in this mediocre effort. 2/5

The Old Testament (1962)

Original title: Il Vecchio Testamento

Biblical/Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Mara Lane & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

Videoklubben (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Boring biblical peplum, shot back-to-back with 79 A.D. Parolini should have brought the trampolines and fantastic supermen to ancient Rome! 2/5

Samson Against the Pirates (1963)

Original title: Sansone contro i Pirati

Peplum/Pirate yarn. Italy. Starring Kirk Morris, Margaret Lee, Daniele Vargas & Tullio Altamura. Directed by Tanio Boccia.

Worldwide Video (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Another slice of Kirk Morris hokum. Yummy! 3/5

Cormack of the Mounties (1974)

Original title: Giubbe Rosse

Adventure/Western. Italy. Starring Fabio Testi, Lynne Frederick, Robert Hundar, Lionel Stander & Lars Bloch. Directed by Joe D'Amato.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Good romantic adventure/western. A well-crafted and subtle film, you'd never guess that this was directed my sleaze/trash mongler D'Amato! 3/5

Temple of a Thousand Lights (1965)

Original title: La Montagna di Luce

Exotic adventure. Italy. Starring Richard Harrison, Luciana Gilli, Daniele Vargas, Andrea Scotti & Dakar. Directed by Umberto Lenzi.

Videoklubben (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Very entertaining exotic adventure/heist film from Mr. Lenzi (one of my favorite directors of adventure- and cop films). Recommended. 4/5

Atlas (1961)

Peplum. USA/Greece. Starrig Michael Forest, Frank Wolff & Barboura Morris. Directed by Roger Corman.

Video For Pleasure (Holland). English language. Letterboxed. The video transfer could be better but it's the only color+lbx print I know of. This appears to be some kind of VFP promo video, tape has no labels but it doesn't appear to be a copy/bootleg. Anybody has a "real" VFP tape of this or know if it was even released?

One of very few american peplum imitations, produced and directed by Corman (who else?) but shot in Greece. A very cheap production (the "spectacular" battle scenes never have more than 4-5 in frame at the same time) but it's entertaining enough and Frank Wolff makes a great villian as Proximates the Tyrant. 3/5

Ulysses Against Hercules (1962)

Original title: Ulisse contro Ercole

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Georges Marchal, Mike Lane, Alessandra Panaro, Gabriele Tinti, Raf Baldassarre, Gianni Santuccio & Yvette Lebon. Directed by Mario Caiano.

Star Video (Finland). English dubbed. Fullscreen. US TV-version.

I only needed to hear the "Mighty Sons of Hercules"-song in the beginning to get in a good mood from this film. A really pulpy and entertaining peplum with some fantastic ingredients, my favorites being the vulture-people and their bigbreasted queen (who of course falls in love with both Hercules and Ulisses). The non-plot is basically that Hercules is on a mission from the gods to find and capture Ulisses for blinding the Cyklops. Ulisses outsmarts Hercules and manages to escape, encounters some fantastic creatures or evil queens, is captured again, outsmarts Hercules, escapes, encounters creatures etc. in absurdum. Of course the two heroes finally becomes the best of friends and joins forces to defeat the evil king Lagos (wonderfully played by Gianni Santuccio), a sweaty, sickly and rambling madmen who likes to torture women and uses his army of neanderthal men to pillage the nearby villages in quest for total power. Silly fun. 3/5

Lionman (1975)

Original title: Kiliç Aslan

Biblical bat-crazy adventure. Turkey/Greece. Starring Cüneyt Arkin. Directed by Natuk Baytan.
Boomerang (Canada). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

One of those perfect trash movies that just has to be seen to believed. Nothing you hear or read will prepare you for the wonder that is Lionman! 5/5

Kerim, Son of the Sheik (1962)

Original title: Il Figlio dello Sceicco

Peplum/Arabian adventure. Italy/France. Starring Gordon Scott, Gordon Mitchell, Moira Orfei, Alberto Farnese & Jany Clair. Directed by Mario Costa.

Video Alsen (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Arabian adventure with some peplum under- and overtones. Mario Costa and Gordon Scott delivers another good one! 3/5

Hawk of the Carribean (1963)

Original title: Lo Sparviero dei Caraibi

Pirate yarn. Italy. Starring Johnny Desmond, Yvonne Monlaur, Armando Francioli, Piero Lulli & Luigi Batzella. Directed by Piero Regnoli.

EKO (UK). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Colorful and highly entertaining pirate-swashbuckler with big band singer Johnny Desmond (of all people) . Johnny's not so much an actor as a bundle of charm, he should have starred in more films! One of the best of its kind! 4/5

Slave of Rome (1961)

Original title: La Schiava di Roma

Peplum. Italy. Starring Guy Madison, Rossana Podestà, Mario Petri, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Sergio Grieco & Franco Prosperi.

VPD (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Three Sergeants of Bengal (1964)

Original title: I Tre Sergenti del Bengala

Exotic adventure. Spain/Italy. Starring Richard Harrison, Wandisa Guida, Ugo Sasso, Andrea Bosic, Aldo Sambrell & Dakar. Directed by Umberto Lenzi.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Stiff, but pretty good exotic adventure from Mr. Lenzi. 3/5

Erik the Conqueror (1961)

Original title: Gli Invasori

Peplum/Vikings. Italy/France. Cameron Mitchell, George Ardisson, Alice Kessler, Ellen Kessler, Raf Baldassarre & Joe Robinson. Directed by Mario Bava.

All World Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Excellent, beautifully shot viking epic! Looks much more expensive than it really was. One of Bava's best non-horror films. 4/5

Knives of the Avenger (1966)

Original title: I Coltelli del Vendicatore

Peplum/Vikings. Italy. Starring Cameron Mitchell, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart & Fausto Tozzi. Directed by Mario Bava.

Magna Filmi Oy (Finland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Western disguised as viking peplum. Never really cared for this film, watch the much better Erik the Conqueror instead if you Bava in viking mood. 2/5

White Fang (1973)

Original title: Zanna Bianca

Adventure/Family/Western. Italy/Spain/France. Starring Franco Nero, Virna Lisi, Fernando Rey, John Steiner, Carole André & Rik Battaglia. Directed by Lucio Fulci.

Viking Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

The Witch's Curse (1962)

Original title: Maciste All'inferno

Peplum/Horror. Italy. Starring Kirk Morris, Hélène Chanel & Andrea Bosic. Directed by Riccardo Freda.

EVC (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed (slightly). The picture is a little stretched out so if you change the aspect ratio on your TV to 1:85:1 you get a pretty good widescreen.

This is one of the most horror influenced and bizarre peplas I have seen, and one of my personal favorites. Our hero Maciste rides in to 17th century Scotland (!), wearing nothing but underwear, to save a maiden from being burned at the stake due to a nasty curse cast by her long dead relative who was a witch. To save the poor girl Maciste has to enter Hell to seek out the witch and make her undo the curse. There he encounters a lion, the magic well of "Kirk Morris-movie flashbacks", monsters and the pittied souls of Hell. A Kirk Morris classic! 4/5

Amazons For Two Adventurers (1974)

Original title: Dschungelmädchen für zwei Halunken

Action/Adventure/Comedy. West Germany/Italy/Spain/Colombia. Starring Robert Widmark, Wolf Goldan, Rinaldo Talamonti, Raquel Ércole & Marie Ekorre. Directed by Ernst Hofbauer & Fernando Orozco.

Mr. Video (Greece). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Another film in the amusing action/slapstick Three Superguys series. In this more adventure-oriented entry the superguys encounter a bunch of cute but nasty amazons while treasurehunting in the amazon jungle. Blink and you'll miss swedish sleaze starlet Marie Ekorre as one of the amazons. 3/5

Revenge of the Barbarians (1960)

Original title: La Vendetta dei Barbari

Peplum. Italy. Starring Anthony Steel, Daniela Rocca, Robert Alda & Arturo Dominici. Directed by Giuseppe Vari.

Inter-Ocean Video (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Kinky, and surprisingly good, peplum melodrama! 3/5

The Mines of Kilimanjaro (1986)

Original title: Le Miniere del Kilimangiaro

Adventure. Italy. Starring Christopher Connelly, Tobias Hoesl, Gordon Mitchell, Al Cliver & Elena Pompei. Directed by Mino Guerrini.

Tower Vision/Scanbox (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

The Arena (1974)

Peplum/Exploitation. Italy/USA. Starring Pam Grier, Margaret Markov, Lucretia Love, Paul Muller, Daniele Vargas, Maria Pia Conte & Rosalba Neri, Vassili Karis. Directed by Steve Carver & Joe D'Amato.

DVD: New Concorde (USA). English language. Fullscreen.

Zan, King of the Jungle (1969)

Original title: Tarzán en la Gruta del Oro

Jungle adventure. Spain/Italy/Puerto Rico. Starring Steve Hawkes, Kitty Swan, Krista Nell, Jesús Puente, Fernando Sancho, Raf Baldassarre & Ugo Sasso. Directed by Manuel Caño.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

The first, and best of the string of cheap, unauthorized Tarzan films that was produced in Spain during the late 60s/early 70s (here Tarzan was called Zan in most countries due to legal matters). Great fun all the way - Steve Hawkes is the coolest Tarzan, Kitty Swan the best jungle girl, the music is great and everything moves a long at fast pace (Umberto Lenzi's script throws in everything from amazons too men in gorilla suits). Recommended. 4/5

Sinbad and the 7 Saracens (1964)

Original title: Sinbad Contro i Sette Saraceni

Arabian fantasy. Italy. Starring Gordon Mitchell, Bruno Piergentili, Bella Cortez, Carla Calò, Maria Pia Conte & Luigi Tosi. Directed by Emimmo Salvi.

Rex Films (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Hercules and the Black Pirate (1964)

Original title: Sansone Contro il Corsaro Nero

Peplum/Pirate yarn. Italy. Starring Alan Steel, Rosalba Neri, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

DVD: Retromedia (USA). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Fun mixture of sword and sandal and pirate film. 3/5

Hercules the Avenger (1965)

Original title: La Sfida dei Giganti

Peplum. Italy. Starring Reg Park, Gia Sandri & Giovanni Cianfriglia. Directed by Maurizio Lucidi.

DVD: Retromedia (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Pretty good quality.

Veeery bad stuff here! The best scenes from Hercules in the Haunted World and Hercules Conquers Atlantis (all starring Park) are edited together with some newly and very cheaply shot scenes. As you might have figured it makes little sense. I guess Park decided to squeeze out the last bucks from his italian visit before returning to the states to pursue his professional bodybuilder career... good timing too, as the Cinecittà peplum boom was pretty much over by 1965 and the producers quickly moved on to westerns and spy films. 2/5

The Mysterious Swordsman (1956)

Original title: Lo Spadaccino Misterioso

Sword. Italy. Starring Frank Latimore, Fiorella Mari, Gérard Landry & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Sergio Grieco.

Video Art (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Dated, uninteresting swashbuckler with Frank Lantimore. Avoid if you're not a fanatic. 2/5

Race to Danger (1986)

Original title: Tre Giorni ai Tropici

Adventure. Italy. Starring Franco Nero & Barbara De Rossi. Directed by Tommaso Dazzi.

Tower Vision/Scanbox (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Harmless little mid-eighties adventure film, works fine as light entertainment for a rainy sunday. 3/5

Un Pirata de Doce Años (1972)

Pirate yarn. Mexico. Starring Hugo Stiglitz, René Cardona III & Christa Linder. Directed by René Cardona Jr.

Oscar Video (Greece). Spanish language with greek subtitles. Fullscreen.

Very obscure pirate flick by René Carona Jr, one of my favorite directors when it comes to stiff genre cinema. A crew of goodhearted English pirates get their ship sunken by the evil spaniards. Their bad luck continues when they are washed ashore on an island used as a Spanish military training camp. Most of the crew are quickly killed off by the spaniards until only the pirates with clear character features remain: The heroic pirate leader (Cardona-favorite Hugo Stiglitz), the kid hero (René Cardona III - aaargh, it never ends!), the Indian (good at scouting and a good listener), the one-eyed brute (good at kicking Spanish asses) and a longhaired, bearded pirate who looks like a overweight middleage hippie (he - uhm- likes to spit a lot). When the pirates realise the spaniards are holding an English noble lady and her kids and chambermaid hostage they decide to go an a rescue mission and try to escape through the jungle. With the Spanish breathing down their neck they encounter cannibals, quicksand and dangerous animals on their way to freedom. I enjoyed this flick quite a lot. Even though I don't understand Spanish, the plot is easy enough to follow and the film never gets too talky for its own good. The film offers lots of dated swashbuckling fun to be had and there's never long between the swordsplay, crocodile attacks or cannibal ambushs. Fans of bad models will enjoy the sinking of the model ship, Antonio Margheriti would be proud. Add some crisp photography and good locations and you have 90 entertaining minutes. 4/5

They Were Called Three Musketeers But They Were Four (1973)

Original title: Li Chiamavano i Tre Moschettieri... Invece Erano Quattro

Sowrd/Comedy. Italy. Starring Tony Kendall, Ettore Manni, Stan Cooper &
Seyna Seyn. Directed by Silvio Amadio.

Videoklubben (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

From the director of the great gialli Amuck and Smile Before Death comes this bizzarre costume slapstick with nudity, toilet humor, swashbuckling and even some (bad) kung fu! I know i've expressed praise for such daft adventure/slapstick atrocities such as Ricci's Robin Hood, Arrows, Beans and Karate, but this is where I draw the line. 2/5

Arm of Fire (1964)

Original title: Il Colosso di Roma

Peplum. Italy. Starring Gordon Scott, Massimo Serato, Gabriella Pallotta, Maria Pia Conte & Philippe Hersent. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

King Movies (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Well made, if pretty standard, peplum. Ferroni knows his craft. 3/5

Massacre in the Black Forest (1967)

Original title: Hermann der Cherusker - Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald

Peplum. West Germany/Italy. Starring Hans von Borsody, Cameron Mitchell, Antonella Lualdi & Beba Loncar. Directed by Ferdinando Baldi & Rudolf Nussgruber (uncredited).

World Home Centre Video (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Cleopatra's Daughter (1960)

Original title: Il Sepolcro dei Re

Peplum/Romance. Italy/France. Starring Debra Paget, Ettore Manni, Corrado Pani, Erno Crisa & Rosalba Neri. Directed by Fernando Cerchio.

PZ Video Films (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Worthless peplum melodrama. 1/5

Hercules Unchained (1959)

Original title: Ercole e la Regina di Lidia

Peplum. Italy/France/Spain. Starring Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Sylvia Lopez, Gabriele Antonini, Patrizia Della Rovere, Mimmo Palmara & Daniele Varga. Directed by Pietro Francisci.

DVD: Concorde (Germany). English or german language options. Widescreen. Nice quality.

The follow-up to Francisci's Hercules is even better than the first one. Essential viewing. 4/5

Hercules (1958)

Original title: Le Fatiche di Ercole

Peplum. Italy/Spain.

Starring Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Fabrizio Mioni, Gianna Maria Canale, Arturo Dominici & Mimmo Palmara. Directed by Pietro Francisci.

DVD: Concorde (Germany). English and german language options. Widescreen. Nice quality. It's has a few seconds worth of insignificant cuts though, so the french disc is preferable for the peplum aficianado. But this disc also have the best version of Hercules Unchained, so both discs are needed.

The original muscleman epic! Not my all time favorite peplum but still, classic stuff. 4/5

Hercules (1958)

Original title: Le Fatiche di Ercole

Peplum. Italy/Spain. Starring Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Fabrizio Mioni, Gianna Maria Canale, Arturo Dominici & Mimmo Palmara. Directed by Pietro Francisci.

DVD: DVDY (France). English and french language options. Widescreen. Nice quality.

The original muscleman epic! Not my all time favorite peplum but still, classic stuff. 4/5

The Giant of Metropolis (1961)

Original title: Il Gigante di Metropolis

Peplum. Italy. Starring Gordon Mitchell, Bella Cortez, Liana Orfei, Carlo Tamberlani & Leopoldo Savona. Directed by Umberto Scarpelli.

DVD: Retromedia (USA). English dubbed. Fake "letterbox". Pretty terrible quality.

Somebody here obviously liked the 1930s Flash Gordon serials when they were kids... A wonderful sci-fi peplum! Deserves a much better release than this crap DVD. 4/5

Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961)

Original title: Ercole alla Conquista di Atlantide

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Reg Park, Fay Spain, Ettore Manni, Luciano Marin & Mario Petri. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

Videoform (UK). English dubbed. Widescreen. Excellent print - I haven't seen the Retromedia DVD but considering their track record I would guess that this video snuffs it!

Considered by me and many others as one of the most accomplished, visually imaginative and entertaining peplas out there. Reg Park is the perfect Hercules, it's a shame he only starred in a handful of films. 4/5

Zorro and the Three Musketeers (1963)

Original title: Zorro e i Tre Moschettieri

Zorro/Sword. Italy. Starring Gordon Scott, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Livio Lorenzon & Maria Grazia Spina. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

Wahlters Video/Cinehollywood (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed (slightly).

I know I have seen this one, but I can't remember a thing about it... and that's probably not a good sign. 2/5

Zorro at the Spanish Court (1962)

Original title: Zorro alla Corte di Spagna

Zorro adventure. Italy. Starring George Ardisson, Carla Calò, Tullio Altamura, Livio Lorenzon, Alberto Lupo,Carlo Tamberlani & Maria Grazia Spina. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

Wahlters Video/Cinehollywood (Sweden). Letterboxed. Very dark print.

Naive Zorro adventure. It was a long time since I saw it but I remember not thinking too much of it. 2/5

Kilma, Queen of the Amazons (1975)

Original title: Kilma, Reina de las Amazonas

Amazon adventure. Spain. Starring Eva Miller, Frank Braña, Claudia Gravy & Luis Induni. Directed by Miguel Iglesias.

Videofilm AB (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

This time Kilma is a proud amazon queen who defends her paradise island from nasty pirates. I liked the Kilma jungle girl flick a little bit better, but this is still an amusing 90 minutes. 3/5

The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)

Adventure. USA/Liechtenstein/Spain/Switzerland. Starring Kirk Douglas, Yul Brunner, Samantha Eggar, Fernando Rey, Aldo Sambrell & Luis Barboo. Directed by Kevin Billington.

DVD: Image (USA). English language. Widescreen. Very good quality.

Very special, slow but intelligent and very well-made adventure film adapted from the little read Jules Verne novel Lighthouse at the Edge of the World - haven't read it myself but it's from his later, more pessimistic period. Kirk Douglas plays a lighthouse keeper whose island is taken over by a band of ruthless pirates and gives one of the finest performances of his career. I love this film - one of my favorite Verne films! 4/5

Aventura al Centro de la Tierra (1965)

Fantasy/Adventure. Mexico. Starring Kitty de Hoyos & Javier Solis. Directed by Alfredo B. Crevenna.

DVD: Televista (USA). Spanish language with no subtitles. Fullscreen. So-so quality.

Entertaining mexican fantasy in the Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth school - lot's of exitement and imaginative dime-store monsters, the lack of subtitles was no major problem for me. 3/5

The Invincible Masked Rider (1963)

Original title: L'invincibile Cavaliere Mascherato

Zorro adventure. Italy/France. Starring Pierre Brice, Daniele Vargas, Hélène Chanel & Massimo Serato. Directed by Umberto Lenzi.

DVD: KSM (Germany). German dubbed. Widescreen.

Gladiators Seven (1962)

Original title: I Sette Gladiatori

Peplum. Italy/Spain. Starring Richard Harrison, Livio Lorenzon, Loredana Nusciak & Gérard Tichy. Directed by Pedro Lazaga.

DVD: VCI (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Reasonable quality.

Above average gladiator flick, quite fun! 3/5

The Pirates of Capri (1949)

Original title: I Pirati di Capri

Pirate yarn. Italy/USA. Starring Louis Hayward, Binnie Barnes, Mariella Lotti, Massimo Serato & Alan Curtis. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer & Giuseppe Maria Scotese.

DVD: Allday Entertainment (USA). Fullscreen. English dubbed. Good quality.

Fun pirate/costume flick by Ulmer - the master of the B's. 3/5

Hannibal (1960)

Original title: Annibale

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Victor Mature, Gabriele Ferzetti, Milly Vitale, Rik Battaglia, Terence Hill, Andrea Aureli, Bud Spencer. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer & Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.

DVD: VCI (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Reasonable quality.

Bigscale historical epic on medium budget (somewhere between Cottafavi and Ben Hur). Pretty good film - even though the unnecessary love story drags a lot and the film cheats us out of the stampeding war elephants.! Actor Victor Mature looks like a beefed-up Björn Ranelid, right down to the lips... (only funny for swedes) 3/5

Messalina (1960)

Original title: Messalina Venere Imperatrice

Peplum/Historical. Starring by Belinda Lee, Giulio Donnini, Arturo Dominici, Ida Galli & Giuliano Gemma. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

DVD: E-M-S (Germany). English/german language options. Widescreen. Very good quality.

This 'risque' historical epic must have been considered pretty daring at its time, but today it feels very dated and tame. Not one of Cottafavi's best. 2/5

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

Original title: Il Terrore dei Barbari

Peplum. Italy. Starring Steve Reeves, Gabriele Tinti & Chelo Alonso. Directed by Carlo Campogalliani.

Medusa Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Steve Reeves fights some raiding mongolians. I remember it as a pretty dull affair but I think I will have to give it another chance on DVD some day... 2/5

Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)

Original title: Ercole Contro i Figli del Sole

Peplum. Italy/Spain. Starring Mark Forest, Anna Maria Panaro, Giuliano Gemma, Andrea Scotti & Ángela Rhu. Directed by Osvaldo Civirani.

Pirate Video (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed (slightly).

Hercules travels to South America in this Grade Z peplum. So bad it's... just bad. 1/5

Legend of Sea Wolf (1975)

Original title: Il Lupo dei Mari

Adventure. Italy. Starring Chuck Connors, Barbara Bach, Lars Bloch, Ivan Rassimov, Giuseppe Pambieri & Rik Battaglia. Directed by Giuseppe Vari.

Hemvideo Film (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed. Worn swedish cinema print

Lions of St. Petersburg (1971)

Original title: Leoni di Petersburgo

Adventure. Italy. Starring Mark Damon, Erna Schürer, Gary Wilson & Piero Regnoli. Directed by Mario Siciliano.

Wahlters Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Widescreen. Very good quality.

Director Sicliano is more famous (by italo-exploitation fans that is) for dreck like he incredibly sick and racist action film Skin 'Em Alive and the porno-horror Orgasmo Esotico - this is his attempt at a "clean" russian adventure film . While the film is very nicely photographed and shot they really should have payed more attention to the script. The viewer is often totally in the blue regarding the characters actions and motivations and it's hard to follow the plot. Nice to look at but ultimately confusing and boring. This swedish video has a wonderful new tagline: "KILL THE FUCKING COSACKS"! 2/5