Gianpaolo Bigazzi Movies
- 1965
In this costume drama, a 17th-century Polish colonel falls in love with a princess. Unfortunately the girl is already engaged to a Ukraine commander. The colonel does his best to convince her to break it off and take off with him. The commander gets even by burning down the count's palace and massacring all the residents. He then kidnaps the princess and designs an attack on the colonel's unit. The Poles do not run, and the count is killed thus freeing the lovers to reunite. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Steve Reeves gives the most dramatically demanding performance of his career (and a surprisingly good one) in The Trojan Horse. Essentially a retelling of the final year of the siege of Troy from the point of view of Aeneas (Reeves), the movie is filled with fascinating portrayals. Aeneas, taking the interpretation from the poet Virgil, is the wisest of the Trojans and, after ten years of war, has become the leading advocate for finding an end to the fighting. His wisdom and nobility have earned him a place at the table with King Priam and the other rulers, which puts him at odds with the vain, jealous Paris and his Helen. Opening with the slaying of Hector by Achilles, the film is steeped in complex personal relationships and mythological conceits. John Drew Barrymore is the other "name" actor here, playing Ulysses as a clever, cynical, and bold warrior among the Greeks. Reeves brings real nobility to Aeneas and relies on his acting skills as much as his physique to bring off this movie, often mixing the two in a script filled with ironies, as when Aeneas must kill a Greek warrior for whom he earlier expressed respect. Along with Reeves' two Hercules films from the end of the 1950s, and Vittorio Cottafavi's Hercules and the Captive Women, this is one of the best examples of Italy's sword-and-sandal genre. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
In this offbeat costume horror film set in 1912, Hans (Pierre Brice), a young art student, is sent to a remote Dutch village to collect information about the local windmill. The windmill is decorated with moving sculptures of women in various gruesome scenes of torture and death. Professor Wahl (Herbert Boehme), the curator of the windmill, also teaches art and sculpture. Among the professor's students, Hans meets Liselotte (Dany Carrel), his childhood friend who still loves him. He also gets acquainted with Wahl's beautiful daughter, Elfi (Scilla Gabel), who suffers from a rare blood disease and is not allowed to leave her house. Then Hans discovers the shocking secret behind the professor's attempts to keep his daughter alive. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brice, Dany Carrel, (more)
- 1958
British sex symbol Belinda Lee stars in the overheated Italian costume melodrama La Venere di Cheronea (The Venus of Cheronea). Lee is cast as Afrodite, the girl who allegedly inspired the greatest works of famed Greek sculptor Praxiletes (Massimo Girotti). According to the screenplay, Afrodite was also the romantic bone of contention between Praxiletes and fugitive warrior Claudio (Jacques Sernas). Naturally, the plotline requires the curvaceous Lee to disrobe at the slightest provocation, and just as naturally, the censors had a hissy-fit every time she bared her knee or shoulder. The principal attribute of La Venere di Cheronea is the excellent color cinematography of Arturo Galles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belinda Lee, Massimo Girotti, (more)
