Pierre Cressoy Movies

This bloody spaghetti western (filmed entirely in Spain) tells the tale of how an Indian (Burt Reynolds), whose entire tribe was slain by Anglo outlaws, gets gruesome revenge upon them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

After being falsely accused of cattle rustling and murder, rancher Brent Landers (played here by Giuliano Gemma) follows the trail of the man who set him up. Landers happens upon the young Lucy (Evelyn Stewart), stripped naked, tied spread eagle to the ground, and left to bake in the hot desert sun after being sexually assaulted by three men who robbed her stagecoach. Tex Slaughter, the local sheriff, is more interested in handing Brent over for the reward on his head, so Landers has his hands full protecting the recuperating Lucy and bringing the men who raped her to justice, while also trying to stay alive long enough to clear his own name. ~ Cub Koda, Rovi

Dan Vadis plays a very husky, somewhat headstrong Hercules (closer to some aspects of the legend than many other portrayals) in this sword-and-sandal adventure tale, which combines elements from several legends and two interesting twists involving magic. The king of Mycene is murdered by his army commander, Milo (Pierre Cressoy), who seizes power and vows to marry the king's daughter, thus solidifying his rule. The king's dying words send his loyal subjects in search of Hercules, who helps lead an uprising, but Milo has a weapon of his own, given to him by his sorceress mother, a magic dagger that conjures up seven metal warriors who can slay anything in their path. When Hercules bests them in battle, Milo goads him into killing an innocent man, which causes his father, Jove, the king of the gods, to strip him of his god-like strength. It is a mortal but still very powerful Hercules who is captured and must defend the life of the princess (Marilu Tolo) from a horrible death planned by Milo. The denouement is surprisingly similar to that of Terminator 2, with Hercules having to figure out which woman is the princess and which is her enchanted imposter. The script also works in some unusual comic relief as Hercules goes hand-to-hand with the metal-skinned guards, pounding away with weapons that would be unthinkable to use on men, all to a certain humorous effect. Also, part of the plot involves a pair of appealing thieves and pickpockets who are not beneath helping the rebels, thus adding an odd wrinkle or two to the plot where the magic dagger is concerned. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Very loosely based on its Biblical source, this standard Italian sword-and-sandal action film stars Orson Welles as an intense, inward-turning King Saul, deteriorating at the same time that David is rising in renown. The shepherd David (Ivo Payer) is sent to the Israelite forces with supplies for his older brothers when he first discovers who Goliath is -- the giant over nine feet tall that challenges any single warrior to meet him one-on-one in battle. If someone takes up his challenge, it would decide whether the Israelites or Philistines are victorious in their current stand-off. David's one-shot victory turns the tide and hastens Saul's decline. The monarch's lithesome daughters Merab and Michal are played by Eleonora Rossi-Drago and Giulia Rubini, his son Jonathan is portrayed by Pierre Cressoy, and Goliath by Kronos, a muscular "giant" of European circus and music hall circuits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Australian film favorite Chips Rafferty is both star and producer of Walk Into Hell. Filmed on location in New Guinea, the story concerns the cultural clash between Australian laborers and the local natives. Rafferty plays Steve McAllister, whose job it is to supervise construction of an airfield for the convenience of a New Guinea-based oil company. Any hopes that Steve harbors for peaceful coexistence with the natives are dashed when white hunter Jeff Clayton (Pierre Cressoy) thoughtlessly kills a sacred white bird. Highlights include an edge-of-chair snake attack and an authentic tribal dance ceremony (scenes of bare-breasted native women were judiciously trimmed for American audiences). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Brigitte Bardot stars in this romantic thriller about love and high treason in WWI-era Italy. Matinee idol-turned-filmmaker Mario Bonnard directs this opus. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Verdi, the King of Melody, though lensed in color, is an essentially colorless Italian costume picture. Pierre Cressoy stars as famed composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). The film covers Verdi's life from his first opera in 1838 to the last, Falstaff, in 1896, when Verdi was 83. Along the way we are treated to Verdi's amorous exploits, as well as his political activism in lobbying for an independent Italy. And of course we both see and hear snippets from Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Aida (the latter tied in with the opening of Suez canal). All of this is crammed into 80 minutes, giving indication of severe cutting before the film's US release. As a result of its international box-office failure, Verdi, the King of Melody is one of the most obscure of all musical biopics. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds had been on the Paramount Pictures docket since the silent era, when it was optioned as a potential Cecil B. DeMille production. When Paramount finally got around to a filming the Wells novel, the property was firmly in the hands of special-effects maestro George Pal. Like Orson Welles's infamous 1938 radio adaptation, the film eschews Wells's original Victorian England setting for a contemporary American locale, in this case Southern California. A meteorlike object crash-lands near the small town of Linda Rosa. Among the crowd of curious onlookers is Pacific Tech scientist Gene Barry, who strikes up a friendship with Ann Robinson, the niece of local minister Lewis Martin. Because the meteor is too hot to approach at present, Barry decides to wait a few days to investigate, leaving three townsmen to guard the strange, glowing object. Left alone, the three men decide to approach the meterorite, and are evaporated for their trouble. It turns out that this is no meteorite, but an invading spaceship from the planet Mars. The hideous-looking Martians utilize huge, mushroomlike flying ships, equipped with heat rays, to pursue the helpless earthlings. When the military is called in, the Martians demonstrate their ruthlessness by "zapping" Ann's minister uncle, who'd hoped to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the standoff. As Barry and Ann seek shelter, the Martians go on a destructive rampage. Nothing-not even an atom-bomb blast-can halt the Martian death machines. The film's climax occurs in a besieged Los Angeles, where Barry fights through a crowd of refugees and looters so that he may be reunited with Ann in Earth's last moments of existence. In the end, the Martians are defeated not by science or the military, but by bacteria germs-or, to quote H.G. Wells, "the humblest things that God in his wisdom has put upon the earth." Forty years' worth of progressively improving special effects have not dimmed the brilliance of George Pal's War of the Worlds. Even on television, Pal's Oscar-winning camera trickery is awesome to behold. So indelible an impression has this film made on modern-day sci-fi mavens that, when a 1988 TV version of War of the Worlds was put together, it was conceived as a direct sequel to the 1953 film, rather than a derivation of the Wells novel or the Welles radio production. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The English-language title of this Italian WW I drama is Seven of the Big Bear. The title refers to a group of Italian navy frogmen, who train arduously for a raid on the allied stronghold of Gilbraltar. Their "inside man" on the island is actually a woman, nightclub singer Eleanora Rossi Drago. When last seen, the deep-sea-diving heroes are engaged in an assault on the British fleet at Alexandria. I Sette Dell'Orsa Maggiore would make a fascinating companion feature to the American wartime actioner The Frogmen. The music is by Nino Rota, whose later filmwork included the two Godfather films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi