Sylva Koscina Movies

Based on Flora Sandstrom's novel The Midwife of Pont Clery, this lightweight sexual farce involves the effect that Jessica (Angie Dickinson), a voluptuous midwife, has on the small Sicilian town in which she currently resides. Jessica is an American whose intentions may be charitable but whose physical attractions raise the libido of the men in town. Potential moms decide it is better to forego pregnancy by foregoing sex (this is a Catholic town) rather than have Jessica show up to deliver a baby. Meanwhile, the town priest (Maurice Chevalier), in his wisdom, directs Jessica's attention to the handsome widowed Marquis who lives in a charming castle, all alone -- anything to bring normal marital relations back on track. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Even within its category of stock sword-and-sandal films from Italy, this is a weak entry set in the Middle Ages and featuring the adventures of the Crusaders as they capture Jerusalem. Lacking panoramas of battles any larger than a handful of people at a time, some of the oomph is necessarily missing. The story itself is based on the growing love between Tancrid (Francisco Rabal), one of the leading Crusaders, and Glorinda (Sylvia Koscina), the daughter of the king of Persia. Glorinda does not sit home and embroider, she dons armor and goes into battle with the best of them. This may not turn out to be such a good idea, since Tancrid will be among the many enemies she may encounter in her iron-clad persona. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this drama, two lifelong buddies find their friendship tested when one of them hits the road after being accused of murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this sword and sandal epic set during Rome's attack on ancient Greece, both the Roman and Carthaginian armies are battling for possession of Syracuse. Brave Archimedes is assigned to head the defense of the city. He is temporarily distracted after his lover gets pregnant and her evil step-brother takes her to Roman soldiers. The experience affects her so deeply that she loses her memory. She then marries a Roman dignitary. Archimedes also marries and many years pass. Now the Greek hero must head for Rome to form a new alliance. There he sees his long-lost love. She sees him too and instantly regains her memory, but to spare her son unnecessary grief, she does not tell her son. Later the Romans renege and again attack Syracuse. This time, the Roman fleet is destroyed and so are the respective spouses of the star-crossed lovers. Finally freed of their constraints the two marry, but for the sake of their son, they still restrain from telling him the truth about his father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ravissante is a lackluster, uneven situation comedy written, directed by, and starring Robert Lamoureux, normally a good comedian in his own right. The story concerns a womanizing pilot who is asked by a friend to intervene in one of the friend's romantic tangles. The pilot is quite willing to help out but then a confusion about the woman who is the target of the intervention causes a series of unexpected circumstances. But as Shakespeare has said to much greater effect, "all's well that ends well." This was one of the early screen appearances of Philippe Noiret, who first came to notice for his role in 1960's Zazie dans le Metro. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Steve Reeves' second (and last) film portrayal of Hercules is, in certain ways, better than his first. The plot this time is drawn from the legends surrounding the royal house of Thebes, which are most familiar to audiences through the Theban plays of Sophocles. The movie opens with Hercules, his new bride Iole (ylva Koscina), and the young Ulysses (Gabriel Antonini) travelling to Thebes following the end of the quest for the Golden Fleece (depicted in the previous movie, Hercules). Their journey is interrupted when Hercules must do battle with the giant Anteus (Primo Carnera), whose strength seems to exceed his own until he realizes that Anteus is the son of the earth goddess and can't be defeated on land. On their arrival in Thebes, the trio discovers that the kingdom is in the midst of civil war -- Oedipus (esare Fantoni), the old king, is dying, and his two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, are contending for the throne and threatening to destroy each other and the populace. Hercules must leave Iole in the hands of one side in order to try and settle the dispute between the two would-be kings. While en route between the two armed camps, however, he is put under the spell of Omphale (Sylvia Lopez), the Queen of Lydia, who casts out his memory and takes him as a lover, with Ulysses in tow pretending to be his deaf-mute servant. Ulysses must figure out how to keep himself alive, restore Hercules' memory, get them both out of Omphale's grasp before she tires of Hercules and has him killed (as she has her previous lovers), and get them both back to Thebes before the kingdom is burned to the ground. His solution arrives in the form of his father, Laertes, and Hercules' companions from his voyage for the Golden Fleece. They all escape Omphale's clutches and arrive at Thebes as war has broken out between the two brothers and their armies. In a spectacular denouement, Hercules brings his chariot into the middle of the pitched battle, knocking down assault towers and sweeping cavalry before him to halt the battle. Peace is finally restored on a bittersweet note as the two brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, slay each other. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this horror movie, the unwitting guests at a charming ancestral estate soon find themselves the main entree for the bloodsucking young proprietor's dinner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Le Confident de ces Dames is a wacky though uneven comedy held up by the talents of Fernandel, playing a veterinarian. The vet's life is turned around completely when he finds himself assisting a woman who has been injured in an accident. He pulls the woman through the worst of the crisis and later, when the news gets out to all the media, he becomes a major hero. The woman, it turns out, is a well-known actress. Other women latch onto his name and, impressed by his deed, start flocking to him in droves to seek his help. The lowly veterinarian with his background in animal medicine is hardly equipped to handle female complaints -- and that is only one part of a few more adventures waiting in the wings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide