Loris Loddi Movies

A handful of young knights are given the grave responsibility of rescuing one of the most sacred relics in Christianity in this lavish historical epic. In the year 1272, the bloody swath of the Crusades has swept much of Europe, and King Louis IX of France dies after a battle in Tunisia. After the king's demise, the Holy Shroud (the cloth with which Jesus' body was believed to have been wrapped following his crucifixion) goes missing, and four young knights who served under him -- Simon of Clarendon (Edward Furlong), Rainiei di Panico (Marco Leonardi), Vanni delle Rondini (Thomas Kretschmann), and Jean de Cent Acres (Stanislas Merhar) -- take it upon themselves to find the shroud . Travelling with the knights is Giacomo (Raoul Bova), an assistant to Rondini who learned from a wicked blacksmith a valuable secret -- a method for making magical swords that cannot be broken. As the knights scour the land in search of the shroud, they encounter Delfinello (F. Murray Abraham), another searcher attempting to find the shroud, who persuades the knights to join him as he sets sail to the Holy Land in his quest. I Cavalieri Che Fecero L'impresa was shot in Italy with an international cast and crew; while the original version was filmed in Italian, an English-language version of the film was also shot with an eye towards an American release. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This horror film takes place in Boston at the home of Joanna, a paraplegic (Christina Nagy). The wealthy Joanna lives with a companion, Ruth (Carroll Blumenberg), who helps take care of her needs. When young Craig (David Warbeck) comes in to help train Joanna to enter a special athletic competition for the wheelchair-bound, the two of them fall in love and make plans to marry. Craig knows that Joanna lost the use of her legs when she fell down the stairs, chased by a rapist who disguised himself as a priest. So when he starts dressing up as a priest and scaring her, the story takes a sinister turn for the worse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this spaghetti western, two confederate soldiers survive the War and swipe an army payroll. To escape, one of them plays decoy while the other flees with the loot. The decoy is captured and sentenced to five years in prison. He is eventually freed. When he finally finds his partner, he is dismayed to find that he is now rich. He is enraged when he discovers that his "pal" is responsible for his wife's murder. The treacherous partner is aware that his cohort has been released and is out for revenge. He decides to kill him first, and so hires an insane gunslinger to do the job. But the ex-con finds a new partner, and with his assistance is able to sneak into the wealthy man's stronghold and kill both him and his assassin. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Reg Park (you remember him!) stars as legendary Italian muscleman Maciste. This time the villain, an antisocial type named Fazira, has the power of mind control. Rendering Maciste helpless by destroying his will power, Fazira intends to plunder the treasures of King Solomon's lost mines. We don't think he'll succeed, do you? For years available only in its Italian-language version, a new English-dubbed print of Maciste in King Solomon's Mine was made available in the mid-1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1963, this colossal and opulent $60 million spectacular was epic in every sense of the word -- an epic investment, an epic in the annals of Hollywood gossip, and, ultimately, an epic flop that nearly dragged 20th Century Fox down the Nile along with Cleopatra's barge. Handsomely mounted by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who replaced Rouben Mamoulian as director after six days of shooting), the drama follows the eighteen tumultuous years that led to the founding of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) meets up with Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) and plans to lure Caesar to her boudoir in order to forge an alliance with Rome so that she may hold on to her Egyptian empire. When Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate, Cleopatra is left without an ally, and Egypt is up for grabs. When Roman general Mark Antony (Richard Burton) comes along, she seduces him in order to make him over into her new protector. But, under the charms of Cleopatra, Mark Antony is reduced from a an awesome and dominating general to a sniveling, drunken wimp. At the Battle of Actium, Mark Antony is defeated and Cleopatra withdraws her troops, dooming Mark Antony and his army. With Egypt in peril, Antony and Cleopatra, the doomed lovers, meet each other for the last time, as the enemy forces close in. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi