Ugo Liberatore Movies

On a spiritual quest, a British scholar (John Steiner) travels to the beautiful and exotic island of Bali with a photographer and his wife. The scholar has two native wives and a native boyfriend, a sculptor. The photographer has a native mistress, and encounters a missionary with a nymphomaniac daughter. Filled with spectacular photography, the film's focus remains on the characters' problems and the quirks and joys of cross-cultural encounters, developing the native characters in unusual depth. This may frustrate those hoping for a more sexually explicit treatment of the characters' romantic difficulties, as in director Liberatore's previous film, the famously pornographic Bora Bora. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This romantic and sometimes ribald historical farce finds nobleman Guerrando (Tony Curtis) knighted in the days before the Crusades. He inherits a castle, tax-collecting rights, first choice of all the fair young maidens of the region, and a draft notice from the King. Boccadoro (Monica Vitti) is the liberal-minded forest woman who catches the eye of the young nobleman. Courtship, love and marriage follows, but the wedding night is interrupted by a call to arms. Guerrando and Boccadoro are unable to consummate the marriage, and a chastity belt is used to insure her virginal status. The young bride follows her husband's troop at a distance hoping to get her hand on the coveted key to the lock. Comedy ensues as the key changes hands several times before Guerrando ultimately regains possession and is able to unlock the passions of his love-starved wife. This overlong film can best described as a punchline in search of a joke. One gets the feeling that the producers had wanted to title the film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Crusades. As it stood, On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... was too unwieldy for most theater marquees, necessitating the film's title-change to The Chastity Belt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this spaghetti Western, Joseph Cotten stars as Jonas, an ex-Confederate soldier who robs a Union freight train in order to re-ignite the Civil War. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this Italian comedy set in the 16th-century, a prince and a princess marry. Trouble ensues when a rumor that they have not consummated their marriage is circulated. The prince's father is most concerned, as a virgin marriage means he will have no heirs. He insists that the marriage be annulled. He then requires his son to marry another, but his current wife's family will not agree to the annulment until the prince proves he is a capable lover. The prince refuses to cooperate until his father threatens to cut him off financially. The prince then is paired with a virgin, and eventually passes his test. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A Civil War vet returns home to his home in the South and witnesses the outdated attitudes of his family--particularly those of his domineering father. This western drama was filmed on location in Argentina. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Horst Bucholz plays Dino, a painter who realizes he has no artistic vision and decides to move back into his wealthy mother's (Betty Davis) home. Just before he does this, however, he falls in love with beautiful and self-serving Cecilia (Catherine Spaak). Though Dino diligently attempts to convince her to marry him, she refuses, but offers to be his lover until someone better strikes her fancy. When that becomes an actuality, Dino does not fare well under the emotional trauma and has a nervous breakdown. With the help of his mother, Dino recovers to find he may not be completely devoid of talent after all. Based on La Noia, an Italian novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

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

A colorful action film about the Battle Of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. in which the Spartans defend themselves for a Persian invasion against overwhelming odds. King Leodinas (Richard Egan) rallies the locals to stop the attack of thousands of plundering Persian invaders led by evil King Xerxes (David Farrar). Sir Ralph Richardson as Themistocles of Athens leads the international cast this the spectacular cinematic conflict that has more emphasis on action rather than historical accuracy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Three mining engineers are marooned in the Sahara after their helicopter crashes and end up finding a secret doorway to the lost city of Atlantis where they capture the fancy of a ruthless Egyptian queen. She manages to seduce one of the men with her magic, but the other two meet grim fates after attempting to escape. Meanwhile, a beautiful slave falls for the mesmerized engineer and endeavors to help him escape. She must hurry for she knows that testing of an atom bomb at a neighboring test site above ground is about to commence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This somewhat inaccurate biography of Russia's power-hungry "Mad Monk" concentrates on the attempts on Rasputin's life, including the (almost un-) successful one carried out by a prince. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide