La corona di ferro

A huge still from this film on a book of my father's on Epic movies had long intrigued me but when I had tried to watch it one afternoon several years ago (almost to the day) on Italian TV, I was put off by its utter daftness. Now that I'm on a mini-marathon of filmed epics in time for Good Friday, I thought I'd give this celebrated Italian wartime spectacle another look.

And what a look it turned out to be: this must certainly belong among the most sumptuous and ornately mounted fantasies ever put on film and, in hindsight, it's interesting that each major country involved in the ongoing struggle up to that time invested in a splendidly escapist (but not apolitical) extravaganza - the others being, of course, England's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) and Germany's MUNCHHAUSEN (1943), which I had rewatched last year.

Anyway, the plot is a convoluted mix of The Nibelungen (its Teutonic visuals), William Tell (the protagonists' prowess with weapons), Macbeth (the doom-laden prophecies of a soothsayer in the forest) and even Tarzan (the son of a slain king, abandoned in the woods as a child, is eventually raised by lions and reappears after many years donning a loincloth!) but, thankfully, it moves at such a lightning pace that what one remembers most is not the court machinations but the splendid pageantry and impressively-staged action and crowd scenes, never more so than during the remarkable, extended jousting sequence.

The performers are also notable: Massimo Girotti as the afore-mentioned "Tarzan" figure (who is also prone to giant leaps a' la The Incredible Hulk!), Elisa Cegani (as a princess imprisoned in her own castle by her despotic father), Osvaldo Valenti (as a seemingly unbeatable knight at the joust whose winner will take the princess for his wife), Rina Morelli as the omnipresent soothsayer, famed wrestler Primo Carnera as a long-suffering he-man and, most of all, the larger-than-life villainy of Gino Cervi (as the illegitimate ruler, having killed his own brother to claim the throne, and calls everyone around him "beast"!) and Luisa Ferida (as Tundra, a sort of blood-thirsty Jungle Girl who is eventually reformed by her love for Girotti); it's worth noting here that the three leads each have dual roles playing the parent of the character they portray later on in the film.

Surprisingly enough for such a commercial (if undoubtedly artistically valid) venture, the film emerged the winner of the Venice Film Festival where, ironically, it was greeted with contempt by the guest of honor, the Nazi Propaganda Minister Dr. Josef Goebbels! Incidentally, another person who was unimpressed with the film was director Riccardo Freda - who should know a thing or two about fantasy film-making, being the helmer of several "sword-and-sandal" epics in his time.

Director Blasetti would go on to make another celebrated milestone of Italian cinema, the even more elaborate FABIOLA (1949) and, unfortunately, given their considerable reputation, both of these marvelous films are as yet unavailable on DVD even in Italy - although, the same can be said of several other little-seen but equally outstanding Italian epics including LA NAVE DELLE DONNE MALEDETTE (1953) and VIVA L'ITALIA! (1961)...

Bravo Blassetti ! Bravo Massimo Girotti ! What a surprise from Italy! An Epic saga..Mythological & religious...Sort of an Italian Star Wars meets Robin Hood meets Ben Hur ! Action ! Lust ! Mythological settings ! Forests, loincloths ,moats,chariots, swords, jousting & a story line which never loses your interest!!What a Spectacle !! predates most of our great spectacular films of the 1950s by many yrs (Ok, we had silent films King of Kings & 10 Commandments & some other De Mille Films, Sign of the Cross etc) but this mythological setting was unusual for the times... Cant wait to see again.. Massimo Girotti whose work I know from Senso & later Medea is excellent... rest of cast were not known to me & also not aware of director, Blassetti.... now I am !Will look forward to viewing The Iron Crown again,.and other films by Blassetti..Thanks again TCM !!

The Crown of Iron was screened at the Venice Biennale before an audience that included Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels. Goebbels was, not surprisingly, keenly interested in film because of its propaganda value, and its ability to shape the national Weltanschaung. He was utterly appalled by the film, and relieved to note that nothing like it would ever be made in Germany. The film itself was, he wrote, 'not even worth commenting on'. Afterwards there was a reception, which glittered with fascist dignitaries, but this did nothing to appease Herr Goebbels. 'It's movies that matter,' he wrote. The disgust of Dr Goebbels was reason enough for me to see this movie. I learned about this from the excellent documentary 'The Goebbels Experiment'.

The basic story is not bad, but this is just not a great movie. The hero follows a stag through the woods on his quest, tames lions, escapes all danger, and wins the female leader of the slaves. Compounding poor production and stiff acting is that the English subtitles are not contrasted against the background, making reading them difficult if not impossible at times. Then too, many shots, including some with subtitles, do not stay on the screen long enough to register. Production does not contrast well with DeMille epics nor Massimo Girotti's acting with that of Johnny Weissmuller, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., or Errol Flynn. On the plus side, there are some very interesting scenes involving differences in tournament jousting -- much different that what we have seen in English mythology films. Best left in the can.

I saw this film on TV several times as a boy in the early or mid-1950s. At that age, it was a genuine sword and sorcerer fantasy. The weird part was years later when I'd try to explain the plot to someone. It was too complex and didn't make a whole lot of sense. When videotapes became available I tracked it down, bought it and watched it. It was just as strange as I'd remembered. It was also just as absorbing as it had been at the age of 10. An earlier comment about the quality of the movie on tape was accurate. It appeared to be taken from a damaged print and the subtitles are often unreadable. Still this is an interesting piece of film history. It's not for everyone, but for those interested in Italian film, epic blockbusters, etc., it can be fun. I'd like to see a good DVD version.