Degenduell

An English swordsman for hire is employed by a Spanish Governor ruling an insurgent Italian province. He becomes the bodyguard of the future duchess and is soon embroiled in court intrigue and the growing rebellion.

This film marked the beginning of Stewart Grangers career expatriation to Europe after his estrangement with the powers that be in Hollywood. In this context, it's not a bad costumer and recalls shades of his former success with Scaramouche. In fact, the film has some surprisingly energetic action scenes - most notably - some well staged sword fights where Granger aptly shows his swordplay skills and a grueling horse race at the end of the film.

The story and plot are standard fair for this type of movie but are handled well and given a lift by Grangers charming delivery. The pace is brisk, the widescreen photography is nice and the Italian cast comes off pretty well led by Sylva Koscino as the fiery duchess. In fact, the film succeeds on many levels emulating a good Hollywood costumer with one exception, the music. It's atrocious. The movie screams for the fiery score of a Korngold or a Max Steiner but is instead left with fluff. It doesn't kill the movie but it hurts.

It's about an 16th-century english swordsman who has to protect a noblewoman. She is not particularly interested in having a protector. The noblewoman lives in an italian village where the people live under the reign of a dictator. There is also a secret group called 'The Ten', which is trying to free the village. When the swordsman sees what is going on he switches allegiance...

Like so many contract players in the days of the studio system decline in the Fifties Stewart Granger found himself looking for work and taking it where he could find it after MGM let him go in the late Fifties. He found work in Europe and in this particular swashbuckler Swordsman Of Siena which was released in America by his old studio MGM. Later on he would be doing spaghetti westerns.

But the swashbuckler was a film genre Granger was as comfortable and looked as comfortable as Errol Flynn. He's a mercenary, an Englishman working for whoever hires him and in this case it is Spanish captain Riccardo Garrone. Back in those days of the 16th century most of Italy was part of the Spanish empire either under Emperor Charles V or King Phillip,II of Spain. In this particular part of Italy, Tuscany they're not crazy about the occupying Spanish governor Garrone and his enforcer brother Fausto Tozzi.

Garrone wants to employ Granger as personal bodyguard to Sylva Koscina the daughter of the local Italian noble. She tolerates Garrone for the sake of the father, her sister Christine Kaufman is far less so.

There's a horse race which is the town's biggest event about to be held and it's more like the chariot race from Ben-Hur. With just about the same rules applying. The Spanish occupiers always win as a matter of propaganda and pride. Granger upsets a whole lot of plans.

In films like Moonfleet and The Prisoner Of Zenda, Stewart Granger showed he mastered the art of the swashbuckler. This one is all right entertainment, but hardly in the same league as those other films from his glory days at MGM.

Better than those spaghetti westerns to come.

The English version was directed by Etienne Périer whose best work is a pacifist movie "le pont vers le soleil "(1960) .He made two costume dramas ,both taking place in Italy : "Rouge Venise" (1989) is the most ambitious, "la congiura dei dieci" aka "the swordsman of Siena " ,is a routine swashbuckler , a little tongue-in -chick,whose asset is the presence of Stewart Granger , who wields the sword (including a duel with ....Sylva Koscina )with gusto and ,as always ,displays plenty of go and humor ...In the prologue, he fools the duchess's escort with mischievousness; then he takes his bodyguard job seriously when he checks the room where Koscina sleeps ; humor becomes tinged with a certain sadism when the swordsman is tortured :" good things should not be hurried!".

As for the story ,there are actually ten secret people fighting the wicked duke's (and his brother's )tyranny ,and two beauties for the price of one :Koscina's sister is portrayed by gorgeous Christine Kaufmann. Entertaining ,with good use of wide screen .

The last sword-wielding swashbuckling adventure starring Stewart Granger that I am aware of, (two others that came before were "Scaramouche" and "The Prisoner of Zenda"). If you enjoyed the relatively recent "The Mask of Zorro" with Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Anthony Hopkins, you will not be disappointed with these classics. Granger was one of the few actors - besides Mel Ferrer and Basil Rathbone, possessing convincing fencing expertise. I have always preferred his movies to those of Errol Flynn. Captivating sword fights, handsome heroes and beautiful heroines, smart and humorous dialog without the vulgarities permeating the movies of the last few decades. Sylva Koscina was beautiful with an attitude. Christine Kaufmann was just eye-candy, possibly intended as a contrast to Koscina.