Degenduell

Here it is--a G-rated movie for the family that is dashing, up-beat, and which provides positive role models for both men and women. The entire set, costuming, storyline, romance, intrigue, plot twist and fencing were spot on. Granger turns in another fine performance as in the Prisoner of Zenda and Scaramouche. And what a fine swordsman he was, with only Cornel Wilde, Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone being a convincing match. I am a European historian who spent several years there and who loves these kinds of productions. When the movie ended, with a final little plot twist, I just sat there in the easy chair smiling, or was it beaming! A jolly good show.

A 16th-century Spanish overlord hires Thomas Stanswood (Stewart Granger) to protect his, less than eager, fiancee (Sylva Koscina) from rebels. Thomas finds himself drawn to both the fiancee and the rebels side.

Compared to Granger's other fine swashbucklers - Scaramouche and Prisoner of Zenda - Swordsman of Siena, a French-Italian production, is lesser known, which is a shame because it's fast-plotted, full of intrigue, colour, zest and great swordplay, not to forget the thrilling horserace at the end. The location is exquisite, the town and castles come alive, towering over participants- there's atmosphere, and suspense with a nice twist at the end.

Stewart Granger, in his last swashbuckler, executes his role as a British mercenary with much panache, suaveness and wit - his swordplay is very impressive. The scene in the town square where he takes on the bad guys is exciting, as is the scene where he fences in the barn, swinging on ropes, balancing on ladders. That's a well-staged sequence. The only drawback is that there should've been a duel between the main villain and Granger. The beautiful Sylvia Koscina and Christine Kauffman co-star and enact their roles well.

An excellent old- fashioned swashbuckling adventure imbued with positiveness - a tale of good over tyranny.

This fairly standard Italian swashbuckler is considerably enlivened by two factors: the presence of Stewart Granger, one of movie's great swordsmen who actually was a good swordsman -- only Basil Rathbone was better. The swordplay in this movie is very real -- although the casual moviegoer might not understand the seemingly motionless pointwork, it is very well shot.

The other high point of the movie is the horse race, the famous Pallio of Siena. Although the real Pallio is a bareback race, this version of it is shot very excitingly with some nice point of view shots and excellent stuntwork.

Although I viewed an excellent print, it was dubbed, and therefore a bit hard to judge most of the performances. The costumes are excellent and the result is a surprisingly good Italian potboiler.

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...

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.