El minotauro

The quick pitch: On her mother's deathbed, Princess Fedra learns she has a twin. Her reaction is to order her lost sister's death. Oh, and there's a minotaur living below the palace that requires virgin sacrifices.

For a movie called The Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete, I expected a bit more Minotaur action. The creature doesn't really make an appearance until the last 10 minutes, so he's hardly a factor. In the age of CGI we live in, the Minotaur may look silly and stiff, but I found the look pretty effective. Fortunately, with all the plotting and scheming of Princess Fedra, there's enough here to at least be somewhat entertaining. Rosanna Schiaffino does an acceptable job in the dual role of the evil Fedra and the kind-hearted Arianna. In addition, Alberto Lupo is convincing as Fedra's sinister sidekick. They really are an enjoyable pair. And, as I've already alluded to, much of the plot is entertaining - nothing groundbreaking, but I found myself drawn into the story. If it weren't for the clunky acting on the part of hero Bob Mathias and the even clunkier fight choreography, I could've seen myself rate this one much higher. Still, a 5/10 ain't all bad.

5/10

King of Crete named Minos (Carlo Tamberlani) has two daughters , one good named Ariadna and one evil named Fedra (Rosanna Schiaffino in a double role). Fedra orders Sciron (Alberto Lupo) to kill Ariadna , but the murderer fails thanks to Teseo , prince of Athens , and Demetrio (Rick Battaglia). Fedra rules over Crete and supported by Scirion wage war Athens . Athenians are defeated and obligated to tribute of fourteen maids for feed minotaur , a horrible monster , part human and part bull . Meanwhile , Teseo taking on Fedra and Sciron , when Ariadna goes into the cave of the monster and using the famous thread.

This ¨Sword and Sandals¨ movie packs adventures , fights , mythology , impressive battles , spectacular scenarios and results to be quite amusing . The film confronts ¨Greek culture¨ as pacific , civilized , luxurious and ¨Crete or Minoic culture¨ as cruel , brutal and worshipping Gods with human sacrifices included . However , from discovery Crete by archaeologist ¨Evans¨ is considered Crete a very developed civilization , above average the countries by that time . In fact , the palace of Knososs in Crete -partially reflected on the movie- was the greatest and luxurious for that time . Furthermore , the picture mingles wrongly the Crete setting from 1600 B.C. with Greeks dressed like V century . The film is starred by Bob Mathias , an US athlete , twice world champion decathlon and justifying his fans , he plays some scenes demonstrating his abilities , along with another starring , Rick Battaglia . The pic contains evocative cinematography by Giordani and atmospheric musical score by Carlo Rustichelli accompanying the usual dancing choreography . The motion picture was well directed by Silvio Amadio who filmed another Peplum set in Babylone titled ¨Seven thunderbolts¨ . Rating : Acceptable and passable . The film will appeal to muscle-man sub-genre buffs.

Fanciful rendition of one of the most famous Greek myths.To write that the movie takes liberties with the tale is to state the obvious:first of all,Phaedra and Ariadne are twin sisters both played by Italian beauty(and an usual sword and sandal heroine of the era)Rosanna Schiaffino : the former is the villain ,a wicked princess ,whereas the latter is an innocent clueless good girl .Theseus is still the king of Athenes ' son but his father won't throw himself into the sea which bears his name (Aegean sea);and if my memory serves me well,he marries Phaedra after abandoning her sister on an island.

People who are eagerly waiting for the Minotaur will be disappointed for the monster looks like King Kong and would not scare a four -year- old .They did include Ariadne's thread and she is devoted enough to go and meet him in the labyrinth.

Closer to Robert Siomak's "Cobra woman" than to Greek tales.

Theseus of Athens (Bob Mathias, an actual Olympian) and his companion Demetrio (Rik Battaglia) rescue beautiful Ariadne (Rosanna Schiaffino) from brigands, only to discover that she is the twin sister of wicked Phaedra, princess of Crete (also Rosanna Schiaffino), who has no filial love for this potential rival for the throne. The malignant princess' power in Minos is maintained by fear of the Minotaur, a fearsome beast imprisoned in a labyrinth beneath the palace in Minos, a God to whom Phaedra sacrifices dissenters and their families. As Italian sword and sandal quasi-epics go, this one is not too bad. Decathlete Matthias has a heroic physique (although not quite as impressive as that depicted in the posters), the fight scenes are entertaining (despite numerous unconvincing armpit stabbings), and the women, especially Ariadne have skimpy outfits and very big...hair. The final showdown with the titular monster comes very late in the film and is somewhat anticlimactic as the film's Minotaur does not much resemble homo-bovine hybrid of myth. The film is a simple adventure that would appeal to kids but does contain some grim scenes of torture. I watched an adequately English-dubbed version on TCM which was OK, but there were some very abrupt cuts (when a woman's blouse is pulled off during the attack on Ariadne's village or when a character gets a red-hot poker in the eye) that suggests that a more 'adult' version may have been lensed. Entertaining but not great (but 'great' is not what the genre is known for).

In ancient Crete, a monster called the Minotaur can only be satisfied by virgin sacrifices. The evil ruler of Crete is determined to keep the monster happy by sacrificing as many of the island's virgins as he can, but a pair of friends determine to kill the monster and stop the sacrifices.

Director Silvio Amadio is unfortunately not well known, perhaps best remembered for "Wolves of the Deep" (1959), and even that is rather obscure. Star Bob Mathias has a much more fascinating biography -- he was a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a Marine Corps officer, actor and Republican Congressman representing the state of California.

For movie buffs, the most recognizable might be Paul Mueller, who would go on to appear in a few 60s and 70s horror films by Jess Franco, including his version of "Count Dracula".

Anyway, that was all just to full space. You should watch this.