El diablo blanco

I don't think that anybody involved with this picture,including Steve Reeves,would have considered it to be great art.it's the type of low budget "peplum"style film that were cranked out in the late 40s,50s,and 60s,that were shown on Saturday afternoon double-features.Still,from a technical perspective,it's very competently hand.Camera work,sound,dubbing,make-up,etc. is really a good,not a great job.

The plot,interestingly enough,does manage to transcend the usual tripe seen so often in films of this type.Granted,everybody in here fits into what is a 2 dimensional stereotype,at best.But,maybe the way to look at this is terms not of a drama,but,rather of a fairy tale.We've got:dashing heroes;beautiful heroines;jovial fathers;sinister villains;wise benign monarchs;somber antagonists;troubled princesses sacrificing happiness for duty;and loyal henchmen.All the ingredients for a story with all of the archetypes.And,looking at the costumes,props,and settings,there IS an attempt to provide some historical and ethnographic verisimilitude.

Further,we have 3 or 4 scenes where Steve strips down to the waist,and show off his Mr. Universe physique.Isn't he just delectable?

It is a fact, no country puts a better "Sandal & Peplums" movies ever than the Italian producers, since the fifties until the sixties also in "Epics" too, this one belongs those "sword and sandal" genre whereby Steve Reeves fitted very well in all them due his well-shaped muscled body, weather like it or not overcame the talentless Reeves.

A tale was based and adapted from Lev Tolstoy's novel White Warrior, the picture tells an allegedly accurate story about the Chechen Agi Murad referred to as Diavolo Bianco by the Russians in the 19th century where the Czar Nicholas I (Zivanovic) ruled with heavy hands over the adjoining small and weak countries, due many rebellions drained deeply the Russian's financial to the extent the Czar asking for the Princess Maria arguing to Agi Murad a peace treaty.

Indeed Agi Murad was esteemed for his enemies to be utterly lenient at war time, he usually spared lives of his vanquished foes, meanwhile Agi Murad getting stronger as Chechnyan leader he raises some jealous from Ahemed Khan(Renato Baldini) who intents to stealing Agi Murad's bride the gorgeous Sultanet Aslan Bey (Giorgia Moll), due Agi be opposite to killing hostages of the battle he left their fellow-countrymen, sadly Agi Murad is catch during his marriage by the wicked Prince Sergei (Gérard Herter) and coerced to sign a shady peace treaty with the Czar.

Average Italian production shot external scenes at ancient Yugoslavia, flamboyant landscapes, few actions sequences, when it had is too much overdone, dull dancing scenes, bad dubbed, another vehicle to Steve Reeves, anyhow not that bad it needs a utmost restoration due the DVD available may was from VHS's transfer.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2010 / Source: DVD / How many: 2 / Rating: 5.5.

An almost unrecognisable Steve Reeves takes on the mantle of Tolstoy's rebellious freedom fighter "Agi Murad" in this quickly paced but poorly produced action adventure. His character is determined to ensure that his Chechen population remains free from the tyranny of the troops of Czar Nicholas (Milivoje Zivanovic). The plot follows predictable lines as the small but determined band refuse to bow down in the face of overwhelming odds, scheming plotters and duplicitous allies that they can't trust. There has been some vision here from director Riccardo Freda and his set piece action scenes, costumes and Roberto Nicolosi's lively score all give this a certain style, but the editing is shocking and the acting, led from the top by an out-of-sorts Reeves but also featuring a lacklustre group of supporters who might have done better in silent films, really slows the thing down to the level of an overly verbose and episodic soap. Georgia Moll and Scilla Gabel do their limited best to bring some sultry glamour, but no amount of silk gauze can infuse them with much substance and the whole film rather fades away before us. Pity, it's a solid story that had they bothered to provide a decent script and some post production effort for, could have been good.

This film is set during the mid-19th century when Russia flexed its empire-building muscles. The mountain tribes of the Caucusus rebelled against the Russian domination. The region is on the border of the southern most part of Russia today. The princess, who takes a trip to deliver the Czar's new orders to her husband, had to travel more than about 1,500 miles from St. Petersburg.

Steve Reeves play the lead role of Hadji Murad. The movie is based on a novel by that name written by Leo Tolstoy. Some of its account of the years of struggle in the Caucusus is fiction. But, many of the specific incidents did occur. In reality, a reading of a short bio or encyclopedia article on Hadji Murad would convince one that his escapades in this film were quite tame by comparison.

"The White Warrior" is an interesting film about a time and place for which American's have only occasionally shown interest. Still, it has historical value, and is based on a famous author's book of fiction.

It is such an annoyance to watch mutilated foreign films, specially Italian productions as in this case, which was obviously a well- mounted co-production, benefiting from the participation of the Yugoslavian film industry which provided beautiful art direction and bright choreography, as well as fine performers, combined with Italian professionals: cinematographer Mario Bava (a year before making his first feature, "La maschera del demonio"), composer Roberto Nicolosi and director Riccardo Freda, all working in beautiful scenery and sets. The version I just saw is English-dubbed and 10 minutes shorter than the original (even with the restoration of some footage that had originally been censored in Spain, where my copy was issued): it is a strange mixture of average-looking sections with others that seemed to come from a blown-up VHS copy. "Agi Murad" though is an attractive wide-screen adventure film with a touch of history, in spite of being not very well acted by Steve Reeves, who this time seems a little beyond his scope for the title role in the dramatic scenes, but he compensates his shortcoming in the action scenes and has Gérard Herter to counteract as he chews the scenery playing the Russian villain, and sexy Scilla Gabel as his scheming wife, who has fallen for the "White Devil", as Murad is called. By the state the home-video business is in these days, it is a pity that we will probably never be able to watch these films in their original form.