El Capitán Trueno y el Santo Grial

Based,like many French or American movies of today on a comic strip;I have never read it ,but the movie belongs to another era :the late fifties and the early sixties .

All the cardboard characters we have seen a hundred times or more, are present: the dashing handsome prince ,the gorgeous (good) princess,the bad sadistic woman (a touch of racism here maybe) ,the poor people overburden with taxes (scenes taken by force from Robin Hood),the traitor,the would be comic relief provided by a giant named Goliath,always stuffing himself with food,his sidekick ,a midget;and to top it all, right in the middle of the crusades, help is on the way in the shape of a Muslim!Maybe words of wisdom for our troubled times ! The movie begins with historic pretensions ,but quickly opts for a poor man's heroic fantasy;there are as many plot holes as in Swiss cheese and,after this far-fetched tale, we can only be satisfied that the holy Grail is left in good hands.

As the prince swears to his mentor he 'll always side with the underdog ,they might make a sequel.

The film begins in Holy Land , 1291 , during 3º crusade , and Acre siege , where occurs a battle between Richard Lionheart and Saladin . There happens an attack on a Muslim fortress , where are incarcerated Crispin (Lamana) and Goliath (Manuel Martínez) and Goliath , both of whom are freed by Capitan Trueno (Sergio Peris Mencheta). In the castle Trueno fights Sir Black (Gary Piquer) , his hoodlum (Ramon Langa) and meets his subsequent eternal dame , Sigrid of Thule (Natasha Yarovenko), an energetic Viking princess who takes part in many of the adventures of the trio . Trueno also meets an old prisoner , Juan de Ribera (Francisco Merino) , who gives him the holy grail . Later on , King Richard Lionheart (Luis Fernando Alvés) assigns him to return Spain with Sigrid and investigate strange events , including terrifying plagues and invasion by the Black Devils . In Spanish lands , Trueno , Crispin , Goliath along with the Arab Hassan (Asier Etxeandia) contend again their old enemy Sir Black supported by a nasty witch and other dark forces . At the end takes place a spectacular confrontation and surprising appearance by Morgano (Alejandro Jornet) and his flying balloon .

This medieval adventure packs noisy action , thrills , sword-cross and gorgeous outdoors . This is a homage based on popular Spanish comic books dealing with a 12th-century knight-errant who wanders the world fighting injustice and is accompanied by his faithful companions Crispin and Goliath . Capitán Trueno and his friends travel the whole world enforcing justice and freedom against bullies and tyrants, never using more violence than necessary . His eternal dame is Sigrid of Thule, a beautiful blonde Viking princess of Thule , Norway , she is Ragnar's daughter , an overthrown king . However , this picture doesn't follow faithfully the original canon , including several fantastic elements , witchery , demons and many other things that don't appear on the classical comic books .

Colorful and evocative cinematography filmed on location in Calzada De Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Lagunas de Ruidera, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Buñol, Yátova, Xeraco ,Valencia, Chulilla and Ciudad de la Luz, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana . Atmospheric as well as thrilling musical score by Luis Ivars . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Antonio Hernandez . Antonio is a good craftsman , writer , producer and occasionally actor . Antonio Hernández -whose first film, 1979's F.E.N., is one of those never praised enough hidden masterpieces of Spanish cinema- is expert on all kind of genres , such as comedy : ¨Apaga y Vamonos¨ , ¨Como Levantar 1000 Kilos¨ , ¨Menor de Males¨ , Historical¨: ¨Los Borgia¨ , and Thriller : ¨Oculto¨ , ¨Lisboa¨ , ¨The city of no limits¨ in which Antonio proves to be a very courageous auteur . And he also directs TV series such as ¨Tarancon¨ , ¨Sofia¨ and ¨Dias sin Luz¨ .

El Capitán Trueno or "Captain Thunder" was the hero of a series of Spanish comic books, created in 1956 by the writer Víctor Mora and illustrated mainly by Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza (Ambrós). The comics were published continuously between 1956 and 1968, eventually becoming the most popular Spanish hero comic of all times: at its height it sold more than 170,000 copies every week. The series was inspired by Hal Foster's Prince Valiant. The main cartoonists were the followings : Ambros , Fuentes Mann , Beaumont , Feliz Carrion , Jesus Blasco and Luis Bermejo . The series suffered some limited censorship during the dictatorship. Censors were concerned, for example, that Capitán Trueno and Sigrid were traveling around the world unburdened by matrimonial ties . Portions of the comic books have also been published in several Latin American countries, Italy , Greece, Portugal and France.

The box doesn't tell you, but the DVD contains English subtitles for the Spanish- language soundtrack of this Spanish movie. I don't know which version the other reviewers watched, but the acting didn't bother me all that much with the actors' original voices sound-synched in Spanish. If you watch it, try the Spanish version first. I'm not exactly sure why the protagonist's name, Capitan Trueno (Captain Thunder), gets translated as "Prince Killian" in the subtitles and on the DVD box. No one calls him "Prince" on the Spanish soundtrack, and even the subtitles leave in all the references to thunder in dialogue meant to explain his name. (And more than half the time the subtitles correctly translate "Captain" when other characters are addressing him, so the occasional mistranslation, "Prince," like the use of "Killian," is a distraction.)

This is the kind of film I'd have enjoyed as a kid in my early teens: lots of sword- swinging male bonding, a sexy blonde heroine whom the hero eventually gets to kiss, a wizard, a monster, a Bud-Spencer-type strongman with a funny "midget" sidekick, and an assortment of villains, some with magical powers. And for modern kids, despite the Third-Crusade setting, there's a positive friendship that quickly develops between the nominally Christian Captain and a nominally Muslim prince.

The film looks great, shot as it is on the same Spanish locations where classics like EL CID were filmed, and it has a lush orchestral background score reminiscent of those old historical epics. The script, however, is definitely on the level of a 1960s kid's matinée "second feature." Yes, the Spanish text on the comic-book frames of the end credits indicates that there will be a sequel. If the same cast returns, I'll watch it - but only in their own language.