La spada e la croce

Except for Yvonne DeCarlo this Italian made story of Jesus's last days will have no one in the cast you might remember. DeCarlo looks sultry and beautiful but this is a deadly dull interpretation of the most universally told story ever.

DeCarlo is Mary Magdalene and this interpretation is borrowed from DeMille's King Of Kings which had her as one rich courtesan in old Jerusalem. Supporting said lifestyle is the nephew of Caiaphas who has got a working relationship with Barabbas a Hebrew freedom fighter and rebel. Other than that the story follows along biblical lines except that Lazarus is Mary Magdalene's brother. His awakening really makes a believer out of her.

Other than when DeCarlo does her little dance and shakes some booty which also in the DeMille tradition of a bit of sex in the most reverent of stories, The Sword And The Cross is one deadly dull affair.

No one will confuse this with the King Of Kings, silent or sound.

This is an interesting though average retelling at the life of Maria Magdalene and Christ from a Roman political , historical and religious view point . This Biblical movie deals with the story of a notorious harlot (Ivonne De Carlo) who must choose between her lascivious lifestyle , the love of a Roman general called Caio Marcello (Jorge Mistral) and affection of her decent-minded brother named Lazzarus (Terence Hill) and sister (Rossana Podesta) . Magdalene is tormented by delusion and nightmares after learning her bad life until she meets Jesus . The film includes some major events referred to the New Testament with descriptive Biblical passages such as Lazzarus's resurrection , the revolt led by Barrabbas (Andrea Aureli) and his struggle to deal with seek the best course of resistance to Roman oppression embodied by the political savvy Pontius Pilate (Philippe Hersent) , the arrest of Jesus in Mount of Olives , Golgotha Crucifixion , among others .

Set against the magnificent backdrop of classic Rome, "The Sword and the Cross" is a colorful version of Jesus Christ and Maria Magdalena's life with a true international all-star-epic treatment but being middlingly shot and reaches an exciting peak at the ending . It is not completely reverential at some Biblical characters such as Judas Iscariote , Pontius Pilate and Barrabbas portraying the man less a thief than as a political revolutionary . Filmed on a relatively mediocre scale , being efficiently produced by Ottavio Poggi . Life of Maria Magdalane is regularly written by notorious screenwriter Sandro Continenza and the same producer Ottavio Poggi. Good main cast , as the American Ivonne De Carlo is passable as the lascivious Maddalena and the Spanish actor, early deceased by committing suicide , Jorge Mistral , sometimes is a little wooden . Support cast is nice such as Massimo Serato as Anan , Andrea Aureli as Barabba , Nando Tamberlani as Caifa , Philippe Hersent as Ponzio Pilato and Terence Hill or Mario Girotti , prior his successful Spaghetti Westerns . Evocative as well as atmospheric original music by Roberto Nicolosi . Including glowing cinematography by Raffaele Masciocchi , filmed surrounding Rome , Lazio ; however being necessary a right remastering . The motion picture was regularly directed Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia , a craftsman who realized several adventures and Peplums , such as : "Amazons of Rome" , ¨Anibal¨ , "Ursus in the Valley of the Lions" , "Il Falco D'Oro" and " Semiramis , The Queen of Babylon¨ , among others .

Other pictures dealing with divine presence of Jesus Christ are the followings : ¨King of Kings¨ , released in 1927, , first silent version by Cecil B. DeMille with H. B. Wagner ; ¨King of Kings¨ by Nicholas Ray with Jeffrey Hunter , Robert Ryan , Carmen Sevilla , Frank Thring , Rip Torn , Rita Gam , Harry Guardino ; ¨The greatest story ever told¨ (1965) by George Stevens with Max Von Sidow , Charlton Heston , Jose Ferrer , Sidney Poitier , Claude Rains ; ¨Gospel according to Matthew¨ by Pier Paolo Pasolini with Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus ; ¨Jesus Christ Superstar¨(1977) by Norman Jewison with Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson ; ¨Jesus de Nazareth¨(1977) by Franco Zeffirelli with Robert Powell , Olivia Hussey , James Mason , Laurence Olivier , Anne Brancfort , Fernando Rey ; ¨Last temptation of Christ¨ by Martin Scorsese with Willem Dafoe , David Bowie , Harvey Keitel , Ian Holm , Harry Dean Staton ; and ¨The Passion of the Christ¨ (2004) by Mel Gibson with James Cazievel , Maia Morgenstern and Monica Belucci.

There are many interesting aspects on this, and I would suggest that they are all favourable. Even the music, which is rather disturbing at first, completely changes character in the middle of the film as the presence of Jesus enters the stage. Like in "Ben Hur" a few years later, you never see his face, and maybe the makers of that film got the idea from here. No matter what you may think about the liberties taken here with the gospels, Yvonne de Carlo as always makes a terrific performance, both as actress and dancer - and there are several invigorating ballet scenes here, in whicvh Yvonne de Carlo even almost outshines Rita Hayworth - actually, Yvonne da Carlo made something of a continuation of Rita Hayworth's career after Rita left Hollywood after her divorce from Orson Welles. The story is good, it is a well composed script, which also puts some quality to the entire film. There is no theology here, Barabbas and his thieves and criminals with the Romans and their generals are treated with the same human interest as the Hebrews, and it does not include Mary Magdalene's later encounter with Jesus after the supposed resurrection - there is no resurrection here. In brief, nothing bad could be said about it, only appreciative observations of excellent details, - but Yvonne de Carlo is the jewel in the crown of this film.

Though I had at least a couple more vintage Christ-related films lined up for Holy Week viewing, I ended up watching only this one…and the fact that it did not amount to much makes the restriction doubly disappointing! Anyway, this peplum looked promising enough on paper: director Bragaglia was an expert at this sort of fare, Yvonne De Carlo was equally seasoned at playing historical figures, and her supporting cast was headed by Victor Mature-lookalike Jorge Mistral (who had been Heathcliff in Luis Bunuel's remarkably idiosyncratic 1954 version of WUTHERING HEIGHTS!) and Massimo Serato, yet another genre stalwart.

However, as was the norm back then, a number of flourishes (read: inaccuracies or, simply, inventions) were incorporated into the plot that rendered it not just unpalatable but downright mediocre! These included having Mary Magdalene turn out to be Lazarus' sister (he, then, is played – believe it or not – by a pre-stardom Terence Hill, still acting under his original name of Mario Girotti!), her being involved with the insurrectionist schemes of arch-criminal Barabbas (depicted as a rather scurrilous individual!) and also De Carlo's alternating relationships between ambitious/unscrupulous Jew Serato (Barabbas' own contact-man!) and centurion Mistral (who also happens to be Serato's old buddy!) newly-arrived to steer Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, towards accomplishing the will of Rome!

Incidentally, while the Jew exploits Mary's profession of courtesan (needless to say, frowned upon but basically tolerated – because her religion dictates as much – by sister Rossana Podesta': she had already fallen to supporting-role status after the misfire that was Robert Wise's HELEN OF TROY {1955}!), the Roman is shocked by her shameless behavior (especially when he discovers she had been the masked performer of a sultry dance at a party given by Serato: apparently, he clean forgot De Carlo had already made a demonstration of her dubious 'artistic' abilities in his tent when left behind during an attack by Barabbas and his fanatics!)...WTF?! – should it not be a Christian's prerogative to try and reform a Pagan?

And what of Jesus' own appearance: being from the time where it was not deemed fit to show His features (the remake of KING OF KINGS was still 3 years away), His presence is so fleeting throughout that He might as well have been a ghost...which Christ almost is when unhistorically turning up in Mary Magdalene's garden beseeching that she mend her wicked ways! Naturally, this eventually occurs after He famously intervenes at her impromptu stoning; she ultimately repays Him by an equally fictitious – and unbelievable – visit to His prison cell (thanks to Mistral's clout apparently), where His redeeming spirit is unabated. Following which, we fast-forward to the Crucifixion scene and, by extension, the film's end – a sure sign, if one were needed, that Religion was the last thing on the film-makers' minds!

Miss De Carlo is always a feast for the eyes ;this is a pleasant sword and sandal extravaganza,but only if you forget the gospels .Because her Mary Magdalene is made of bits of characters featured in the Holy Writ and her adventures which include a Barraba attack and an affair with a Roman officer are rather unreliable,to put it mildly.

She's Lazarus' (played by Mario Girotti aka Terence Hill) and Martha's sister (sic) ,which allows the director to film the young man rise from the dead;she is also the adulteress,complete with "let him who has never sinned.....";she's also the sinner who washes Jesus ' feet ,but without Judas Iscariot's nasty intervention;it's too much for the same woman :the gospels only say that Jesus cast seven demons out of her ,if my memory serves me well.

That said,there 's never a dull moment and Yvonne De Carlo is really as gorgeous as ever.