Le triomphe des dix mercenaires

I love the nearly 3D effects you see at the beginning of this movie as each gladiator is introduced. The new widescreen print of The Triumph of The Ten Gladiators is far superior and the picture and sound quality is superb. It's a good story that reminds me of "The Magnificent Seven." These guys will do anything for money, but in this one none of the good guys get killed. A bit of slapstick mixed with some swords and sandals thrown in. Plenty of action. Good old Sal Borgese, the deaf-mute gladiator's antics have to put a smile on any viewer's face. What more could you ask for? bcarruthers-76500

In July 2022, the German-Portuguese actress Helga Liné celebrated her 90th birthday. Born as Helga Lina Stern in Berlin, she and her parents were able to escape Nazi persecution to Portugal as a child. Fortunately!!! She became a sought-after actress throughout the Iberian Peninsula and was also seen in many Cinecitta genre films. She also had notable appearances in two of ALMODOVAR's early films: "Laberinto de pasiones" (1982) and "La ley del deseo" (1986).

In this sword and sandal film, which is very action-packed and extremely entertaining, Liné plays Queen Molyna, who plays a role in the conflict between Rome and the Parthians alongside strapping muscle men like Dan Vadis, Armando Bottin, Aldo Canti and Pietro Torrisi . The film is the sequel to "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" and is a lot better than the first part.

The homoerotic subtext of the sword-and-sandal subgenre has rarely been more blatantly obvious than in this film; often the entire frame is filled left to right with nothing else but images of buff, bare-chested men. Oh I guess there IS also Helga Line around, technically....The "story" makes absolutely no sense, and the film is too long, but it has enough action to satisfy those who crave this sort of thing. ** out of 4.

The TEN GLADIATORS movies are a rare breed of film: usually, the third film in a trilogy is always ends up being the worst. Think about all the trilogies made and the last one is always sucks so bad. Not with the TEN GLADIATORS trilogy.

The first film, THE TEN GLADIATORS, is the weakest of the bunch. Aside from the usual fun cast and being a comedy/action Peplum, the film has almost no memorable moment in it.

Then there's the first sequel, SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS, which is a vast improvement. The action is almost nonstop and the comedy works. It's a rousing Sword & Sandal that truly delivers.

The third film of the series, TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS, though not as good as SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS, is still filled with many memorable scenes: from the unforgettable opening sequence to the very last scene when the gladiators are walking together, TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS is an low budget orgy of action, comedy and fun.

I had a lot of fun watching TRIUMPH. The beefy cast in TRIUMPH clicks (even more than the preceding films). Everyone seems to have fun. Dan Vadis excels here: For a big brawny guy, Vadis is remarkably agile during the action scenes. He's not much of an actor but he does have star quality. And unlike the previous two films, the other gladiators have more screen time. We really get to know them better. The exotic Helga Liné is also back (the supporting cast is basically the same as in SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS but they play different roles). I've become a big fan of Helga thanks to these films. There are several stand-out set pieces, many of which are the nonstop action sequences, one of the best is when the gladiators brawl with 4 dozen soldiers at the inn. Then there's the moment when the ten gladiators throw spears at Helga Liné in defiance. The gladiators dressing up as women (not very convincing). And then there's the climax. The soundtrack is also very good. I can't get the Ten Gladiators theme out of my mind.

The film is far from perfect. At first glance, TRIUMPH appears to be better than SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS but it's not actually. Just slightly less better because of one main reason: the convoluted story needed of a lot scenes that exceeded the film's low budget and the producers used a lot of footage from other sword & sandal films for those moments. The excessive use of footage from other films (COLOSSUS OF RHODES, for example) really hampers TRIUMPH. At least a good 15% of the film is stock footage! There are simply too many moments when we don't see any familiar faces. This makes TRIUMPH look more sloppy than it should have been. If the story in SPARTACUS & THE TEN GLADIATORS seemed weak at first, in contrast to TRIUMPH, it's suddenly lean and mean and effective. And the acting is definitely uneven. As imperfect as TRIUMPH is, it's still loads of fun and it's well worth watching, much more than the first TEN GLADIATORS movie.

So how come the first TEN GLADIATORS film sucked so much but the sequels rocked? Because Nick Nostro directed the sequels. Though I haven't seen all of his films, the two TEN GLADIATORS sequels he directed are proof enough for me to know that Nostro had a true talent for action.

I really hope these TEN GLADIATORS films will be released on DVD with proper widescreen transfer.

A gladiator named Rocca (Dan Vadis) and his band of fellows gladiators (Sal Borgese, Vassili Karis, Pietro Torrisi, Jeff Cameron, Ivano Staccioli ,alia John Heston, among others ) leave his work in the arena from Coliseum placed at Antioquia. They're received by the consul of Syria who assigns them a mission as spies. They join forces with Glauco (Stanley Kent) to spy and kidnapping the Queen Moluya (Helga Line) who is allegedly allied Partos to attack Antioquia. The ten gladiators are faced at every turn by dangerous enemies. Meanwhile, Rocca falls in love with Moluya (in the second entry Vadis and Line did a likable couple as well) and then they must rescue the damsel in distress (Halina Zalewska) and defeat the Roman's enemies, the Partos who attempt to conquer Syria.

This is the third part in the ¨ Ten gladiators trilogy¨ with a silly plot but full of struggles in the arena and sword-play. It packs action,tortures, fights , adventures and some touches of humor in charge of Sal Borgese . And as a brief historical reference there is the famous battle of Carrhae, that was fought in the year 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire, in which Crassus himself was defeated, his army annihilated and he was taken prisoner, as well as executed by being made to swallow liquid gold. Ample support cast formed by muscle-men and regular from Western and Peplum, such as Enzo Fiermonte, Jeff Cameron, Pietro Torrisi who in the 80s as Peter McCoy played several sword and witchery movies and the veterans Carlo Tamberlani and Enzo Fiermonte who performed numerous Peplums. As comic relief appears Sal Borgese, a sympathetic secondary playing a deaf-mute. Good production values with spectacular final battle full of extras and stock-shots from previous Roman films . It's shot in Rome, Lazio and Barcelona, Cataluña, because it's a co-production Spanish/ Italian produced by Alfonso Balcazar. Atmospheric musical score by Carlo Savina with catching musical leitmotif, he's usual of Western and here replacing Angelo Francesco Lavagnino as composer . The motion picture was professionally directed by Nick Nostro. He directed this passable adventure film , a genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career , as he directed all kinds of genres , most of them co-produced with Spain : Italian crime/mystery as "Web of Violence" , "Operation Counterspy" , "Vendetta at Sorrento" , "Superargo Against Diabolicus" ; Peplum as "Triumph of the Ten Gladiators" , ¨Spartacus and 10 gladiators¨ and Spaghetti as "One Dollar of Fire" and Day After Tomorrow¨ also titled ¨One After Another or ¨Von Django¨ . Rating : 5.5/10. Acceptable and passable.

The best installment is the first titled ¨I dice gladiatori (1963) or Ten gladiators¨ by Gianfranco Parolini with Roger Browne, Jose Greci and Dan Vavis as Rocca who dies at the end , here the gladiators taking on Nero: Gianni Rizzo, and his henchman Tijelinus . It's followed by ¨Spartacus and ten gladiators¨ by Nick Nostro set in Italy during Spartacus rebellion and a gorgeous Helga Liné as the love interest , there appears seven gladiators fighting habitual evil villain Gianni Rizzo. And, finally this ¨Il trionfo dei dieci gladiatori (1964).