La belle et le corsaire

In spite of a very low rating,this movie,at least in its first part,is much fun to watch .There are plenty of funny lines and the playing verges on tongue in cheek ,particularly Gianna Maria Canale as the Duchess who is offered a banquet and requests for a hard-boiled egg;the stingy Spanish lord,who used his last gunpowder to fire a salute to the noble lady ,(the duchess is the Spanish sovereign's sister) and thus has no more when a bunch of pirates ,led by Nadir (sic),launches an attack against his castle.This Nadir (in fact a true noble,Paul,in the tradition of Robin Hood) is the dashing fiery hero ,who wants to recover his name and fortune:he is portrayed by an American actor ,as such was often the case in Italian productions:John Derek,fresh from De Mille's "Ten Commandments " (remember Josuah?),and future husband of Bo.

I love the last lines: (the monarch to his sister):"to think that you could have ended up a prisoner of that renegade !" (the duchess): "Well....."

A routine Italian swashbuckler with myriad influences. This one has a western stagecoach-style chase, some castle action, and a hero who's more than a little like Robin Hood. I guess you could call it pretty generic in this respect, but I wasn't too worried because it moves at a fair clip and provides plenty of action.

A castle in Italy at the time of Emperor Charles V: A young man named Vasco (Raf Mattioli, 1936-1960) enters because he suspects the ruthless murderer of his parents is there. He also finds him in the form of Carmona (Alberto Farnese), who used to call himself Ugo van Berg and is now the castle's head of security. Vasco is quickly overpowered and thrown into the torture cellar. Carmona ultimately wants to have the beautiful Angela (Ingeborg Schöner) as his wife. However, her heir uncle, the Baron von Camerlata (Camillo Pilotto), has other things to worry about as he has to feed the Infanta Caterina (Gianna Maria Canale), a sister of the powerful Charles V (Paul Muller). And that with the horrendous prices! Angela, on the other hand, has long since fallen in love with the handsome Paolo Di Valverde (John Derek), who secretly leads a double life as pirate captain Nadir El Krim. And also - just like his little brother, whom he knows nothing about - is looking for his parents' murderer.

Understood? Predictable and confusing at the same time, this is still quite entertaining nonsense. Lots of fights and lots of wordplay round off the entertaining fun.

After his brief appearance in "The Ten Commandments" (1956), heartthrob John Derek (1926-1998) got the opportunity to play leading roles in Bella Italia. According to IMDb, this film was released in 1957. John Derek, who 25 years later appeared primarily as the director of his fourth wife Bo Derek, always wears his shirt open to his belly button, and as a pirate captain he commands his half-naked men in a bright red costume with boots well above the knee. Geez! But the man can carry it. ;-)

The sweet love interest is Ingeborg Schöner, born in Wiesbaden in 1935, who was to make a few more films in the Roman film industry. Later she was particularly popular as a long-standing star of the crime series "SoKo Munich (formerly 5113)".

The Swiss actor Paul Muller (born in Neuchatel in 1923) once again outdoes himself as Emperor Charles V. No one can portray the big-headed people as well as this actor, who later appeared in some DERRICK episodes.

A little discovery for me was Raf Mattioli in the role of little brother Vasco. The young actor died far too early due to illness during the premiere of the film "The Bacchantes" (1960).

Gianni Rizzo (as the mischievous count) and Raf Baldassarre (as the tanned and muscular corsair) can be seen in usual roles.

Not a high flyer, but an hour and a half of good entertainment is provided. And the film is a beautiful reminder of the international career of the great Ingeborg Schöner, who was married to the actor/director Georg Marischka until his death.