Il ratto delle sabine

There are many versions of this movie kicking around but the original is still the best. LBX and all the topless scenes included. If you watch the TRAILER on Y/T you can see glimpses of the topless bits. If you watch any of the movies, those breast scenes are all cut out. I have the original with everything showing. Plus in LBX and great colour it fantastic. Roger Moore is perfect for the role of the Roman leader.

For those of us who love Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and want to know just what inspired those Pontipee Brothers to court their women the way they did we have Romulus And The Sabines out of Roman legends to tell us. Least that's what Plutarch said.

Romulus And The Sabine Women is a cut above the usual peplum product from Italy at the time. It stars Roger Moore as Romulus one of the legendary founders of Rome and we're at the pioneer days of Rome when Romulus who is the son of Mars and therefore half divine has talked a bunch of men to pull up stakes and settle on a promising site on the banks of the Tiber River. But like pioneers depicted in such films like Westward The Women or Paint Your Wagon these guys have cleared the land and made a city, but there aren't any women.

Even the leader is feeling some pangs and he does realize that we do need the other sex if the city is to grow and prosper. Those folks from Sabinia in the next county have women, so get women from them one way or another.

The story is presented accurately as has come down to us. Roger Moore is definitely nice to look at, but for once the leading man in a peplum is not dependent on his physique for attention. The particular object of his affection Mylene Demongeot, Sabine princess and consecrated vestal virgin and French cinema legend is also an eyeful.

Speaking of eyefuls Romulus And The Sabines has as a real treat a meeting with the Gods. In a dream sequence Romulus seeks advice from dear old dad, Mars the God of War, but that other Roman deity Venus insists on putting her two cisterces in. They're played by Jean Marais and Rosanna Schiaffino and they have the best dialog in the film, even dubbed.

This is not bad and might even prompt a reading of the classics by some young viewers. That's always worthwhile, at least that's what Plutarch said.

Below-par peplum which, more than anything else, serves to demonstrate that Roger Moore (playing Romulus, ruler of Rome and the son of a deity!) is as ill-suited to the genre as John Wayne or Alan Ladd had been!! Dealing with the popular legend of the Rape Of The Sabine Women - which also inspired the musical SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) - the film is strictly a potboiler, with colorful scenery but little real action and obligatory hit-or-miss comedy relief provided by Moore's pint-sized, myopic spokesman. Mylene Demongeot - who seemed to have been a fixture with this type of film - is, as ever, a most lovely heroine (sparring for Moore's attentions with the duplicitous Scilla Gabel, who eventually expires in an incredible manner by way of a deflected arrow); meanwhile, Giorgia Moll and Marino Mase' fill in for the secondary romantic interest - while the thing is given some measure of dignity by the presence of Folco Lulli, playing the jovial Sabine king, and cameos (in the film's most interesting scene) by Jean Marais and Rosanna Schiaffino as Roman Gods, respectively Mars and Venus, who appear before the sleeping Romulus - pretty much in the style of the Tom & Jerry cartoons! - to 'influence' his thoughts (i.e. whether to pursue the path to war or love). While not quite as bad as the similar (and similarly-titled) COLOSSUS AND THE AMAZON QUEEN (1960), the best film to incorporate the Battle Of The Sexes into the peplum genre remains AMAZONS OF ROME (1961; co-directed by Vittorio Cottafavi).

This is really a rare movie. A totally forgotten one. In its times, it was lost among the deluge of others, more fortunate films of the genre so called "swords and sandals". It was a veritable Tower of Babel, mixing English, French, Italian, German and another languages between the cast and the crew. Today, it has survived in versions with dubbing in German, Spanish and French but not in English or Italian. Even it exists a copy in Russian, with the voices that make the translation, overlaying to the dialogue in German. And the formats are a nightmare. There are in the old 4:3 proportion, and in the new 16:9 standard, even in the original 2.35:1. And the editions of the film are also different, so don't dream about putting the sound track that you understand, in place of the one in another language because it's a task for the Mission Impossible Force. Nevertheless I confess that I like this unwanted concoction. Let's begin with the cast. Romulus is Roger Moore. This was the year 1961 and The Saint, The Persuaders! and James Bond were in the future. Sir Roger came from Hollywood, where in the fifties he had participated in a series of films for MGM and WB without much of a success. But in TV, already, he had three series under his belt: Ivanhoe, The Alaskans and the Fourth Season of Maverick replacing the great James Garner. Instead of muscle he created a very likable Romulus. Handsome, proud, ambitious, cunning but also vulnerable and caring. If you are a fan of Sir Roger, he will not disappoint you in this role. The romantic interest is brought about by french actress Mylene Demongeot, a sight for a sore eyes. She is Rea, the daughter of the King of the Sabines. She is breathtakingly beauty but she is consecrated as a Vestal, truly a precarious position for such alluring girl. Today Mylene is recognized as an excellent actress. But Romulus also elicits passions. Scilla Gabel, is the other woman in his life, the Fenician amazon Dusia. Scilla was the Stand-in of Sophia Loren and, in order to earn this job, a woman would have to be voluptuous and very well built. Scilla filled the bill and also had a volcanic temper. But the picture not only deals in lust and passion, there is also tenderness. The young lovers, Lavinia and Lino are very well represented by Giorgia Moll and Marino Mase. Giorgia was known for her part of a Vietamese girl, in the movie The Quiet American (1958). And the Olympic Gods, Venus and Mars, enter in a dream sequence while Romulus is asleep in the temple, debating about the merits of love and war as the driving force in the souls of little mortals. Specially invited for these roles were the Italian temptress, Rossana Schiaffino and the tough and multifaceted French actor, Jean Marais. Furthermore, among the beautiful Women of the Sabines, there is Luisa Mattioli as Silvia. For those who loves trivia, Luisa would become the third wife of Sir Roger and would abandon her incipient cinematic career in favor of the role of mother in real life. And acting as Titus Tasio, king of the Sabines, we found the experienced Italian actor Folco Lulli. The man who prevented the collapse of this Tower of Babel was the Austrian director Richard Pottier. Evidently, an expert in juggling different languages. The result was incredibly good. The story is based in the well known legend of the Kidnap of the Sabines Women, it has action and sense of humor, and it is apt for all audiences. It's not all about war and heroism and brute force. It's about how to be a just leader, a king and a companion and in the end choosing between a glorious future as a powerful monarch or the anonymous destiny beside the woman that one loves.

childish, heroic in few moments but not impressive. testimony of a time , in which blockbusters are skin for historical subjects, it is seductive only for cast. and for ambiguous intentions of director. sure, Roger Moore or Jean Marais are perfect names for epic but, in same time, important source of frustration. because the beautiful story is a strange mixture of feminism, myths, jokes and love story. all in same place, maybe the public is master of choices. the tale is thin, the fight scenes - nice, the beauty - not spectacular but interesting for understand sensitivity of a time. but the central error is its role of page from a movie type. after so many films inspired by Antiquity it is difficult to be happy at meeting with "Il ratto delle sabine". not for the force of the other creations - it is not Spartacus or Ben Hur - but for the ambition of director to say all in not well manner.