Giovanni dalle bande nere

Italian historical film with Vittorio Gassman

The story of Giovanni de Medici, who became famous as the Knight with the Black Ribbon, is widespread in Italy. As the son of Caterina Sforza, he fought as a daring mercenary captain for the Italian nobility against the army of the French King Francis I at the beginning of the 16th century.

Vittorio Gassman (1922-2000) plays him as a heroic fighter who has to deal with all sorts of intrigues within his own ranks. Behind his back, Giovanni's confidant Gasparo (Gerard Landry) is negotiating with the emissaries of the German Emperor Charles V, which does not make the confusing situation any clearer. There are also problems in love matters with the ex-wife (Anna Maria Ferrero) and the current lady of the heart (Constance Smith), who, at least initially, can only see the heroic jack-of-all-trades as a cruel butcher. Brother Salvatore (Philippe Hersent) can only mediate with difficulty.

In this very entertaining film by veteran director Sergio Grieco (1917-1982), who co-wrote the screenplay for Luchino Visconti's masterpiece "Ossessione" (1943) and later directed several EuroSpy classics with Ken Clark, you get a lesson in European history (on an appealing, because quite demanding level) and exciting battles were offered. Definitely worth seeing!

If you want to hear this story told in an even more realistic and drastic way, you should also take a look at Ermanno Olmi's "The Profession of ARMS", which was screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. There you get a strong insight into how cruel these power struggles were and how lacking in illusions those who had to fight them out were.

The actors in this historical spectacle in the guise of an adventure film are worth a closer look.

The Italian audience favorite Vittorio Gassman and the beautiful Anna Maria Ferrero (1934-2018) could also be admired in "War and Peace" (1956) by King Vidor. Vittorio Gassman was even allowed to seduce Audrey Hepburn there!

After a promising start to her career in Hollywood, the red-haired Irishwoman Constance Smith (1928-2003) was particularly noticeable in the Cinecitta environment because of her messed up private life. In addition to problems with alcohol and drugs, she was also on trial for attempting to murder her lover. Man oh man!

The French actor Gerard Landry (1912-1999) also appeared in "Trapez" (1956) alongside Burt Lancaster, Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis. He was also the father of the actor Marc Porel (1949-1983).

Philippe Hersent is known from "The Fury of Hercules" (1962), in which he appeared alongside Brad Harris.

This film is based on the life of Giovanni de Medici. However, this is no epic production, but rather a brisk adventure tale with several remarkable moments. I consider this one of the finest films of Sergio Grieco's early adventure period, and the film is probably given that professional gloss largely by the superior acting talents of Vittorio Gassman. All around, it is a good film, with some nice battle scenes, a careful building of drama, and quite effective atmosphere. It also has its traces of violence, as for example when Medici's soldiers plunder a castle at the instigation of the traitor Gasparo (Gerard Landry). This reminds me that Grieco, although he had his roots in the classical cinema, was an exploitation director, albeit a very good one at that. Grieco cast Landry in several other films of the period, and seemed particularly busy at this time making robust adventure tales based on Italian history. This was released in American drive-ins in the early 60's, and is today extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate in its original form.