Ursus nella valle dei leoni

This was Ed Fury's second film in the Ursus character, and in this one we learn that Ursus, of noble blood, was raised among lions. When he enters the "human" world, he is wide-eyed and naive, but gradually adapts to the ways of the world, saves a beautiful woman who loves him, and overthrows an evil dictator. Fury plays the various phases of the character's evolution (from naivete to a kind of disgusted smirking to a regal heroic bearing) well. The scenes among the lions and the wolves will be an easy mark for those who want to nit-pick, but the techniques used here will be familiar to any fan of low budget films and won't bother anyone familiar with the concept of "willing suspension of disbelief." As is common among budget-conscious Italian "spectacle" films, the art direction and production design are quite imaginative and suggest a lot for a few lira. I've got to give some credit to a film that takes a lot of chances, and this film is, like an old serial, so over-the-top in its entertainment value that anyone looking to have some fun and set aside any critical questions should have an enjoyable 90 minutes with Ed Fury and crew. I've been digging out the old Ed Fury films recently, and I must say that he brings a special charm to the peplum genre--it was nice to see him honored with a retrospective at UCLA last year. Director Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia has credits dating back to the 1930s, but his 1960s credits tend to be costume adventures and comedies. With this film, he's created a unique mix of peplum heroics, fantasy, and wit that I found quite entertaining.

Exciting Peplum odyssey , regularly-plotted , with a likable acting from Ed Fury as Ursus ("Ursus" is Latin for "bear") . Sword and Sandals film centers upon Ursus (Ed Fury or Edmund Holovchik) , of noble blood , he is the typical bouncing hunk man who fights against evil people . Ursus' parents were overthrown , then he was raised among lions . The good guys are the blond and beefy Ed Fury (Ursus) , Maria Luisa Merlo (the beautiful girl) , Mariangela Giordano and the bad guys are Alberto Lupo , usual nasty Gerard Herter (Spaghetti's customary) and Moira Orfei (sister of Liana Orfei also ordinary in Peplum) who's usually in these flicks as a Femme-fatale slave . Ursus will defeat them at an thrilling finale with elephants , battles and a firing scaffold .

This moving Peplum contains emotion , noisy action sequences incorporating circus elephants , spectacular battles with lots of sword-wielding warriors , court intrigue , stirring ending with a burning gallows and many other things . This mythological movie is plenty of adventures , thrills , atmospheric settings , evocative soundtrack by Riz Ortalani and colorful scenarios well photographed by Tino Santoni . This is a regular spaghetti, myth-opera with action , love , battles and luxurious landscapes , but there are a few editing goofs . In addition to the muscular lead but always appealing sword and sandal elements are here ; however , this movie has not mythological accuracy neither expecting historical . The corpulent Ed Fury was a hunk man who made lots of roman epic films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ . He was one of a number of bodybuilder and physique model types who followed muscleman Steve Reeves out to Italy in the early 60s and won campy notice playing Herculean characters in those campy Italian sand-and-spear epics . Ursus, Maciste, Goliath, Samson , Hércules , Atlas..., those Italian muscle man producers must have had a hard time figuring out what to call the musclebound actors who played all these legendary muscleman heroes . Other stars by the time on this type of movies are Mark Forest , Gordon Mitchell , Alan Steel , Dan Vadis , Reg Park , Brad Harris , Samson Burke , Richard Harrison , Rock Stevens , Kirk Morris and 'Gordon Scott' and , of course , the great Steve Reeves , as nobody , nevertheless, topped Steve in popularity . Fury started off his beefcake run off as a body double . Ed was the subject of legendary photographer Robert Mizer and appeared on the cover of Mizer's infamous magazine "Physique Pictorial" ostensibly promoting Fury's role in Ursus (1961), billed as "The Mighty Ursus". Ed was posing front-and-center as Herk himself and entering in the star-system based on pumped-up heroes playing ¨Sansone¨ or ¨Samson¨ or ¨Ursus¨ . On numerous occasions Ed was asked to play the legendary Greek hero , as well as the equally well-built demigods Samson and Ursus , even though the film titles often fused (or confused) them in their titles . Some other familiar faces show up here , such as Alberto Lupo , Gerard Herter , Andrea Scotti and uncredited Salvatore Borghese as warrior at Ursus' saving . And including gorgeous women : the Spanish Maria Merlo , Moira Orfei and Mariangela Giordano , they are insanely beautiful, and their flowing dresses and magic hair styles supplement this . The Ursus's love interest is very sympathetically and believably played by pretty Maria Luisa Merlo , or Mary Marlon , best in the cast .

This film belongs to a quartet about this hunk character , ¨Ursus¨ , such as : "The Vengeance of Ursus" (1961) by Luigi Capuano with Samson Burke , Wandisa Guida , Livio Lorenzon , ¨Ursus¨ (1961) by Carlo Campollani with similar actors as Ed Fury , Maria Luisa Merlo and Moira Orfei and "The Son of Hercules in the Land of Fire" (1963) by Giorgio Simonelli with Ed Fury , Luciana Gilli and Claudia Mori . ¨Ursus¨ movie is derived from Buddy Baer's character who is named "Ursus" , a secondary role in the famous colossal ¨Quo Vadis¨ (1951) directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred by Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr . Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by the prestigious as well as prolific Riz Ortalani . Colorful cinematography , being filmed on location in Lazio , Rome and Studios : Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio ; Studio Olimpia, Rome , Lazio, Italy . The film was regularly directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia who made many fables of this kind ("Semiramis , The Queen of Babylon" , ¨The Sword and the Cross¨ , "Mighty Crusaders" , "Amazons of Rome" , ¨Anibal¨ and "Hercules vs. the Hydra" or "The Loves of Hercules") . Carlo along with Vittorio Cottafavi , Carlo Campollani and Giorgio Ferroni continued to realize films in the historical-spectacular style , at which he developed an acceptable skill and mastery . The movie obtained success and originated sequels . Rating 4,5/10 , passable though mediocre .

Though featuring many an unlikely plot point (starting off with Ursus as a baby – even if it was the third of his adventures to be released within the same year!), this emerges as a slightly above-average peplum in which the muscular hero is once again played by the affable Ed Fury. He is the heir to some throne, obviously coveted by the villain of the piece – Alberto Lupo – and thus the target of assassination; amazingly, he not only survives this but is also brought up, Tarzan-like, by a bunch of lions (hence the title). Amusingly, though he seems to have effortlessly mastered the faculty of speech regardless, Ursus is blissfully ignorant of etiquette since he sees nothing wrong in taking a dip into a stream while the protesting (and obviously annoyed) heroine – a girl, intended for a slave market, whom he helps – is bathing! Special mention, then, is given in the credits to the animal wrangler involved, Orlando Orfei, presumably a relative of the film's villainess Moira Orfei (who was actually a staple of such fare: as was the case with the first URSUS, she has to contend with another girl over the love of a man, even if the object of her affection here is Lupo). Surprisingly, the film maintains a fairly sober tone throughout – with little concessions to the genre's usual pitfalls (there is no insufferable comic relief, for instance)…but we still get the villain's unconvincing demise at the hands of Simba, Ursus' favorite lioness (elsewhere it also bonds with the heroine's snowy-white mutt), and some unintentionally hilarious action scenes: Gerard Herter, Lupo's henchman, is hit squarely on the head with a stone-block the hero has dislodged from his prison-cell and lives (at least long enough to be devoured by a creepy pack of hungry hyenas); a soldier is thrown into a fire during a scuffle, rises up blazing, trips and falls flat on his face; a number of soldiers are commissioned to demolish a cave, the meeting-place of rebels, only to end up buried within it themselves, etc. In the end, the film provides standard excitements but proves mildly entertaining nevertheless (if hardly essential); again like URSUS, we find some notable names among the credits – not just director Bragaglia but composer Riz Ortolani and assistant director Ruggero Deodato(!).

Ed Fury as Ursus (Latin for the bear) in the lion pride

It's hard to believe that this extremely weak sword and sandal film by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia was able to sell 1.335 million tickets in West German cinemas in 1962.

It couldn't have been because of the emaciated and stunned lions that so many people stormed the cinemas. Even the American bodybuilder Ed Fury (*1928) in the title role is not the most impressive Peplum hero of those years. Moira Orfei (1931-2015), who, as we know, comes from a famous Italian circus family, is enchanting as the female antagonist. She probably also brought the all too lame movie lions to the set.

Not a highlight from the oil-soaked heyday of Italian sword and sandal films!

First thing to mention is this one is in black and white. It's not the colorful peplum that we are used to from the 1960s. B&W films are great, some of my all time favorite films are in B&W.

Secondly, the film feels like is was a television episode of something. The way it is filmed and acted out looks like a Studio One production.

The story of Ursus is similar to Tarzan. Tarzan was raised by apes while Ursus was raised by lions. How their stories plays out is a bit different but there are a few parallels. Let's not forget the story of the boy who was raised by wolves. - You get the idea.

Overall, I am unimpressed by the entire film... and displeased with the circus animals in the film being used the way there were.

1/10