La rivolta dei sette

THE SPARTAN GLADIATORS is another 60's Italian sword and sandal so-called epic that is dogged by a poor script that borders on the incomprehensible at times. Clearly made on a miniscule budget, the version I watched contained some atrocious dubbing. During some of the fist-fights each punch that hit its target sounded like somebody's head being hit with a metal tray. At other times this curious sound effect was completely out of synchronisation so that the silent punch was followed about two seconds later by the sound of tray on head. Oh well, at least that injected a badly needed piece of humour into this ordinary tale, even if it was unintended.

The storyline, for what it's worth, concerns the quest of a group of escaped gladiators to seize a statuette from a Roman official who plans to use it to forge an alliance with a neighbouring country that will result in the gladiator's country-folk becoming life-long slaves. Or something. Quite frankly, the plot is secondary to the barrage of fight scenes that quickly become tiresome and boring, and seems to wander in and out of the movie with the same lack of enthusiasm as its viewers.

Aside from one quite neat murder, this movie is a complete dud that will satisfy only easily-pleased boys under the age of 10.

This is probably the fastset paced of the peplum adventures with lavish sets, humor and unremitting action. The story gets kind of lost in it all, and it's hard to keep track of just why everyone is violently seeking the Athena statuette, but who cares! Tony Russel and his escaped gladiator pals have their hands more than full trying to outwit the conspirators and take many a beating before they finally triumph.

a film like many others from period. heroic, childish, far from historical facts, a basket with too many fruits and a few drops of romance as spice. so, it is not exactly a bad film but only result of a fashion and exercise to conquer a large public. the acting is insignificant, the fight scenes - almost nice, the slices from Captaine Fracasse - decent. nothing memorable. only the old story about good guy and his fellows against the bad guy and the shining of final victory. so, it is difficult to blame it. crumb from a golden age , piece from a chain, it is only a film for fun, without great ambitions or a lot of expectations.

This is one of the last of the Italian sword-and-sandal reels and like "Ercole sfida Sansone" it's one of those points where the genre crosses over into turkeyland. The fighting looks cheesy (check out the scene where the rebels, some of them dressed as women, wigs and all, get into a fistfight with the Roman soldiers - both the impact sounds and the movements are miles off any real fighting), much of the script seems more like Robin Hood than antiquity and it's all on a disjointed comic-book level.

The acting is generally dire. Fun at times because it's so utter carelessly done, but nowhere near real excitement. If you're looking for adventurous men fighting a tyrant, try "Flash Gordon" instead.

Milo, tyrant of Sparta, has betrayed the Achea League. The evidence of betrayal is hidden by one of the rebels who is killed before he can reveal the hiding place to his friend Keros.

The cast is more or less the same as the Secret Seven and it has a number seven heroes going up against tyranny, however the Revolt of the Seven never reaches the heights as the Secret Seven, which a lively romp. Revolt .. is fun in parts, lively in some parts and has some humour but it never raises above routine. It's not unwatchable, far from it, but it lacks the drive and punch as the Secret Seven. Helga Line as the duplicitous Aspasia is great as a Lady DeWinter ( of Three Musketeers) Type, and throw in a little theatre travelling to avoid the soldiers a la Scaramouche. One thing, though, Tony Russel - a Rock Hudson lookalike - makes a lively hero.