La rivolta dei mercenari

In love with the beautiful Patrizia, a noblewoman exposed to the oppression of the evil Keller, Lucio organizes an armed escort to defend the noblewoman's lands. He goes as far as pretending to ally himself with Keller to fight him better , but Patrizia, who believes herself betrayed, abandons him.

In the last, decisive battle, Lucio can demonstrate his true intentions.

Revolt of the Mercenaries is an impressive looking Italian swashbuckler, right down to its cinematography, colour, lavish costumes, castles and setting- it looks much more better budgeted than of its ilk, and of course it features an Hollywood actress to spice things up. Virginia Mayo is beautiful as always. The hero - Conrado San Martin - is very good; his swordplay is good. A bit of a slow burn, but generally a well-told tale of good vs bad. The bad is represented by Livio Lorenzon who usually plays this type of character with gusto. An entertaining picture punctuated by some action.

This is not a typical Italian sword and sandal epic. It has a much larger than average budget, otherwise they could never have afforded Virginia Mayo. The film is set during the middle ages when Italy was broken up into a number of city states that were constantly at war with each other. The plot is simple. A group of mercenaries is hired by one of those states for protection, but discover that the man who hired them does not have honorable intentions, and these are mercenaries who live by a code. The photography and color are excellent, and costumes and weaponry are actually fairly accurate, and filming is done around actual castles in Italy. One problem is, of course, the dubbing which, as you might expect,is not that good. Another problem is to find a print with good color.

P.S.I haven't been able to find this on video. If it is available please contact me at mvescovi@nat.com