Duelo de Campeões

In the ancient Rome , during the pre-Republic period , general Horatio (Alan Ladd) is wounded and imprisoned by Albanos and accused as cowardice by Romans. The prodigal Horacio fled and he has come home but the Romans distrust . Then Horacio is redeemed on the final confrontation . Then , a combat takes place in order to put an end to the long and bloody war between the Romans and the Albans . The king of Rome , Tulio Hostilio (Robert Keith) accords King of Alba-Longa a challenge between three members of Horatius family (Jacques Sernas , Ladd) and three brothers Albanos (Franco Fabrizi , among others). They fight a duel to decide who will rule . At the ending happens the fierce and lethal battle . This unforgettable heroic action was immortalized by French painter Louis David in the painting titled 'Under oath of the Horacios' .

This is a sword and sandals movie with action , adventures , fighting and based on legendary deeds in which three different brothers are chosen for each side : the Romans choose the Orazi and The Albans are represented by the Curiazi . The film shows difference between cultured Romans and savage and illiterate Albanos , but this question is historically contradictory . The Paramout star , Alan Ladd , was in frank decadence , he plays with apathy and indifference and acted without wage various weeks when the production was declared insolvency . After that , he played 'Carpetbaggers' and suddenly died by alcoholism . His sister Alana Ladd plays as Scilla . The screenplay is written by prestigious writers with future and important careers , such as : Carlo Lizzani , Guliano Montalvo and Luciano Vincenzoni (Sergio Leone's usual) . Spectacular musical score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (Peplum's habitual) . The film was directed by Terence Young and Ferdinando Baldi . Subsequently , Young directed successful James Bond films : ¨Bond vs Dr No¨ and ¨From Russia with love¨. In the Italian version only appears as filmmaker Ferdinando Baldi , he's an expert director of Peplum (Arminius , massacre in Black Forest , Son of Cleopatra , David and Goliath) and Spaghetti Western (Viva Django, Adios Texas).

The picture set during first Roman epoch with the king Tulio Hostilio. Formerly ruled Romulo and Numa Pompilio (events developed in 'Romulo and Remo' by Sergio Corbucci with Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott) , after succeeded the king Tarquino (deeds narrated in 'Mucius Scevola' by Giorgio Ferroni with Gordon Scott , also starring of 'Coroliano'). Other movies about the Roman pre-Republic , the Roman monarchy , are the followings : 'Kidnapping of Sabinas' (1961 , Richard Pottier with Jean Marais and Roger Moore) and 'Virgins of Rome' (1966, Vittorio Cottafavi with Louis Jordan) , among them.

This international co-production tells of a "famous" duel between two sets of three brothers (one from each side of the Romans and the Barbarians) which was to decide the fate of the ongoing war between them. While the production values sounded promising on paper – co-director Terence Young, American actors Alan Ladd and Robert Keith (whose last film this turned out to be), French star Jacques Sernas, ex-Fellini alumnus Franco Fabrizi, four noteworthy screenwriters, etc – the film comes off as a rather talky and undernourished affair which cannot hope to do justice to its mythical subject.

A visibly tired Alan Ladd, then, is evidently miscast and seems to be playing his role as if he has just stepped in from the American West rather than being at the head of a Roman legion! The hokey, would-be tragic "Romeo and Juliet" subplot involving Ladd's sister and Barbarian Fabrizi doesn't help matters either; on the plus side, however, is a sequence early on where Ladd is teared at by a pack of hungry wolves and the forest hunt by the three barbarian brothers for Ladd (after having killed his two siblings) which rebounds on themselves – with our hero, naturally, emerging victorious at the end to walk off into the sunset with his beloved.

Roma and Alba are at war, s they have been for a while. The king of Rome,Tullio Hostillo aka Robert Keith, dreams of Roman glory, despite all the mothers crying about their dead sons. Finally, the gods speak, saying that each side must choose three brothers and the last survivor will be the winner for his side. This includes Alan Ladd, but he is thought to have abandoned his troops and died. So the woman he loves is married to his brother. When he shows up, he denies both charges, but refuses to fight. Like Achilles, he will sulk in his tent on a nearby hill top.

Well, we can be assured that eventually he will fight, and will be victorious, because he's top billed. This peplum movie merges the usual thwarted love story with the other elements, including men showing off their legs. It's decent enough, but it doesn't appear to offer much in the way of any subtext. But that's not what people look at this sort of movie for, is it?

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Yeah Alan Ladd wasn't quite the handsome dashing hero of a few years earlier but I would imagine commanders in the Roman Legions back then weren't exactly Justin Beiber lookalikes so he fits the role pretty well. The plot has some interesting twists and the women were beautiful. The action scenes were better than average for an Italian epic...I've seen much worse. To be honest, these sword and sandal affairs are growing on me. They have a special charm all their own that's hard to define so I won't try. My advice, gird your loins, adjust your breastplate, and saddle up pardners for a good old Italian style western with a couple of familiar American faces thrown in for good measure!!! And remember, a sword is always loaded so be careful out there in weird movie land.

While those of us interested in ancient stories and sword and sandals productions will find this story to be interesting, it falls short, well short, in production quality and script to be the epic it could have been.

The plot follows the story of one of the Orazi brothers of Rome, at war with Alba. This brother is accused of cowardice in battle and is captured by the Albans. He escapes, but is not warmly welcomed upon his return to Rome. After years of war, the Romans and Albans agree to decide the battle in a duel of 3 Roman brothers (the Orazi's) vs. 3 Alban brothers. In the end, this Orazi wins the day but the victory is bittersweet as displayed with his disgust for the need for killing.

What stands out is the epic musical score composed by Francesco Lavagnino at his peak. Clearly, the music is at a far different level than the movie, it elevates the story but cannot raise the production near to the realm of an epic. Still, it is a collectible for ancient movie fans. Available on budget DVD, the DVD transfer is terrible.