Semiramis

"Semiramide" (Yvonne Furneaux) is a beautiful but evil woman who happens to be a member of the court "Minuret" (Renzo Ricci) who is the ruler of the Assyrian Empire. Because she longs to be the complete ruler herself she schemes with a general named "Onnos" (Germano Longo) against Minuret while at the same time using Minuret to keep Onnos in check as well. Her main weakness however is her love for a captured king of the Dardanians by the name of "Kir" (John Erickson) who has been reduced to slavery under Onnos. Now rather than risk spoiling this movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a satisfactory "sword and sandal" film for the most part. I especially liked the internal political drama created by both Semiramide and Onnos. Likewise, the presence of Yvonne Furneaux certainly didn't hurt the scenery either. Be that as it may, I rate this movie as slightly above average.

Assyrian king Minurte (Renzo Ricci) is getting old, and his son is still a child who cannot follow on the throne yet. Several members of the court are thinking about taking the throne or at least use the opportunity to share the power of the new ruler. There is Semiramis (Yvonne Furneaux), a woman who is enchanting any man and wants to build Babylon, a city of her own design. Then we have Kir (John Ericson), the enslaved young king of another country and a great warrior, Omnos (Germano Longo), an ambitious, successful general, and last not least Ghelas (Gianni Rizzo), an adviser to the king. The complex story revolves around intrigue, treachery and murder. Some characters are not really round, and if the credits state that 5 different screenplay writers were involved, I can imagine they wanted to push it into different directions, perhaps. Semiramis herself is everything from tragic goddess to relentless devil, depending on which scenes you watch. But despite some plot holes, the movie is entertaining enough to watch, 1960s costume drama above average.

Trying to write a coherent synopsis for this sword-and-sandal extravaganza, (set in ancient Assyria), borders on the impossible. The main thrust of the plot seems to be the rise to power of the beautiful but scheming Semiramis. To achieve this goal she simultaneously works both with and against Onnos, a general in the Assyrian army, and Kir, a king defeated by Onnos in battle. Though her efforts eventually seem to meet with success, her murky tangle of shifting alliances makes for a messy story-line which never succeeds in giving us a grip on Semiramis's character. She's neither heroine nor villain and often appears to be controlled by the plot rather than in control of it.

Fortunately, this movie offers compensations: colorful costumes, exotic sets, and several flashy scenes which rise above the muddled plot. One of these scenes shows leading man John Ericson stripped to a loincloth and bound to the side of a water-wheel. As the wheel revolves, it plunges his head in and out of the water. This calls to mind a similar scene in Chapter 9 of the 1947 serial, "The Sea Hound," in which Buster Crabbe suffers a similar torture on another water-wheel.

Yvonne Furneaux is visually alluring as Semiramis and one wishes the script had furnished her with a more consistent and plausible character. John Ericson as Kir falls into the "passable" category and though he seems slightly out-of-place, his failure to ignite the expected romantic sparks with leading lady Furneaux can once again be traced to that hodgepodge of a script.

I had bemoaned the fact that I missed out on an Italian-TV broadcast of this one not too long ago in my review of QUEEN OF BABYLON (1954) when it was available (albeit English-dubbed and panned-and-scanned) on "You Tube" all the time! However, I need not have worried as the film itself proved a disappointment and, in any case, neither of the two leads (French Yvonne Furneaux and American John Ericson) were Italian!

The plot deals with the erection of the famed Biblical city of Babylon, which turns out to have been a whim on the part of the ambitious evil Queen Semiramis of Assyria (getting her just desserts at the end when unceremoniously receiving an arrow in her bosom)! Typically, she is desired by many but herself sets her eyes on – and unrealistically obsesses over – the enslaved Dardanian King (there is even a scene, ripping off THE TEN COMMANDMENTS {1956}, in which she visits him at his 'labor-camp').

While Furneaux is ideal for the role (she had briefly treaded similar territory in THE MUMMY [1959}), Ericson is badly miscast and almost single-handedly drowns the film with his boyish features and conspicuously modern approach to acting i.e. drawling delivery! That said, the rest does not offer much in the way of compensation: indeed, I burst out in laughter during the very first scene when an authority figure's talking with another fellow is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger and, when notified of the latter's business, asks his companion to lead the way but addressing the man by the thoroughly formal (and downright condescending) "You, there!" as if he never had anything to do with him!!

General Onnos (Germano Longo) goes back to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh from successful campaigns he waged war against enemy countries . He presents King Minurte (Renzo Rizzi) after his military campaign with a number of newly-captured slaves including Kir (John Ericson) , vanquished king of the Dardanians who is made a prisoner and going on fighting for rebellion . Kir attracts the attention of Semiramis (Yvonne Furneaux) , a gorgeous young woman who's a member of Minurte's court and who has imperial ambitions. She persuades Minurte to give her a province and then uses slave labor, including Kir, to build herself a city which becomes Babylon. All this time Semiramis -helped by Ghelas (Gianni Rizzo)- plans to overthrow Minurte using shifting alliances with both Kir and General Onnos . Shortly after , she becomes the King's favorite , but Semiramis schemes a plot to depose the king and seize power for herself . And she is soon made queen with the novelty of a woman ruling such an empire . Later on , Kir and his people, toiling as slaves in a nearby quarry, to build the impressive city of Babylon and he refuses to submit to her rule.

This sword and sandals movie contains drama , thrills , betrayals , impressive battles and hokey historical events . Dealing with the famous queen Semiramis who ruled Syria , Mesopotamia and Babylon .However , the movie has not mythological accuracy , neither expecting historical .Produced by Aldo Pomilia (Chelo Alonso's husband) who also financed ¨War Gods of Babylon¨ (1963) building same sets for two similar films . it contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Alvaro Mancori . And the typically sturdy score, being the work of a distinguished composer , Carlo Savina , who was usual collaborator to Ennio Morricone . The picture was professionally directed by Primo Zeglio . Primo was married to Paola Barbara who usually plays his films in secondary roles . He was a good filmmaker , a craftsman who wrote and directed all kind of genres as Adventure : "Seven Seas to Calais" , ¨Genoneva De Bravante¨ , "Revenge of the Pirates", "Son of the Red Corsair" ¨, ¨Captain Ghost¨, ¨Morgan the pirate¨ , Sci-Fi : "Mission Stardust" , Peplum : "I Am Semiramis" , ¨Nero and Messalina¨ , ¨Rosmunda e Alboino¨ and Spaghetti : "Texas Ranger" , ¨Winchester One of One Thousand¨ also titled ¨Winchester Justice¨ and "The Relentless Four¨, among others.

Other versions about the Mesopotamian sub-genre are the following ones : ¨The Queen of Babylone¨ 1954 by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia with Rhonda Fleming , Ricardo Montalban , Roldano Lupi ; ¨War Gods of Babylon¨ 1962 by Silvio Amadio with Howard Duff , Jocelyn Lane , Luciano Marin ¨,¨II'eroe di Babilonaia¨ or ¨The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules¨ (1963) with Gordon Scott , Genevieve Grad , Mario Petri ,cMoira Orfei and Folco Lulli . And the silent classic ¨Intolerance¨ (1916) by D.W. Griffith that is another version of the conquest of Babylonia by the Persians .

The flick is partially based on facts , the actual events are as follows : While the achievements of Semiramis are clearly in the realm of mythical Persian, Armenian and Greek historiography, the historical Shammuramat certainly existed. After her husband's death, she served as regent from 811-806 BC for her son, Adad-nirari III. Shammuramat would have thus been briefly in control of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC), which stretched from the Caucasus Mountains in the north to the Arabian Peninsula in the south, and western Iran in the east to Cyprus in the west. In the city of Assur on the Tigris, she had an obelisk built and inscribed that read, "Stele of Shammuramat, queen of Shamshi-Adad, King of the Universe, King of Assyria, King of the Four Regions of the World¨.Legends describing Semiramis have been recorded by writers including Plutarch, Eusebius, Polyaenus, and Justinus. She was associated with Ishtar and Astarte since the time before Diodorus. The name of Semiramis came to be applied to various monuments in Western Asia and Anatolia, the origin of which was forgotten or unknown. Various places in Assyria and throughout Mesopotamia as a whole, Media, Persia, the Levant, Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Caucasus bore the name of Semiramis, but slightly changed, even in the Middle Ages. She is credited with founding the city of Van in order to have a summer residence, and the city may also be referred to as Shamiramagerd (city of Semiramis). Strabo credits her with building earthworks and other structures "throughout almost the whole continent."Nearly every stupendous work of antiquity by the Euphrates or in Iran seems to have ultimately been ascribed to her, even the Behistun Inscription of Darius. Herodotus ascribes to her the artificial banks that confined the Euphrates and knows her name as borne by a gate of Babylon.Armenian tradition portrays Semiramis negatively, possibly because of a victorious military campaign she prosecuted against them. One of the most popular legends in Armenian tradition involves Semiramis and an Armenian king, Ara the Handsome. According to the legend, Semiramis had fallen in love with the handsome Armenian king Ara and asked him to marry her. When he refused, in her passion she gathered the armies of Assyria and marched against Armenia. During the battle Semiramis was victorious, but Ara was slain despite her orders to capture him alive. To avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis, reputed to be a sorceress, took his body and prayed to the gods to raise Ara from the dead. When the Armenians advanced to avenge their leader, she disguised one of her lovers as Ara and spread the rumor that the gods had brought Ara back to life, convincing the Armenians not to continue the war.