Ursus na Terra do Fogo

The evil Hamilkar (Adriano Micantoni) wants to dethrone old king Lotar (Nando Tamberlani) and become king himself. But besides King Lotar, there are three other people blocking his way to the throne: the high priest who accuses him of sacrilege and murder, the popular hero Ursus (Ed Fury) and the king's daughter, princess Diana (Luciana Gilli). Hamilkar needs another mind's help (namely his wife's) to come up with a plan how to kill them all! Especially in the case of our hero Ursus, he'll find that very hard, though.

It's an OK genre movie, all the usual trademarks, but nothing outstanding. Good studio sets, but the outdoor scenes look cheap. The volcano is shoddy, and the lake is supposed to be the border between two countries, so they should not have picked such a small pond... The most memorable action scene is the tournament, when 5 opponents try and push Ursus into a spiked pit.

Having heard good things about this sword-and-sandal movie, I found myself a tad disappointed with some of its aspects, but in general, this is superior to most of its competition and "Hercules" fans will find it well worth a look. Of particular note are several of the imaginative and impressive indoor sets which are a clear cut above the plywood-columns sort of decorating one often sees in this genre. Of course, any "Hercules" movie must largely be judged on the appearance and appeal and talents of its main actor, and here we're fortunate to have Ed Fury, who not only looks good with his shirt off but who has some personal flair as well. He plays the part with an agreeable touch that's a welcome break from the "grimly determined muscleman" school of acting. Another way of judging these movies lies in the quality of the tortures which are inflicted on the hero. Here, we have two good ones. In the first, Fury is chained to one of those wooden poles which protrudes from a circular grist-mill. "Encouraged" by a burly overseer who lashes him across his bare back, Fury must walk around in a circle, pushing that pole and turning that grist-mill. (And boy, is this a big grist-mill!) Unlike other such sequences, such as that involving Victor Mature in "Samson and Delilah," this horizontal pole is not at waist level but rather positioned above Fury's head so that his chained arms are extended upward from his body. This seems to make the ordeal even more strenuous and painful and effectively showcases Fury's physique. In the second torture, he's forced to stand on a dungeon floor amid a number of sharp metal spikes which protrude upward. He's also forced to hold above his head an enormous flat stone. Eventually his arms will weaken and the weight of that stone, pressing inexorably downward, will impale him on those spikes just before it crushes him. The appeal of this torture is that it turns the hero's chief asset -- his strength -- against him. The longer he's able to hold up that stone, the more he prolongs his agony. And in the process, of course, the more entertainment he provides for his captors -- and for the movie audience as well!

When the evil general "Amilcare" (Adriano Micantoni) kills king "Lothar" and seizes his throne, he promptly marries the dead king's niece "Mila" (Claudia Mori) to legitimise his rule and this narks his neighbours whom he invades, persecutes and enslaves. They find a champion in "Ursus" (Ed Fury) who challenges the new king, but that proves a daft plan as it just sees him arrested and chained to a grist-mill for his troubles. Meantime, the true heir to the kingdom, "Diana" (Luciana Gilli) is slowly being tortured to death by her queenly cousin so it's going to take all of the strength "Ursus" can manage if he is to galvanise his shepherding population and take on the king, his troops, the scheming "Mila" and save the Princess. Now of course there's no jeopardy at all here, it is all by the numbers stuff and Fury is all muscle from head to toe as he woodenly trots out the mundane dialogue, but there are a few memorable scenes to look out for. My favourite sees him trapped in a cage full of sharp spears whilst two sets of horses try to pull him apart, but there's also a volcano to contend with and there's lots and lots of sheep too - though they're not so menacing. Micantoni and Mori make for quite a decent baddies and were it not for the really poor standard of the production, especially the editing and the continuity, this would have made for quite a reasonable sword fighting adventure. Sadly, though, it's all just rather sloppily put together and misses more than it hits.

Exciting but standard Peplum odyssey titled Ursus nella terra di fuoco(1963) by Giorgio Simonelli with Ed Fury , Luciana Gilli and Claudia Mori , 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 , but he was raised among lions , he is the typical corpulent hunk man who fights against evil people . A strange country is ruled by Lothar (Nando Tamberlani, ordinary in Peplum) , a king of fire-worshippers, while domineering a simple tribe of shepherds who only want to live in peace, living a quiet existence. Diana (Luciana Gilli) , the King's daughter was out riding , but she is come off when her horse frightened by a snake , as she was thrown off her horse into the lake, but, of course , she's saved by Ursus . Meanwhile , the king is overthrown by the nasty usurper Hamilkar (Adriano Micantoni). The good guys are the blond and beefy Ed Fury (Ursus) , Luciana Gilli (the beautiful girl) , and the bad guys are the usual nasty Adriano Micantoni and Claudia Mori (who married Adriano Calentano) as a Femme-fatale . Ursus will defeat them at an thrilling finale battle .

This moving Peplum contains emotion , noisy action sequences incorporating spectacular combats in which Ursus confronts several bouncing men attempting to throw him into a pit , spectacular battles with lots of sword-wielding warriors , court intrigue , thrilling ending and many other things . This mythological movie is plenty of adventures , thrills , atmospheric settings , evocative soundtrack by Carlo Savina and colorful scenarios well photographed by cameraman Luciano Trasatti. 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 : Nando Tamberlani, Tom Felleghy , Giuseppe Addobbati or John MacDouglas who's usually in these flicks . And including two gorgeous women : Lucina Gilli and Claudia Mori.

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) . ¨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 Carlo savina. 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 Luigi Capuano who made many fables of this kind , as well as hilarious Spaghetti Westerns . He directed various films for this popular couple Franco Franchi-Ciccio Ingrassia , such as : ¨Il Duo Sanculotti¨. ¨Due Sargenti de Generale Custer¨ , "The Two Crazy Secret Agents" ¨, ¨Due Mafiosi Far West¨ , "I due toreri" , "Two Sons of Ringo" , ¨2 Samurai Per 100 Geishas¨ . Simonelli also made adventure movies as ¨Robin Hood and the pirates¨ with Lex Barker , ¨Fra Diavolo¨, "Io Sono la Primula Rossa" , Péplum as "Ursus in the Land of Fire" , dramas and a lot of comedies , many of them starred by the comical couple Ugo Tognazzi and Walter Chiari .

General Amilcare (Hamilon) kills King Lotar with the help of the king's niece Mila. Hamilon and Mila take the throne as the new dictator King and Queen. The King wages war on their peaceful neighboring country, killing the woman and kids, enslaving the men. The Queen is torturing her cousin Diana (King Lotar's daughter). Suddenly a hero appears, his name is Ursus. Ursus is captured and enslaved for only for awhile then sentenced to a slow and torturous death but Ursus breaks free. Now Ursus and Lotar will fight in the pits of a volcanic cavern! This is the 3rd film of the Ursus trilogy. It's your standard or typical B-Move Peplum of the time era. I found it a little entertaining at times. The arena scenes are the best, just mindless watching them in their costumes battle then Ursus challenged Hamilon. The ending was OK when the people battled the soldiers and the battles that took place underground in the cavern.

3/10