O Tesouro dos Bárbaros

Ancient Rome is plagued by barbarian invasion and piracy. The Eternal City, threatened on both land and sea, sends Darius (Roland Carey), a desperate consul, to seek aid from the Gauls. With resentment of the Empire running high, Darius must do some massive damage control in order to save the day.

I didn't find this peplum too bad, as it has a quota of action, has an adequate pace and straightforward plot, however its strong potential is marred by a lack of intrigue and mystery and things that happen is by the numbers. For example, when Carey and his sidekick go undercover to a city to learn who has stolen the Roman shipment of gold coins - the coins are apparently marked - and there's not much investigation or suspense. Which is a pity because a little detecting and mystery would inject some engagement. As it is, it just passable, that's all. Best thing - and the factor that made me watch this - was Maria Grazia Spina. What a delightful looking woman.

After a bit about barbarians over whelming the Roman Empire the plot starts as a Roman Legion in Gaul comes upon another legion thats been attacked and robbed of its gold. An official arrives and sends the new group to look into what is becoming a series of robberies of Roman gold.

An okay and overly familiar story is brought down by awful English dubbing that consists of just voices and maybe an occasional footstep. Worse is mismatched footage thats used to make the barbarians actually seem like they have huge numbers. Unfortunately the footage doesn't quite match and huge battle scenes are inter-cut with considerably fewer numbers of people in tighter shots.

Over all the movie isn't bad, its just not very good, at least in the form it has as a dubbed English movie. Perhaps on a dull rainy Sunday...