Il tesoro della foresta pietrificata

Technically, its dealing with the Nibelungen myth (even if the title would imply an improbable continuation of the 1936 Leslie Howard/Bette Davis/Humphrey Bogart gangster classic!) should have made of this obscure Italian peplum an ideal candidate to spice up my planned Fritz Lang retrospective; however, having found my only previous encounter with its director's work, ALI BABA AND THE SEVEN SARACENS (1964) – incidentally, also starring the American beefcake star of this one, Gordon Mitchell – as one of the poorest of its kind, I thought better of not tainting that studious task with inferior material and get to the film immediately given that I was going through a whole bunch of similarly modest fare (several of which featured Mitchell anyway!). As it turned out, while the end result was nothing particularly special, I enjoyed it well enough to venture forth with another Salvi-Mitchell combo at my disposal: VULCAN, SON OF JUPITER (1962)!

Having said this, the film does not follow Lang's storyline because none of the characters he depicted (Siegfried, Krimheld, Attila The Hun, etc.) appear here: instead we have Hunding (Mitchell), Sigmund, his sister Brunhilde (a Valkyrie – cue Wagner's famous theme but I was actually reminded of the classic Looney Tunes spoof "What's Opera, Doc?"!) and his lover Siglinde, and Erika (the latter's jealous sister). In any case, the tale of Siegfried and the dragon had already seen service within the peplum genre via Giacomo Gentilomo's eponymous 1957 film. Despite his being a Viking, the naturally-blond Mitchell oddly sports dark hair in this one while the first appearance of Gunnar, the hero's lieutenant (actually, a Viking defector himself!), made me burst out into uncontrollable laughter that did not subside for a full minute because of his incredibly scruffy hair-do! Another unintentional source of amusement is provided for non-discriminating viewers by the scenes depicting Hunding seeking the counsel of a witch whose visions are, unfortunately, hilariously over-animated!

While Sigmund and Siglinde are together enjoying a romantic tryst in the forest, his camp is attacked and decimated by the enemy; upon learning of this, the hero takes out his anger upon the survivors (and even his girl!) but, when eventually silenced by a stronger pony-tailed acolyte, I could swear the actor portraying him was smiling while carrying Sigmund away like a sack! The action is virtually uninterrupted throughout the film but, frankly, little of it is actually all that engaging with only Sigmund's elaborate escape from Hunding's camp – swinging from ropes, supplied by the usual comic-relief dwarf sidekick, over the heads of his oblivious captors – although even this sequence is marred by being all-too-obviously shot day-for-night!

Sandals action with a mix of Wagner's "Ring" and the Nibelungenlied

This film, directed by Emimmo Salvi in 1965, is also known under the German title "The petrified / stone forest". In the original Italian it is called "Il tesoro della foresta pietrificata". And the conflict between the Nibelung prince Sigmund (played by the Croatian actor Ivo Payer, also known as Ivica Pajer) and the dark Viking leader Hunding (with impressive physique: Gordon Mitchell, who plays "Maciste, the son.) is also about a treasure / tesoro of Hercules" from 1961 was discovered as the main protagonist). With the Sword of Valhalla and the Nibelung Treasure the peoples of the North could be dominated, something Hunding naturally doesn't need to be told twice. Elaborate fights in which Hunding can flex his huge muscles, and various intrigues in which the two dissimilar sisters Siglinde and Gertrud (played by the enchanting Eleonora Bianchi and the fantastic Luisa Rivelli in a very ambivalent role) are involved, hardly leave you bored come up. In interesting supporting roles are Pamela Tudor as Valkyrie Brunhild, who is of course always announced with Richard Wagner's famous "Ride of the Valkyries", and the short actor Franco Doria as the fool Knut, who always causes laughter, but also exciting rescue operations with complicated rope winches.

The problem with the film is that it was all too obviously shot on cheap studio sets. The fight scenes are also not always convincing, although the two main actors are expressly excluded. Overall, the story is a bit half-baked because with the Nibelungenlied and Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" two very different stories are mixed together, which simply cannot succeed.

Worth seeing for fans of Gordon Mitchell, but probably not for others!