Les gladiatrices

Unlike other Italian schlock whose racy titles promise more titillation than they could ever deliver, the Amazon Women of this film totally dominate the proceedings and it also lives up to its original Italian title 'Le Gladiatrici', with plenty of ferocious girl-on-girl swordplay. Thor, in the form of Joe Robinson, happily spends more time cosily shacked up with his chum Ubaratutu (played by Harry Baird); while the matriarchy presided over by the lynx-eyed, white cat stroking Black Queen Janine Hendy - who "thirsts for blood and death" - goes about its day to day business of showing itself as profligate with the lives of its hot young women as Sumuru would be eighteen thousand years later in her own bid to rule over men.

It would be tempting to describe the women and costumes as too modern looking, did its sexual politics ("the rule of women was the most frightful and horrible form of government") not already seem so antidiluvian a mere half century later.

Both the Italian ("Le Gladiatrici") and the American ("Thor And The Amazon Women") titles sound like they can't miss, but they do. This film does deserve credit for being one of the earliest films featuring female gladiators, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The entire premise doesn't make much sense: why would this matriarchical society purposely kill off so many of its finest female warriors? Might be of interest to some: Harry Baird's impressive muscle display in one scene. * out of 4.

This is another film which I have just watched but it has already slipped my mind quite completely! Indeed, the peplum genre – especially in its lowest form, and this is easily among the least I have watched! – has a curious tendency to be instantly forgettable.

The fact that this features no recognizable cast members certainly did not help and, though I purposely scheduled it to be viewed right after the brand-new Marvel/Kenneth Branagh blockbuster THOR (2011), unsurprisingly the film has nothing at all to do with that superhero figure despite featuring a character by that name in the English-dubbed version I watched. Rather, as can be gleaned from the title, it awkwardly blends mild feminist attitudes with the vaguest whiff of Scandinavian mythology (I guess the film-makers could not get the rights to Hercules, Maciste or any of those other muscle-bound characters!); incidentally, it was originally released as, simply, LE GLADIATRICI – that is to say, making no reference whatsoever to the dime-a-dozen he-man hero (here played by the generically-named Joe Robinson)!

However I rack my brain to try to recall the plot details, I cannot come up with anything substantial…and the same goes for the rest of the protagonists, be it friends or foes! I can only surmise that the people involved kept the script handy in order to get from Point A to Point B during the shooting stage of this type of unassuming (read: invincibly low-brow) fare – but it does feel odd that, having gone through 86 minutes of it, there is nothing tangible to talk about after only a couple of days! Actually, there is a 10-page dissection of the film available online…but I will be damned if I am going to read it to jog my memory of it all…but, from the accompanying stills, I hazily recall: Thor fighting a caged ape; his having a colored sidekick; the villainous Queen of Babylos {sic} having a fluffy white cat for a pet; and her gladiatress minions not only getting to don Smurf-like head-gear but forever prone to breaking into the hilarious war-cry of "Elt! Elt! Elt!" WTF?!

In this unusual sci fi/ancient warriors flick, it is the women who dominate the Kingdom, enslaving the men and any women who disagree with their tyranny. Queen Nera is searching for the man destined to overthrow her if he outshines 101 Amazon warriors in a contest of sheer strength, who turns out to be Thor (Joe Robinson), accompanied by his sidekick, black slave Ubaratutu (Harry Baird). Both are muscle hunks. Lovely Tamar (Susie Anderson), whose father was the rightful ruler of the kingdom but like others was overrun and killed by the queen and her Amazon warriors, is seeking to restore his throne to her adolescent brother.

Women who disagree with the queen must fight each other as gladiatrices, while the men join Amazon warriors as guards or are kept dehumanizingly in caves. Tamar and her brother are captured, while Thor and Ubaratutu come to the rescue. The queen has her men as temporary husbands before disposing of them nastily when she is tired of them, and she seduces Ubaratutu after he is captured. We are treated to some amusing muscle displays by Ubarututu before the black queen (she reminds one of Eartha Kitt) preceding the sudden appearance of Thor, who insists to Ubaratutu that he should not trust her. Both are taken prisoner. The queen declares it is women who should rule, but a chief henchwomen confides privately to prisoner Tamar that she agrees with Tamar that rule and force are for men, that they deprive women of their softer side. It is up to Tamar and Thor to save the day.

Phew, such a plot could only be in an Italian-made movie! The visuals are excellent, with nice scenic backdrop, and the story does not drag. The acting may not be great, but the actors have only the wooden characters of the genre to put anything into. Despite the title, it is Tamar rather than Thor who is the chief protagonist, and she is a commanding presence throughout. Women don't have to feel cheated by the theme: to each his or her place, but the women become more human again. Fun to watch, not to be taken seriously.

These women have 1960s hair and make-up on - way to modern for the time era this film is suppose to have taken place in. The stupid blue strap around their heads made it worse. And WTF are they wearing? Every single this about this film is ridiculous: acting, story, make-up, costumes, directing, cinematography - you name it.

The costuming looks extremely cheap... most all peplum films have outstanding costumes but his film looks like they raided a dollar store costume department at Halloween.

If you are a guy and want to look at some girls then you might like this film just for that reason alone. I have a feeling if the women were ugly the film would be rated 0.

1/10