Spartacus et les dix gladiateurs

If you watch one Spartacus movie - don't let it be this one. If you are a fan of Swords and Sandals movies in general I will not persuade you to not watch this though. But you know the formula: big oiled men, fight other men and overpower them or something along those lines.

So you know what this will be about: historical accuracy is not one of those things. You want to watch it, be my guest, but don't complain if you don't like what you see.

71 B.C. during the rebellion of Spartacus , a gladiator named Rocca (Dan Vadis)and his band of fellows gladiators (Sal Borgese, Vassili Karis, Pietro Torrisi, Jeff Cameron... )flee from Coliseum. After that ,they save the damsel in distress , a senator 's daughter (Ursula Davis) . They're well received by the senator Varro (Gianni Rizzo) , though are poisoned and locked . Later on, they escape and join forces with Spartacus (Ivano Staccioli, alias John Heston) to fight patrician senator Varro. Spartacus wants return to Tracia and is waiting some ships. Ten gladiators are faced at every turn by Roman army. Meanwhile Rocca falls in love with Daliah(Helga Line) and then must rescue her from slavery and death. The slavers are building an aqueduct and the gladiators attack the detachment.

This is the second part in the ¨ Ten gladiators trilogy¨. It packs action, fights , sword-play, adventures and some touches of humor . Ample support cast formed by muscle-men and regular from Western and Peplum as Enzo Fiermonte, Jeff Cameron,Pietro Torrisi who in the 80s as Peter McCoy played several sword and witchery movies and Ricardo Pizzuti as Roman soldier , he's usual in Terence Hill-Spencer movies. As comic relief appears Sal Borgese, a sympathetic secondary playing a deaf-mute. Good production values with spectacular final battle full of extras and stock-shots from previous Roman films . It's shot in Rome, Lazio and Barcelona, Cataluña, because it's a co-production Spanish/ Italian produced by Alfonso Balcazar . Atmospheric score by Carlo Savina with catching musical leitmotif, he's usual of Western and substituting to Angelo Francesco Lavagnino who composed the first entry. Cheesy edition by Bruno Mattei, later famous director of ¨Z¨ Italian films.The motion picture is professionally directed by Nick Nostro.

The best installment is the first titled ¨I dice gladiatori(1963) or Ten gladiators¨ by Gianfranco Parolini with Roger Browne, Jose Greci and Dan Vavis as Rocca who dies at the end ; here the gladiators taking on Nero, Gianni Rizzo, and his henchman Tijelinus . It's followed by ¨Spartacus and ten gladiators¨ and the third outing titled ¨Triumph of ten gladiators or Il Trionfo dei Dieci Gladiators ¨ again by Nick Nostro and Gianni Rizzo as evil villain.

This was the second of three "Ten Gladiators" films made during the '60s, each starring Dan Vadis.

Like the first film, "The Ten Gladiators," this one is based on characters from history, freely adapting a fictional story within the historical setting. Consequently, the plot reflects the oppression and brutality of Antiquity, albeit with an occasional sprinkling of humor to lighten things up.

Director Nick Nostro keeps the pace going fast and furious, and the film does cover a lot of ground in 90 minutes. The characters are likable; the ten gladiators are handsome and appealing; the locations and sets are impressive; the score is excellent. It should be noted that one must see "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" in its native CinemaScope format to appreciate how dynamic and well produced it really is. Those blurry, faded 4:3 16mm TV prints don't do it justice.

Leading man Dan Vadis was never more handsome than he was in this and its follow-up "Triumph of the Ten Gladiators." The same can be said for the other nine warriors, whose physiques provide ample eye candy during the movie's slower passages.

Like all pre-21st century films, the viewer must have a normal human attention span to enjoy this motion picture. Consequently, contemporary audiences, unable to stop texting or smoking pot while "watching," will likely be too preoccupied expressing their usual disdain and condescension to enjoy it...

Choose not to make that mistake yourself.

From a female standpoint of view, there is no (real) beefcake here because they all look like a bunch of apes. Spartacus being the ugliest of the apes. Good thing this is a comedy! They have Spartacus and his 10 merry men rebelling against fighting their own in the coliseum sports. Yet half of the film is of Spartacus and his 10 men fighting their own. Ironic ain't it. They roll around really well on the ground too. :P It's a terrible B film but does have some funny stuff that makes it worth watching on this rainy morning. It's an awful movie but it is cheap entertainment from the Mill Creek Warriors 50-Pack.

3.5/10

I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had while watching SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS. It's starts up with an action packed beginning with the gladiators battling in an arena and never let's up until the end. Though nothing earth-shattering about SATTG, I was amazed by how focused and assured the direction was by Nick Nostro. There's almost no wasted moment in the entire film. Even the moments of comedy work and never get trite. The story about the ten gladiators teaming with Spartacus to over-throw an evil and corrupt Roman ruler is not to be taken as seriously as Stanley Kubrick's version of the legendary rebel but oddly enough, in this case, it works, this mostly due to the sharp direction by Nostro who never takes it too seriously and knows this is all about action, action, action.

Unlike THE TEN GLADIATORS, the melodrama in SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS is kept to a minimum. The same with the comedy bits, which was really annoying in the first film (no midget here). The music is pretty good. The color scheme is actually tasteful (for a Peplum). And the acting, though nothing remotely memorable, is much better than its predecessor. The gang really click here and, again, because of the focused direction, the ten gladiators stand out better here. Dan Vadis is fun and seems to enjoy himself. The only real weakness, like the first film, is the underdeveloped explanation for the beefy bunch. Why are they together? What are their names? The script is seriously underwritten in this respect. The same could be said for the villains. Though suitably evil in a campy way, the pudgy Roman ruler and his henchman are hardly worthy adversaries to ten powerful gladiators. This series needed worthy bad guys to probably make it more memorable. And the battle sequence at the climax is probably footage from another film, which is unfortunate and lowers the merit of the whole film as a whole.

But even with these obvious weaknesses, SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS has several stand-out scenes in it, including the beginning in the arena, the fighting between Vadis' character and Spartacus. The many battles sequences, which are sharply edited. The funny moments when the ten gladiators start eliminating the Roman soldiers. But the most memorable moment in the whole film is when Vadis, along with other slaves, hangs from a tree by a rope wrapped around a single arm (ouch). Then the Roman soldiers start killing the men hanging there with bows and arrows. Visually, this whole scene is a knock-out. The conclusion, with chariot and horses, is also visually striking. These moments tell me that director Nick Nostro had some talent for action. His style reminds me a bit of Sergio Leone.

Like in all these kind of films, the beefcake quota is pretty high. Vadis looks quite impressive here: agile and yet powerful. The actors playing the other 9 gladiators, whoever they are, are believable in their roles. Also, there are a couple of beautiful women in the movie. Ursula Davis is pretty but Helga Line is the babe in the movie. She really looks exotic. Incidentally, I recently caught Helga in the dreadful THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE and even though she basically looks the same, if a bit older, she didn't look as "exotic" in it as in SATTG.

Like I said, I was surprised by how much of a good time I had while watching this film. SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS is a Sword and Sandal film waiting to be rediscovered. A proper widescreen transfer is in order. I'm certain my estimation of it would grow even more.