The Warrior and the Slave Girl (1958)

Very well executed

Strictly average movie

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is a 1958 historical drama directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, sponsored by the Italian Peplum TV organization......The complex politics within the far off Roman province of Armenia are what drives the screenplay. And, yet, I find the various alliances confusing. In the beginning, Roman Senator Lucillus(Nando Tammberiani) sends tribune Marcus Numidio(Ettore Manni) to Armenia to try to placate a rebel organization, mostly staffed by gladiators. who want to throw out the Romans, and their gladiator contests. When he arrives, he is greeted by the Roman governor Crisipius(Jesus Tordesillas), as well as by the Armenian boy King Osvoe(Fidel Martin), as well as his apparent regent, Princess Amira(Gianna Maria Canale), who initially attracts the romantic interest of Marcus, with her beauty and intelligence. Asclepias(Georges Marchal) is the leader of the rebel organization. Amira is jealous of Asclepias's popularity, and tries to have him killed by substituting a wild lion for his usual gladiator combatant(Gladiator victors weren't usually allowed to kill their opponent). Fortunately, this didn't work. Then, apparently, she tried to serve a poison drink to Marcus. Servant Zahar(Mara Cruz) served the drink, but refused Marcus's request that she test taste the wine, implying that she knew it was poisoned. Marcus threw the wine away, and roughed her up a bit. However, instead of ordering her executed, he ordered that she be the personal attendant for King Osroe(strange!). Pretty soon, Osroe falls into a slumber after drinking wine. Zahar hadn't taste tested it, but strongly suspected his wine had been poisoned. It soon becomes obvious that Amira had ordered the poisoning. As soon as she got information that Osroe was nearly dead, she ordered that she be crowned Queen. However, Osroe eventually recovered, with Zahar receiving credit for saving him. Amira was very angry that Osroe recovered, and later would have Zahar whipped, and then try to burn her at the stake. However, Marcos came to her rescue at the last second, and they end as a romantic pair......Now, the confusing part, for me. Marcus would switch from opposing the anti-Roman element to having a Roman cavalry unit help the rebels in their pitched battle against Amira's forces, near the end. Also, strangely, as Asclepias lay dying of a battle wound, he named Marcos as his successor in leading the anti-Amira(not anti-Roman) forces! Also, strangely, King Osroe disappears after the Roman cavalry strikes the capital. He had passed out again, as he and Marcus struggled to find the cavalry. Of course, Amira meets her deserved end in the end, but I won't say how...... Unlike one reviewer, I didn't find the film boring. Gianna always makes a beautiful and forceful lead woman in these types of films. Certainly, there was a reasonable amount of action sequences. I did downgrade it because of the confusion over the rebel's principle target: the Romans or Amira's forces? See it at YouTube

Despite some decent set-pieces and good characterisation, I found THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL to be a pretty dull and routine entry in the peplum genre; even sub-par outings like THE SWORD OF EL CID are more fun. It sounds strange to call a film which features gladiator battles against lions and a full scale uprising against cruel oppressors dull, but there you go.The problem with THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL is that it just plods along to a joyless climax without making much effort to intrigue or indeed excite the viewer. The various plot elements of the Roman film genre are all present and correct, and yet you get that "seen it all before" feeling about the production.Not that there's anything particularly at fault here; certainly, seasoned cast members like Gianna Maria Canale and Ettore Manni do their best, and the production values are mid level; the scenes of spectacle are a lot of fun. Yet it's not good enough to come across as a classic, nor is it cheesy enough to be entertaining as a B-movie, nor is it bad enough to laugh at. Instead, it's just a forgettable, middle-of-the-road kind of production.

This is another splendid peplum (actually the director's entry into the field he would revisit 6 more times) vastly undersold by the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide", which he rates at a mere **. That said, I managed to acquire and watch a widescreen print in Italian (albeit somewhat worn and with virtually illegible credits!), and could not picture it English-dubbed and panned-and-scanned afterwards – which may well be how many foreigners caught the film, on TV, to begin with...and, in fact, it has frequently aired on the U.K. channel "Movies 4 Men" this last year! Anyway, it re-unites Gianna Maria Canale and Georges Marchal from Riccardo Freda's equally fine THEODORA, SLAVE EMPRESS (1954), though the two do not actually meet face-to-face here – as the passage of just 4 years had relegated the former (despite receiving top-billing) to a villainess role and the latter to second lead! The hero, then, is Ettore Manni who would virtually become synonymous with the genre (in fact, he appeared two more times for Cottafavi) and, in this case, is possibly at the very top of his game.Its deceptively-brief running-time of 82 minutes betrays a busy and rather complex plot (whose essence neither the bland English title nor the prosaic original, translating to THE REVOLT OF THE GLADIATORS, can really hope to capture!) that sees the Romans, led by Manni, taking on two different countries that rarely featured in this type of fare – the Armenians and the Shi'ites. Canale is the aspiring Queen of the former (the official ruler is a child whom she is slowly poisoning to death!), ingratiating herself with the conquerors in order to keep her status (but subsequently conspiring with the latter people so as to regain the upper hand), while Marchal is the rugged leader of a rebel Armenian army – who has lived much of his life fighting, either in the gladiatorial arena or for his country's freedom. There are several twists-and-turns along the way which has all the protagonists going from victor to vanquished (the hero's hatred of injustice and display of clemency towards the barbarians actually brings about the titular rebellion!): more importantly, following the obvious initial enmity, Manni and Marchal eventually earn one another's respect and, through a mutual understanding, join forces against a common enemy.Similarly, an Armenian girl whose father had been killed by the Romans and ends up as Canale's slave (her knowledge of medicine even results in the little King's recovery!), is confounded by her feelings for Manni but, by the end, the two are at each other's side (in fact, rather than the standard anonymous long-shot of the landscape, Cottafavi emphasizes the intimacy of the narrative by sticking with them, silent observers to Marchal's funeral procession, for the closing shot). Indeed, such sturdy film-making abounds in this outing (in direct contrast to the director's two subsequent juvenile adventures featuring the mythical Greek demi-god Hercules!)...but, as with his picaresque masterpiece THE HUNDRED HORSEMEN (1964), we also get a mischievous dwarf thrown into the fray for (thankfully not over-stressed) comic relief purposes! Other memorable scenes here include: Marchal's duel in the arena with a lion; Canale's demise at the hands of one of her escaped pet tigers; Manni getting virtually single-handedly freed from prison by his devoted strong-man lieutenant (hilariously, the midget is thought to have thrown a guard clear across the room when it was really him!) but who pays the price with his life – incidentally, both he and Marchal also have strong-minded female companions (which is quite atypical of the genre!); and the heroine being herself saved from the stake at the proverbial eleventh-hour by her lover.

Cottafavi directs a fine early genre specimen here. The movie starts out by having us believe that the Romans have grown tired and bored of their empire. No wonder it is crumbling. So this Marcus goes on quasi-vacation to Armenia, where the girls are supposed to be pretty a.s.o., and runs into the people's revolt. Princess Amira (played by lush beauty Gianna Maria Canale - what a lady!) immediately gain his attention. Little does he know she wants to get rid of 5-year-old Osro to ascend the throne herself. Meanwhile, the captives from the revolt are mistreated and paired off in the arena, to the amusement of the decadent Romans and Scythians (Amira's bodyguard). But there is also the titular slave girl, who hates all Romans but conveniently knows a lot about poisoning and might just save little Osro in time. Great heroic music by Nicolosi keeps up the pacing, as do battle scenes full of verve. Amira whips the hero's love interest and ends up being eaten by one of her own pet tigers. Did I mention the midget buffoon? Recommended to genre buffs.