Elisa Cegani has eyes for a young Massimo Girotti in THE IRON CROWN
A fantastic, almost magical film. It's no perfect (it has loads of big continuity errors and it's a bit too boisterous); director Riccardo Freda apparently said he wasn't impressed by it (what Riccardo would have done with this!) but director Alessandro Blasetti utilizes more razzle dazzle, visual tricks and panache than most films made then, in Europe or Hollywood. The director would later make the equally fantastic FABIOLA which in part helped re-ignite the Sword & Sandal craze of the 1950s. Highly recommended.
One of the films TCM used to show on its Friday night foreign showcase, since moved to Sunday night/early Monday morning. Unfortunately, it seems a long time since they last ran it -- probably because the print they had was in rather rough shape. I'd love to see it again, though. Not the true classic it might have been, but still quite dreamlike and rather intoxicating. Certainly worth a release on DVD. And it's a favorite of director Martin Scorsese, as I recall.
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