Attila (Anthony Quinn) has a discussion with Honoria (Sophia Loren) in ATTILA (1954)
Directed by Pietro Francisci, this colourful retelling of the story of Attila has everything: great cast, excellent production, good pace, etc. The only liability is the length of the movie. At 80 minutes, it's one of the shortest 'major' PEPLUM movies ever made. The movie was too brief to cover so much so we basically see just a fraction of the bloody history of Attila. The script/story needed to be fleshed out a bit more to be truly epic. Had it been more detailed the movie would have been one of the best. It is very entertaining, like all Francisci movies. Loren hated the experience though. Something to do with Quinn eating a greasy pork sandwich and a kiss. The movie was released in the US in 1958, when both actors, certainly Sophia, became superstars. Anyway, the elaborate necklace Sophia has in the photo above was reused in future PEPLUM productions.
Despite the differences that they had during the filming of this movie they played in other movies together and got along great. I have not seen this movie in English for years.
ReplyDeleteOne of my reference books has an Italian running time of 100 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 English versions, 2 German versions, 2 Italian versions, 1 French version and they're all 80 minutes (wth PAL conversion of course, including the English ones).
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the original was 100 minutes and was edited down to 80 for the wide release but I've never seen a 100 minute copy anywhere.
Orsh, it's not just the interaction between Quinn and Loren. They were friends. It's just the whole experience and the greasy sandwich was the last straw. Good to see you again.
It seems that not even Sophia can survive Attila.
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