Rossano Brazzi, as Archimedes, and Tina Louise in the epic SIEGE OF SYRACUSE (1960)
Directed by Pietro Francisci. This is one of his most epic film as the story takes place during decades and has a major battle at the end. I like this movie with just a few quibbles. I like Rossano but his brown hair and his sometimes ill fitted costumes do him no favours. It's unnecessarily distracting. Some people dislike him, thinking he's just a 'melodrama' actor but look at his earlier films and I understand why he became a big star. Also, and this is just a side note, Archimedes was an old man when the legendary siege occurred.
As for Tina, this is one of two PEPLUM movies she made in Italy, which SAPPHO - THE VENUS OF LESBOS being the other film. (see post below). Unlike SAPPHO, the US dub (which is still missing) doesn't use her voice, which is a shame. The altar next to Rossano shows it was recently used in some sacrificial offering (it's not part of the movie). Great film.
Tina's PEPLUM films are a constant source of frustration. SAPPHO is in English but a beautiful widescreen version of it, in any language, has never surfaced. And SIEGE has been released in beautiful widescreen prints but the English audio is missing.
This was a little Tina Louise fest today.
On brown hair:
ReplyDeletePlease elaborate what you find distracting about his brown hair. Is it because you see it as unnaturally and badly dyed? What do you think, then, when you see Alan Steel with brown hair? Also, lovely Tina looks like she has brown hair.
Saw this in the theatre when I was a kid. Loved the death-rays. Tina Louise, rraawwll!
ReplyDeleteTina Louise, the world's most beautiful redhead, looked perfect for peplum films. I wonder why she didn't make more of them.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any problems with brown hair but Rossano's is badly died or looks artificial. They should have kept his hair natural. He's look better at the end with greyish hair. I realize they wanted to show the passage of time and he had to look younger at the beginning than during the film's last act but still...
ReplyDeleteFred,
It's amazing that people post here to say they saw it in theatres. It blows my mind! It must have been cool.
Yes, she should have made more of them. Like Steve Reeves, Tina was perfect for the PEPLUM genre