Thursday, November 14, 2019

By the Gods!

Massimo Serato and Livio Lorenzon (background) send Ugo Sasso to his death in CAVALIER IN DEVIL'S CASTLE (1959; Il cavaliere del castello maledetto)

A solid PEPLUM with a great cast: Massimo Serato, Irène Tunc, Luisella Boni, Pierre Cressoy, Ugo Sasso, Livio Lorenzon, and Luciano Marin, who died on Tuesday. The story is about an evil man (Serato) who tries to marry himself into power and a masked avenger known as The Masked Cavalier who tries to stop him. Who is the Masked Cavalier? It's sorta easy to figure out, even with all the red herrings. The story is pretty much standard stuff (so many PEPLUM films have this storyline) and it has pretty much almost every PEPLUM clichés known to man but it's solidly directed by Mario Costa, so the familiar script doesn't detract. Serato is especially good in this but there is one major problem: his two ladies keep dumping on him throughout the story. A villain should always have a compliant mistress or lover, who's as unscrupulous as he is. If he doesn't than he's really not that powerful or important if he can't a single babe to love him. But it doesn't stop him from trying to woe him and in one scene he's so good that Contessa Isabella (Luisella Boni) is confused: she hates him with a passion but he was able to persuade her for a while. Pierre Cressoy, who usually is the lead actor, is sorta wasted in this. The fate of his character is a bit confusing. The film was originally shot in color and widescreen but this copy is in B&W. The English title is a bit odd. The original Italian title translates as THE KNIGHT OF THE CURSED CASTLE. Very entertaining.

The cast: Pierre Cressoy, Live Lorenzon, Luisella Boni and Luciano Marin

No comments: