La Gerusalemme liberata (1957) User Reviews

Love crusade

[ulicknormanowen · 5/10 · 16 May 2021]

It seems that the crusade has lost its raison d'être ; to redeem his soul,Godefroy De Bouillon had heeded pope Urban the Second's call : to free the Christ's tomb from the infidels ; after the victory , chivalrous Godefroy claimed they fought for justice ;the religious side is almost passed over in silence ,which is amazing ,all the same! There are more fights and more love affairs than hints at the Holy Sepulcre .

Most of the plot is invented from start to finish : Tancrède De Hauteville did exist and he did urge the crusaders to spare their enemies' lives (which he tells the absolutely implausible female warrior Clorinda in the movie) for, unlike their attitude in the screenplay ,the occident men massacred too. Jerusalem was defended by Egyptians Fatimides.

The movie is an entertaining swashbuckler ,but should not be taken seriously .The adventures of Renaldo D'Este seem taken by force from another "historical" movie " Rolando e i paladini di Francia "(1956) , in which the Saracens sent a "secret weapon" ,a gorgeous girl to cause dissension among their enemies ( Gianna Maria Canale replacing Rossana Schiaffino, Rik Battaglia is charmed in both films)

With Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale in the cast, it can't all be bad

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 27 April 2017]

Instead of the normal write-up for The Mighty Crusaders, let's look at the plot summary found all over the internet - "SEE - The Dance of the seven orgies! SEE - The Duel to the death with 100-pound battle axes! SEE - The seduction of Renaldo, the White Knight, by the dark daughter of Damascus! SEE - The mammoth battle between Heathens and Knights for the Holy Sepulcher! SEE - Assault towers and battering rams breach the walls of the Holy City! SEE - Men turned into human torches by the flaming pitch of the Infidels!" So, how true is all that?

SEE - The Dance of the seven orgies! Yes (sort of), there is a brief clip of a harem dance. While it's quite nice and reasonably provocative by 1958 standards, there was nothing approaching an orgy.

SEE - The Duel to the death with 100-pound battle axes! - Yes (sort of), the Crusader named Tancredi does engage in a fight with battle axes against Argante. The way they handle the axes, however, it's easy to tell they don't weigh close to 100 pounds - more likely 5 pounds each. And, the battle goes on for so long, the men grow weary and agree to put off their fight until the next day. Very gentlemanly and accommodating.

SEE - The seduction of Renaldo, the White Knight, by the dark daughter of Damascus! Yes (sort of), Renaldo is smitten by Armida the moment he lays eyes on her. At least that's the way it seems because after what felt like no more than 30 minutes, Renaldo is willing to kill one of his comrades just to be with her. However, he quickly realizes that Armida is evil and wants nothing to do with her.

SEE - The mammoth battle between the Heathens and the Knights for the Holy Sepulcher! Yes, (sort of), there is a final battle between the Crusaders and the Muslims. But I'm not sure I would call it mammoth. It is fairly impressive given the nature of this movie, but it's easy to see the number of men actually in the battle scenes is limited.

SEE - Assault towers and battering rams breach the walls of the Holy City! Yes (sort of), the Crusaders do build some flimsy, movable towers that they use to get over the wall. However, I don't remember seeing a single battering ram. I could be wrong, but I honestly don't remember it happening.

SEE - Men turned into human torches by the flaming pitch of the Infidels! Yes (sort of), during the assault on the walls, a couple of guys are hit by some flaming stuff and you do see their clothes burning. But most of the flames safely miss their mark.

Here's how I would describe The Mighty Crusaders - SEE - Terribly staged, unrealistic sword fights! SEE - Trained soldiers who easily forgot their purpose and fall madly in love with the first woman they see! SEE - The idiot Trancredi battle and kill his true love even though he should have known he fighting a woman and Clorinda is the only woman fighter in the whole movie! SEE - Swords fights that sound like someone hitting two aluminum curtain rods against each other! SEE - Fabulous costumes and outfits that always look perfect, even in the pitch of battle! SEE - Sylva Koscina unconvincingly play a Persian Princess.

Still, the movie looks great and provided me with a decent amount of entertainment. A lot of it feels cheap, to be sure, but I wasn't expecting anything else. Plus, with Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale in the cast, it can't all be bad.

THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1958) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 29 April 2011]

This made for a belated addition to a Bragaglia peplum trilogy that also incorporated the lesser QUEEN OF BABYLON (1954) and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (1963). However, it was not watched under congenial circumstances given the English dubbing (though the print emerges as reasonably handsome) as well as the panning-and-scanning. Besides, some abrupt plot development throughout indicates the version I acquired (running 88 minutes) was slightly trimmed since the IMDb gives its full-length as 95.

The film itself is quite good and decidedly literate, though perhaps not enough to do justice to Torquato Tasso's epic poem "La Gerusalemme Liberata" (which was also the picture's original title). The narrative unfortunately resorts to contrived romantic situations, and we even get two for the price of one – involving Christian males (Francisco Rabal and Rik Battaglia) and Muslim ladies (Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale). That said, the teaming of Luis Bunuel regular Rabal (in atypical hero mode) and Koscina (who also gets in on the action!) is ideal; interestingly, the tragic finale has the two unwittingly engage in a duel and one of them ends up killing the other! Genre stalwart Canale, on the other hand, treads familiar i.e. duplicitous territory.

The film obviously elicits comparison with the likes of THE CRUSADES (1935) and KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS (1954) and actually falls somewhere in between in both approach and effect (being also decidedly sober in comparison with most entries within this field!). Portions of the main theme by Roberto Nicolosi felt oddly familiar: I am sure it was used in some Mexi-Horror that I watched earlier this year, or else was in a trailer gallery included on the disc containing a couple of them, but I cannot for the life of me tell just which one! Anyway, the finale has Christians gathered victoriously atop a hillside in reverent prayer (accompanied by angelic chorus) and capped with Christ's cross appearing fleetingly in the skies.

I have the promo-reel : glorious cinemascope !

[falmoury · 7 June 2003]

I have put the hand of a bunch of promo-reels (running time of each one is 2' average) put on a VHS, with a good video report, in English speaking version for most of them and in French for at least one of them (I have not checked all of them since I got this treasure VHS by a cinephilic miracle) , of almost 40 Italian westerns, peplums, medieval, pirates, jungle, horror, thriller, polizioti, etc. movies shot between 1955 and 1986 but most of them covering 1960-1970. Amazing treasure. Most of them are not pan & scanned and offers cinemascope. Some of them are 1.66 and 1.66 = 16/9. Among them, the promo-reel (2' approximatively) of this Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, one the great peplum directors, starring Sylva Koscina and the sultry Gianna Maria Canale... : when such a movie will be restaured and offered in full running time. The promo-reel that I just looked at gives me a deep will to see more of it. Directing work is classic, cinemascope picture beautiful, landscapes and scenery somptuous ! This one is a Medieval and violent story about crusades.

Dated Italian adventure with a maximum of heroism

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 26 August 2017]

THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS is very much a stock Italian adventure film of the 1950s. It's made in glorious colour and features a plot in which the heroic and fearless European Christians go up against the scourge of the Middle East, namely Saladin and his Islamic army. It's a dated film for sure, and one which feels stodgy and slowly-paced at times. However, it's also fairly intelligent, and it features a handful of action set-pieces, including the climactic siege, which hold their own against the fight-fuelled peplum epics to follow. Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale light up the screen as love rivals while Rik Battaglia and chums do their usual heroic feats.

"You're young and at your age it's difficult to gainsay the heart"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 7 January 2023]

Tancredi d'Altavilla, a Crusader, has captured a Muslim princess called Erminia but being a knightly guy he wants to set her free. She doesn't want to go as she has fallen in love with him. Tancredi though has met a female Muslim warrior called Clorinda and has fallen in love with her. Clorinda reluctantly falls in love with Tancredi even though she is promised in marriage to Argante who naturally is in love with her. Meanwhile another knight Rinaldo d'Este has fallen in love with Armida, who wants to divert him from his martial ways but ends up falling in love with him. While those imbroglios are being sorted out the Crusaders attack Jerusalem and re-capture it from the Muslims. So it's mainly a film of romantic entanglements peppered by scenes of action.

Filmed in 'Supercinescope' no less it looks good with colourful costumes, attractive sets and locations. The film is dominated by Sylva Koscina as Clorinda and Gianna Maria Canale as Armida, who not only look sensational but give depth to their performances. Also liked Andrea Aureli acting atheletically as Argante. It can be a bit talky sometimes but I was rapt all the way through the movie.