ROME 1585 by Sinister Cinema: DVDNear.com

ROME 1585

ROME 1585
by Sinister Cinema

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DVD Cover Information

Director: Sinister Cinema
DVD: Region Code 0
Format: NTSC
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-12-05
Studio: Sinister Cinema

Movie Reviews of ROME 1585

Movie Review: Actress Debra Paget Is A Gypsy Delight
Summary: 3 Stars

ROME 1585 refers to the Italian adventure drama I MASNADIERI (1961). When dubbed into English, the film is also known by the titles of THE MERCENARIES or ROME 1585. It starred the ill-fated actors Antonio Cifariello (plane crash victim in 1968) and Daniela Rocca (mental illness). It was directed and co-written by Italian cinema legend Mario Bonnard. It is one of only two Italian films featuring expressive American actress Debra Paget--the previous being IL SEPOLCRO DEI RE (1961), or CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER.

I MASNADIERI is not a great adventure film. Everything about its plot of peril, subterfuge, and rescue seems derivative. The movie is a stew combining familiar ingredients from Robin Hood; King Arthur; the works of Alexandre Dumas, père; Notre Dame de Paris; the Sienkiewicz Trilogy; and Arabian Nights. The hero "Leonetto" (Cifariello) is presumptuous, unprepossessing, and insufficiently motivated. Greek actress Yvonne Sanson plays--without fervor--the ducal damsel in distress. Actor Folco Lulli's "Fra Silenzio" is a poor man's Friar Tuck/Falstaff/Pan Zagloba--a fist-happy and charmless hypocrite. Actress Daniela Rocca's duplicitous character is more voluptuous than intriguing. Actor Salvo Randone's altruistic "Cardinal," elevated to the papacy, makes one foolish proclamation after another (e.g. banning all citizens from carrying weapons----upon penalty of death!) The villain--played with routine menace by Livio Lorenzon ["Baker" from THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY]--lacks sense and sensibility: consider this award-winning dialogue (as dubbed) between him and the woman he has kidnapped (Sanson)...

(Sanson): "I detest you!"
Villain: "And that's exactly the reason why I adore you!"

The rest of the English-dubbed dialogue is almost as good. All that being said----WHO THE DEVIL CARES? The film features beautiful Debra Paget (as "Esmeralda") in her sexiest film appearance ever. Other than her temple-dancer costume for DAS INDISCHE GRABMAL, Debra never wore on film anything more bewitching than her décolleté gypsy garb in I MASNADIERI. Her dancing impresses as well. Debra's temple dances in the Fritz Lang Indian films seem too sensual for the serious religious settings in which they occur. In I MASNADIERI, on the other hand, her two vivacious gypsy dances are nested properly in a hedonistic milieu, and the results are the most satisfyingly erotic of her career. I recommend ROME 1585 for this reason alone.

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