Der Korsar von Monte-Forte

This film catches Sergio Grieco in the middle of a number of low-budget adventure films he directed based on Italian history. Filmed originally in color, this appeared a few years later in U.S. drive-ins in a tawdry black-and-white version, which strips the film of any lustre it may have possessed on the big screen. Thus, it is hard to appreciate what the director had in mind when shooting the film, and one must refer to "Lo Spadaccino Misterioso" and others to see what was being done in the genre at that period. There is quite a bit of action in this one, but somehow, the charisma is lacking. After viewing this three or four times, I found that the film doesn't really get much better after the first viewing, and I'll have to hope that a color version (preferably letterboxed) shows up some day, so that I can better evauluate this film. Nevertheless, it features some great faces, and an over-the-top raid by Moorish pirates. The ending revenge scene is also particularly memorable.