Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald

This middling peplum is one of a myriad genre efforts which American actor Cameron Mitchell appeared in throughout the 1960s. As was the custom, the Italian names in the credits were Anglicized for the foreign market – sometimes comically so with, for instance, Lucky Stetson as cinematographer (even the director became Ferdy Baldwin)! Incidentally, the film is a German-Italian co-production – and the cast, apart from the obligatory American star, includes performers from both these countries (with a Rutger Hauer lookalike for the German villain, an allegedly legendary historical character, Antonella Lualdi – from Vittorio Cottafavi's splendid THE 100 HORSEMEN [1964] – as his lover and, again, a German actress providing Mitchell's tentative romantic interest).

The plot – to say nothing of the wintry settings – recalls THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964), one of Hollywood's finest spectacles from this era; the result is equally glum and, similarly, features an ominous score atypical of the genre. The film, then, is highlighted by two spectacular (if uninspired) battle sequences – the first depicting the titular ambush by the Barbarians, and the other being the Romans' elaborate retaliation.