Salambò

It is set in III century BC , the Carthagenian are battling Romans and then Carthage hires mercenaries to support their fight. But the Carthagenians don't execute the agreement about the terms of payment .Then the revengeful mercenaries carry out an upheaval against them . Meanwhile, Salammbo, gorgeous Jeanne Valere, the highest priestess of the bloody Goddess Tanit attempts to settle the conflict by gettting a covenant , but things go wrong when the mercenaries led by Jacques Sernas, are betrayed by the main member of the council of wise men, Edmund Purdom.

An acceptable sword and sandals movie with intrigues , thrills emotion and impressive battles . Freely based on the known novel by Gustave Flauvert, the film inspires itself on the prestigious book taking parts here and there. Here appears some historical characters, as the notorious general Amilcar Barca, father of Annibal and Asdrubal who battled fiercely the Romans in the Punic Wars . Decent main cast as the very young Jeanne Valere as Salammbo, the virginal priestess , daughter of Amilcar Barca and who falls really in love with the mercenary chief played by Jacques Sernas, he exacts a vendetta stealing the sacred veil of the Goddess Tanit from the temple where the Chartaginian practice human sacrifices . Support cast is pretty good, full of secondaries of the 60s and 70s such as Riccardo Garrone, Arnaldo Foa, Kamala Devi who subsequently had a brief Hollywod career, Nando Tamberlani, Raf Baldassarre, Ivano Stacciolini, Andrea Aureli, Franco Franchi , Pasquale Basile, among others.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Sergio Grieco. He was a good craftsman who made a lot of adventures, action and thrillers movies as Sergeant Klems, SOS agent 017, Rififi in Amsterdam, The mysterious swordsman , Lucrezia Borgia, La regina dei Tartaro, Il Capitano di Ferro, Pirates of the Black Hawk....

Whoever would have thought that a novel by the author of "Madame Bovary" would be the basis for a barbarian peplum film? Nevertheless, Salammbo is just that. Mathos ( a muscular and handsome Sernas) brings his angry band of unpaid barbarian merceneries to the king of Carthage demanding their just recompense. While confronting the king, he meets Hamilcar's daughter, the princess Salammbo, virgin high priestess of the goddess Tanit and guardian of the sacred veil. The villainous chief advisor (Purdom) promises to send chests of gold if they will await far outside the city. When they are delivered, the chests are filled with stones under a top layer of gold. Furious, Mathos vows revenge which involves the beautiful Salammbo and the sacred veil. Few if any complete prints of this film have survived. The American release was severely cut. After viewing a more complete, but still not intact Italian print which included more excised action footage and a final duel between Sernas and Purdom while awaiting execution, I have to say that what would have been a reasonably good film has been butchered. If anyone has the complete version I hope they will have it restored and made available.

During the 3rd century B. C. a horde of barbarians are hired by the Phoenian city of Carthage to fight against the Roman empire, but when the city's ruler is unable to fulfill the promised payment made to the mercenaries, they attack the African settlement ....

Salammbô -the king's daughter and high priestess of goddess Tanit- tries to settle the matter but the Barbarian leader (Jacques Sernas), who has fallen for her, steals the sacred veil of Carthage from the temple, without taking into account the evil schemes of a powerful member of the council of wise men.

A rather energetic Italian peplum that is loosely based on Gaustave Flaubert's novel- there's very good performances all around that drives the narrative, from the barbarian leader, Mathos, who is played with a cool presence by Jacques Sernas, to Salammbo played by the pretty Jeanne Valerie. But the standout acting honours goes out to Edward Purdom who is uncharacteristically facially decorated by an evil Fu Manchu-like goatee and eyeliner. No surprise who is playing the main villain, the trouble stirrer.

It's an impressive looking sword and sandal film with great cinematography, dreamy arid locations, drama, forbidden love and lively action scenes. Quite underrated.

I first saw the Italian-French co-production "Salambò" in the early 1960s, distributed in Panamá by 20th Century-Fox, as a CinemaScope/Color by DeLuxe production and dubbed in English, as "The Loves of Salammbo". Since the memory of it had persisted, I was curious about it for more than 50 years, until 2014 when I could see it again: this time in its French version, which is 23 minutes longer than the American, and 15 minutes shorter than the original Italian cut. I always remembered that it was different from the regular peplums of its day, and this time I could verify that it had higher production values, that the story is more elaborate than the typical "sword and sandal" show, and above all that it is not a proper peplum, if we stick to its original definition of films that deal with Greco-Roman mythology, heroes and gods. This is a historical drama based on fact, about the mercenary rebellion against Carthage in the 3rd century B.C., when the city had not paid the promised gold to hired barbarian soldiers, after they had shed blood for five years in the name of Carthage; and it is also a fictional love story of mercenary leader Mathos (Jacques Sernas) and Carthaginian high priestess Salambò (Jeanne Valérie), daughter of general Amilcar Barca (Riccardo Garrone). There is a greedy, wicked traitor in the court of Carthage, Narr Havas (Edmund Purdom), who is lusting after Salambò, wants power and gold for himself, and to get rid of the mercenaries. Based on the respected but little known novel (or long story) "Salammbô", by French author Gustave Flaubert, written after he published "Madame Bovary", the complex tragic war story that he told was simplified, shortened, altered (for example, Narr Havas is originally a mercenary chief), and given a happy ending. Although it looks as if the producers had bigger ambition, and a few sets, scenes and location shooting aim for great spectacle, the truth is that the Italian and French capitals were not enough. There are also some flaws, as Alexander Derevitsky's persistent martial score, the 1960s style of make-up, and rushed transitions, which may be the result of trying to reduce the running time. Although Sergio Grieco was never a highly regarded director, he received good support from Enzo Alfonsi's editing, and cinematographer Piero Portalupi's dramatic lighting, camera movements and set-ups, so the vision of the film is entertaining. Two curiosity notes: the French version includes a love making scene with brief nudity that was cut in Spain, where my DVD copy was issued with the footage restored; and the part of Neshma (Salambò's maid) was apparently played by Italian actress Brunella Bovo in the Italian version (her name appears in the Italian poster) and by Indian actress Kamala Devi in the French cut. I can't remember what performance was used for the American version.