Attila

The script is admittedly very badly written but it follows roughly Attila 's biography.Of course ,as it is a 75 min movie,many moments are passed over in silence but all that concerns the main characters is accurate: the brother was slain by Attila and his German vassals ,Honoria tried to forge an alliance with him,(but her brother locked her into a convent),and yes,the pope found the right words to stop the conqueror.He had previously failed in front of Paris ,reportedly with a little help from Saint Genevieve ,a woman of God who urged the Parisians to resist.

The film suffers from an international ill-assorted cast:an American (Quinn) ideally cast as the bar bar,an Italian (Sophia Loren) which made sense,but also a Greek thespian (Irene Pappas) plus three French actors :Henri Vidal cast as the noble loyal hero- a character not unlike the legionnaire he played in "Fabiola"-,who was formerly Attila's good friend (?),Claude Laydu who gives a passable performance of an effeminate fearful emperor ,probably influenced by Peter Ustinov's masterful portrayal of Nero in Mervyn Le Roy's "Quo Vadis" ,Colette Régis,an obscure actress plays his mother ,an over possessive one of course.

Also handicapped by a last scene which verges on Christian propaganda -the last picture is revealing-,the film is to recommend only for Quinn's fans.