This minor epic displays action , adventures , humor , luxurious scenarios and results to be quite amusing . ¨Hundred Horsemen¨ deals with a peaceful Christian village is altered in arrival a group of Arabs led by Sheik Abengalbon (Wolfgang Preiss) and his son Halaf (Manuel Gallardo) . The Mayor gives them a great attention and welcome but countrymen carry out a revolt . Fernando (Mark Damon) , the son of Don Gonzalo Herrera y Menéndez (Arnaldo Foa) , rallies peasants and townspeople to overthrow Moorish occupiers in medieval Spain . His enemies only had to fight the legend and he had to live up to it. When 12 Moorish are killed , the Arabs seek vengeance and execute 24 Christians by hanging , including the Mayor . The Mayor's (Antonella Lualdi) daughter , Fernando and his father escape to mountains where create a popular army against Arabs . Meanwhile , some kiddies rob weapons to Moors and various monks led by Frate Carmelo (Gastone Moschin) help the rebels . In fact Carmelo uses the book ¨commentaries of Julius Caesar¨ to proceed the war strategy against Moorish .
Cento Cavalieri (original title) or I Cento Cavalieri packs historical events about invasion Moors over Spain , gorgeous landscapes , glimmer scenarios, and battles well staged with hundreds of people . 100 Horsemen is a fun film plenty of action , humor , tongue in check , fights , entertainment and amusement . The movie has not characterization accuracy neither expectation historic . This is a chronicle about Spanish Medieval time similar to ¨The Cid¨ by Anthony Mann but with lack luster and budget . Being a Spain/Italy production there appears several secondary actors , many of them Peplum and Spaghetti's usual such as Aldo Sambrell , Fernando Bilbao , Jose Canalejas , Rafael Vaquero , Mariano Vidal Molina , Rafael Albaicin , Rafael Hernandez , Alfonso De La Vega and Mirko Ellis , among others . The film was shot in authentic fortresses and strongholds as the castle of Mota , Medina Del Campo . Atmospheric as well as evocative musical score by Antonio Perez Olea . Colorful cinematography by Francisco Marin , being filmed on location in Medina Del Campo , Valladolid , Pedraza, Segovia, Castilla y León , and La Pedriza , Madrid ; interiors shot in CEA studios , Ciudad Lineal , Madrid , Spain . The flick will appeal to minor epic films buffs. Rating : Better than average and entertaining .
This motion picture titled ¨LOs 100 Caballeros¨ is an enjoyable historical flick , being professionally directed by Vittorio Cottafavi (1914-1998) ; he was a complete artist , painter and Peplum expert , as he directed : ¨Conquest of Atlántida¨, ¨Legions of Cleopatra¨,¨Mesallina¨ and ¨rebellion of gladiators¨. He began his professional career in the film industry as a clapper boy. After progressing to write motion picture screenplays and working as assistant director under Alessandro Blasetti and Vittorio De Sica, he became a director in his own right in 1943. Many of his films have been lavishly-produced, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, "sword-and sandal" or ¨Muscleman¨ epics, dealing with mythological subjects involving the Roman Empire or Ancient Egypt . From the mid-60's, Cottafavi concentrated exclusively on directing TV series and mini-series, under contract to RAI , many of them dealing with historic events or known personages such as Oliver Cromwell , Don Giovanni , Napoleone a Sant'Elena , Vita Di Dante and Cristóbal Colon .
