Giuditta e Oloferne

This is the biblical tale of Judith saving her people.The version of this film I saw seemed to be dubbed on an alien planet with voices only matching lips rarely. The dub is so awful as to hurt an already leadenly paced film. A grade school version I once saw moved better. Avoid unless in need of sleep.

Here is a well-paced epic which veers sharply away from the exploitation field, and enters the waters of historical film-making, only to lag conspicuously when viewed from that perspective. The story itself is decently told, with almost no "action" taking place between the characters, most of the plot being dialog and drama. The English dubbing is nicely done, Holophernes being dubbed by American actor Frank Latimore. The tale is based on the Apocryphal story of Judith, and is a reasonably faithful rendering. However, the lack of action tired me at last, and left me wishing that something would "happen." I've noticed this flaw in some of Cerchio's other films, and although he was a director of some professional capacity, he didn't pay enough attention to the entertainment factor. Although we're entertained to a degree, certainly Cerchio could have done more to pick up the pace. This movie was filmed on a moderate budget, with judicious use of set decorations by Sergio Scalco.

the Catholic Office of Cinema wrote in 1959:"from the Good Book ,they only took the proper nouns and they depicted a false Judith /tyrant relationship (1)." Even if they tried to make this "Biblical" episode story like ,they did not succeed in making a very interesting tale.The action is very slow ,the relationship ,if we are to believe the screenwriters, derivative and predictable .This couple is no match for Cecil B De Mille's "Samson and Delilah" .There is only one good actor ,Massimo Girotti (who was notably the star of Visconti's "Ossessione " ) but he is completely wasted here and does not seem to believe in the part he is playing.

(1)In the Bible,Judith did not fall in love with her enemy ,she only used her charms as a weapon.