Il massacro della foresta nera

This is actually one of the best Peplum films, although very late, maybe one of the last if not the very last. It tells the story of Arminius (Hermann) who rose in rank among the Romans as a great fighter and then chose to abandon his Roman career to return to his wild Germans and lead them against the Romans, not forgiving the Romans the racist humiliations he had suffered among them for not being a Roman. He successfully carries out the great slaughter of the Roman army at Teutoburgerwald, a Roman military defeat that Augustus never got over; and although the Romans eventually prevailed, the Germans ultimately overran the Roman Empire. In this very militant epic is involved a few love stories as well, the character Epamione being a key figure and the most interesting actor (not included in the cast), whose daughter Livia is a blonde beauty loved by the Roman consul Aulus Cecinus (Cameron Mitchell, very convincing as an honest Roman), while Antonella Lualdi is Herman's wife Thusnelda. The music by Carlo Savina is outstanding and adds to the general beauty of the film, which is well made, especially the first half, until the grandiose battle scenes take over for the grand finale. It's an interesting effort to bring to life a historical chapter that hardly ever has been filmed before, and the result is thoroughly convincing and satisfactory, especially regarding the clothes. It's not on par with the great epic blockbusters like Ben Hur and the King of Kings, but it is definitely worth watching, especially for one who is historically interested.