Herodes, O Grande

When Marco Antonio is defeated by his enemies, his former allied King Herod of Judea (Edmund Purdom) travels to convince Augustus to support his government by the Romans. He makes his chief commander and friend Aaron (Alberto Lupo) swear that he would kill his beloved Queen Miriam (Sylvia Lopez) if he died. When Herod is arrested by the Romans, one of his men returns to Judea and lies, telling that he was killed by the Romans. However Aaron is not able to keep his promise and Miriam stays alive. When Herode returns to his palace, his son Antipater, poisons Herode with the lie that Aaron has betrayed him and had an affair with Miriam. The madness of Herode destroys his friends and his kingdom.

"Erode il grande" is a good epic of betrayal and revenge in a nest of snakes. The theatrical performance of Edmund Purdom is very exaggerated and quite ridiculous in the love scenes with Sylvia Lopez, but in the rest of the movie he works well. The character of Antipater seems to be inspired in Iago of Shakespeare's Othello. Unfortunately the DVD released in Brazil by the distributor London Films is horribly dubbed in English, and the quality of the image is awful. But this movie is a worthwhile entertainment if the viewer disregard the previously mentioned problems. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Herodes o Grande" ("Herode The Great")