Knights of Terror

A very basic epic adventure taking place in the 1500s, in the Renaissance era; a group of masked horsemen has the subjects of Duke Ladislaus (Nerio Bernardi) terrified. The titular knights ride around a particular duchy, raiding houses and killing people, and they're so elusive that some people believe that they're ghosts who have taken human form. Mirko (Yves Vincent), an ambitious individual, offers his help for finish with the evil raiders off , in exchange for the hand of his appealing daughter Christine (Scilla Gabel) . But then a mysterious and daring young man (Tony Russell) appears to save the lady in distress and even meets Christine for the first time in a confessional booth. Meanwhile, the peasants commanded by their leader (Alfonso Rojas) , and because the authority does nothing to prevent the raiders' attacks, decide to attack the castle indiscriminately.

A colorful and brilliant adventure and made in Peplum style by Mario Costa. This is one of the many adventures and Peplum movies that dominated Italian sword-and-sandal epics in the early 60s , including epic battles , assaults, struggles, bizarre scenarios , sword-fight, intrigue, horse-riding, a typical hand-to-hand final duel and anything else. Here adding fantastic and terrifying touches: the riders also wear grotesque masks to further the illusion of their being spirits, the group of horsemen known as the Knights of Terror terrorize the villagers, they are believed to be the ghosts of an ambushed group of men seeking vendetta. Including even a mysterious content to be covered here, in this case, there is a scene involving a creepy secret passage by a cemetery , and even a touch of science fiction towards the end when an inventor pops up. And it seems to borrow tropes from both ¨Zorro¨ books by Johnston Mcculley and from the "Doctor Syn" novels. There are a few nice swordfights, action, adventure, an impressive attack by a legion of peasants on a castle and there's also good chemistry between good-looking Tony Russell and gorgeous Scilla Gabel, but not much else.

Stars the handsome Tony Russell who gives a decent acting as a daring hero. He was one of several attractive American actors who migrated to Europe in the early 60s when their careers in the States weren't progressing as well as they wanted. Antonio Pietro Russo, aka Tony Russel, was born in Wisconsin, the son of Italian immigrants. Starred short roles in Jump Into Hell (1955), Anything Goes (1956), King Creole (1958), Don't Give Up the Ship (1959) and Last Train from Gun Hill (1959). He also found work in a few popular shows including "The Lone Wolf," "Highway Patrol," "Broken Arrow," "Peter Gunn" and "Zorro." His first prime movie role came with the low-budget Korean War yarn War Is Hell (1961). Russel's big break came when he was given the starring role of notorious bandit Fra Diavolo in the Italian-made action adventure The Last Charge (1962) co-starring Israeli actress Haya Harareet. Finding a market for himself in Italy as a dashing hero, he packed up his gear and headed for Europe in September of 1961. Settling in Rome, for the next several years, Tony worked steadily in standard adventures, swashbucklers, "007"-type spy tales and sci-fi thrillers. Most of his work followed the typical title-tells-all fare starring in such actioneers as Knights of Terror (1963), The Secret Seven (1963), Sword of Damascus (1964), L'ultima carica (1964), The Revolt of the Seven (1964), Secret of the Sphinx (1964), Behind the Mask of Zorro (1964), The Wild, Wild Planet (1966) and its companion film The War of the Planets (1966), Target Goldseven (1966) and Honeymoons Will Kill You (1966). Tony was one of the unfortunates to turn down the popular "spaghetti western" A Fistful of Dollars (1964) which made an international superstar out of Clint Eastwood. He also auditioned to play Disney's TV "Zorro" character but lost out to Guy Williams and whose role bears remarkable resemblance to Paolo from Il terrore dei mantelli rossi. Costars the frankly beautiful Scilla Gabel ad being a Italy/Spain/France co-production, there are Italian secondaries: Nerio Bernardi, Carla Calò; Spanish: Pilar Clemens, Alfonso Rojas, Beni Deus, Tony Soler and French: Yves Vincent, Jacques Dacqmine.

In ¨Il terrore dei mantelli rossi(1963)¨ stand out the marvellous locations, castles and landscapes in authentic italian places, brilliantly photographed by cameraman Julio Ortas, and fortunately well remastered. As well as the moving musical score by prolific Carlo Rustichelli, a very common composer of Spaghetti westerns y Peplums. This slight adventure in medium budget was professionally directed by Mario Costa. He was a good artisan who directed Spaghetti Westerns as La Belva, Buffalo Bill hero of the Far West. And especially known for shooting several adventures, Peplum movies as Conqueror of Corinth, Gladiator of Rome, Cavalier in Devil's castle, The son of the Sheikh, The barber of Sevilla, The kings of France, Kan the Sheik's son, The queen of pirates, among others. Rating : 5.5/10. Decent and frankly acceptable, though uninspired action fare at times.