This historic movie regarding the notorious tragedy set at the Medieval time involving a Knight count and a distressed woman hailing from the Italian Brabante family . While hunting and battling in the forest, Count Sigfried (Alberto Lupo) is wounded in a skirmish with assailants , and is subsequently taken to a nearby castle of his arch-enemy Duke of Brabant (Andrea Bosic) where he is tended by his daughter called Genevieve or Genoveffa , the beautiful daughter of the Duke of Brabant . But Siegfried, count of Treves, who has just married Genevieve (Maria Jose Alfonso) has to carrry out an important mission : to battle the Muslim in Holy Land . He then decides to leave his dear wife , that's why he must go to the Crusades and she stays under the protection of his majordomo Golo (Stephen Forsyth) , as the count employs his right-hand man to allegedly look after his wife . But the latter , unaware that his supposed friend has plans of his own for the new countess , and having coveted Genevieve in secret , takes advantage of the count being away to make advances to the kind countess . Rejected by the chaste lady , Golo falls into a fit of rage and swears vengeance . He soon manages to have Genevieve falsely accused of infidelity and the poor woman , although innocent, is condemned to death .....
Dramatic film with brief historical remaks containing thrills , emotion , a tragic love story , spectacular battles and a lot of sword-play . The story is a typical example of the widespread tale of the chaste wife falsely accused and repudiated, generally on the word of a rejected suitor . Genoneva or Genovefa of Brabant was said to be the wife of the palatine Siegfried of Treves, and sentenced to death , she was spared by the executioner and lived for six years with her son in a cave , at a hiding-place in the Ardennes nourished by a roe and ultimately , he comes across Genevieve and a little boy while reinstating her in her former honour . Her story is said to rest on the history of Marie of Brabant, wife of Louis II, Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine. Marie of Brabant was suspected of infidelity and subsequently tried by her husband , found guilty and beheaded on 18 January 1256. When the verdict was shown to be mistaken , Louis had to do penance for the beheading. The change in name from Marie to Genevieve may be traced back to a cult of St Genevieve, patroness of Paris . The Genevieve tale first obtained wide popularity in L'Innocence reconnue, ou vie de Sainte Genevieve de Brabant (pr. 1638) by the Jesuit René de Cerisiers (1603-1662), and was a frequent subject for dramatic representation in Germany.
The Italian/Spanish cast are pretty good , such as Alberto Lupo as Count Sigfrido di Treviri , a good man who's away fighting in the crusades and finally found out Golo's treachery , the latter played by Stephen Forsyh giving a cruelly nasty acting . While Maria Jose Alfonso plays the unfortunate wife condemned to death , though luckily, she is spared by the executioner and hides in a cave with her baby , nourished by a roe. The Latin support cast formed by familar faces as Andra Bosic , Beni Deus , Rosita Yarza , Umberto Raho and the little boy Loris Loddi to be continued a long cinematic career.
Genoneva de Brabante was produced by Sergio Newman who financed all kind of genres as Western : "Sheriff Won't Shoot¨ , ¨Oro Maldito¨ , Drama : ¨"Romeo e Giulietta" , Wartime : "Hell Commandos" , ¨When Heroes Die" and Adventure : ¨Il magnifico Aventuriero" , "Mission in Morocco¨ and two ¨Zorro¨ movies : ¨Zorro¨ with Guy Stockwell and its sequel titled ¨Oath of the Zorro¨ also by Ricardo Blasco with Tony Russel , Maria Jose Alfonso . The motion picture was professionally directed by J.L. Monter , thugh it has some flaws , failures and gaps. This Spanish filmmaker Jose Luis Monter made the following films : Los gatos negros 1964 , Genoveva de Brabante 1964 , Tela de araña 1963, Un americano en Toledo 1960 and a Documentary short : El rocío1962. Rating 6/10 . There are other versions about this story such as : ¨Genoveffa di Brabante¨ 1952 by Arthur Maria Rabenalt with Rossano Brazzi , Anne Vernon , Gianni Santuccio , Enzo Fiermonte and ¨Genoveffa di Brabante¨ 1942 by Primo Zeglio with Gar Moore , Oretta Fiume, Harriet White .
