Valley of the Lions

Exciting Peplum odyssey , regularly-plotted , with a likable acting from Ed Fury as Ursus ("Ursus" is Latin for "bear") . Sword and Sandals film centers upon Ursus (Ed Fury or Edmund Holovchik) , of noble blood , he is the typical bouncing hunk man who fights against evil people . Ursus' parents were overthrown , then he was raised among lions . The good guys are the blond and beefy Ed Fury (Ursus) , Maria Luisa Merlo (the beautiful girl) , Mariangela Giordano and the bad guys are Alberto Lupo , usual nasty Gerard Herter (Spaghetti's customary) and Moira Orfei (sister of Liana Orfei also ordinary in Peplum) who's usually in these flicks as a Femme-fatale slave . Ursus will defeat them at an thrilling finale with elephants , battles and a firing scaffold .

This moving Peplum contains emotion , noisy action sequences incorporating circus elephants , spectacular battles with lots of sword-wielding warriors , court intrigue , stirring ending with a burning gallows and many other things . This mythological movie is plenty of adventures , thrills , atmospheric settings , evocative soundtrack by Riz Ortalani and colorful scenarios well photographed by Tino Santoni . This is a regular spaghetti, myth-opera with action , love , battles and luxurious landscapes , but there are a few editing goofs . In addition to the muscular lead but always appealing sword and sandal elements are here ; however , this movie has not mythological accuracy neither expecting historical . The corpulent Ed Fury was a hunk man who made lots of roman epic films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ . He was one of a number of bodybuilder and physique model types who followed muscleman Steve Reeves out to Italy in the early 60s and won campy notice playing Herculean characters in those campy Italian sand-and-spear epics . Ursus, Maciste, Goliath, Samson , Hércules , Atlas..., those Italian muscle man producers must have had a hard time figuring out what to call the musclebound actors who played all these legendary muscleman heroes . Other stars by the time on this type of movies are Mark Forest , Gordon Mitchell , Alan Steel , Dan Vadis , Reg Park , Brad Harris , Samson Burke , Richard Harrison , Rock Stevens , Kirk Morris and 'Gordon Scott' and , of course , the great Steve Reeves , as nobody , nevertheless, topped Steve in popularity . Fury started off his beefcake run off as a body double . Ed was the subject of legendary photographer Robert Mizer and appeared on the cover of Mizer's infamous magazine "Physique Pictorial" ostensibly promoting Fury's role in Ursus (1961), billed as "The Mighty Ursus". Ed was posing front-and-center as Herk himself and entering in the star-system based on pumped-up heroes playing ¨Sansone¨ or ¨Samson¨ or ¨Ursus¨ . On numerous occasions Ed was asked to play the legendary Greek hero , as well as the equally well-built demigods Samson and Ursus , even though the film titles often fused (or confused) them in their titles . Some other familiar faces show up here , such as Alberto Lupo , Gerard Herter , Andrea Scotti and uncredited Salvatore Borghese as warrior at Ursus' saving . And including gorgeous women : the Spanish Maria Merlo , Moira Orfei and Mariangela Giordano , they are insanely beautiful, and their flowing dresses and magic hair styles supplement this . The Ursus's love interest is very sympathetically and believably played by pretty Maria Luisa Merlo , or Mary Marlon , best in the cast .

This film belongs to a quartet about this hunk character , ¨Ursus¨ , such as : "The Vengeance of Ursus" (1961) by Luigi Capuano with Samson Burke , Wandisa Guida , Livio Lorenzon , ¨Ursus¨ (1961) by Carlo Campollani with similar actors as Ed Fury , Maria Luisa Merlo and Moira Orfei and "The Son of Hercules in the Land of Fire" (1963) by Giorgio Simonelli with Ed Fury , Luciana Gilli and Claudia Mori . ¨Ursus¨ movie is derived from Buddy Baer's character who is named "Ursus" , a secondary role in the famous colossal ¨Quo Vadis¨ (1951) directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred by Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr . Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by the prestigious as well as prolific Riz Ortalani . Colorful cinematography , being filmed on location in Lazio , Rome and Studios : Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio ; Studio Olimpia, Rome , Lazio, Italy . The film was regularly directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia who made many fables of this kind ("Semiramis , The Queen of Babylon" , ¨The Sword and the Cross¨ , "Mighty Crusaders" , "Amazons of Rome" , ¨Anibal¨ and "Hercules vs. the Hydra" or "The Loves of Hercules") . Carlo along with Vittorio Cottafavi , Carlo Campollani and Giorgio Ferroni continued to realize films in the historical-spectacular style , at which he developed an acceptable skill and mastery . The movie obtained success and originated sequels . Rating 4,5/10 , passable though mediocre .

The print I saw was a very worn black and white one from Sinister Cinema and as the film went on it rapidly became clear that the print's lack of quality and color work against real enjoyment of the film.

The good king and queen of some far off kingdom are brought down by an evil invader, however the queen escapes with their infant son. She soon commits suicide rather than be taken prisoner, but does so only after getting the baby away. The baby ends up being raised by lions. Years later the adult Ursus ends up captured by the evil king who killed his parents and moves to prevent him from ever taking the throne. There's more to it than that but it at least gives you the basic idea of the plot.

The movie is a step or two above the normal sword and sandal film thanks to a largely knowing translation that has Ursus speaking of wanting to become the special friend of a slave girl he's carried off. I know you're saying why would Ursus carry off a slave girl, simple he was raised by lions. The acting isn't bad and the translation seems to match the lip movements.

Is this a movie your going to watch over and over again? Probably not but should you run across it on TV late one night you'll find yourself entertained.

You know, it sure was a lucky break for little baby Ursus when on that day when he was dropped off in the wilderness that mama lion wasn't searching for a meal to feed her hungry young cubs.

'Cause, as it turned out - It certainly didn't take but a minute for this obviously confused lioness to get all maternal over this squawking, little infant and, as a result, adopt him as one of her own right there on the spot.

Anyway - With that said - I personally thought that "Valley Of The Lions" was both downright lousy and, yes, recklessly sloppy movie-making on all counts. Yep. It really was.

And, let me tell ya - I'd confidently say that Italian director, Carlo Bragaglia was obviously an incompetent boob who couldn't have possibly made this dumb picture any more cumbersome and ridiculous than he inevitably did.

This was Ed Fury's second film in the Ursus character, and in this one we learn that Ursus, of noble blood, was raised among lions. When he enters the "human" world, he is wide-eyed and naive, but gradually adapts to the ways of the world, saves a beautiful woman who loves him, and overthrows an evil dictator. Fury plays the various phases of the character's evolution (from naivete to a kind of disgusted smirking to a regal heroic bearing) well. The scenes among the lions and the wolves will be an easy mark for those who want to nit-pick, but the techniques used here will be familiar to any fan of low budget films and won't bother anyone familiar with the concept of "willing suspension of disbelief." As is common among budget-conscious Italian "spectacle" films, the art direction and production design are quite imaginative and suggest a lot for a few lira. I've got to give some credit to a film that takes a lot of chances, and this film is, like an old serial, so over-the-top in its entertainment value that anyone looking to have some fun and set aside any critical questions should have an enjoyable 90 minutes with Ed Fury and crew. I've been digging out the old Ed Fury films recently, and I must say that he brings a special charm to the peplum genre--it was nice to see him honored with a retrospective at UCLA last year. Director Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia has credits dating back to the 1930s, but his 1960s credits tend to be costume adventures and comedies. With this film, he's created a unique mix of peplum heroics, fantasy, and wit that I found quite entertaining.

Ed Fury as Ursus (Latin for the bear) in the lion pride

It's hard to believe that this extremely weak sword and sandal film by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia was able to sell 1.335 million tickets in West German cinemas in 1962.

It couldn't have been because of the emaciated and stunned lions that so many people stormed the cinemas. Even the American bodybuilder Ed Fury (*1928) in the title role is not the most impressive Peplum hero of those years. Moira Orfei (1931-2015), who, as we know, comes from a famous Italian circus family, is enchanting as the female antagonist. She probably also brought the all too lame movie lions to the set.

Not a highlight from the oil-soaked heyday of Italian sword and sandal films!