Valley of the Lions

I can't help it. I can't.

In spite of all of its many flaws and inadequacies, I quite enjoyed Ursus In The Valley Of The Lions (UITVOL). Of course, muscle-man Ed Fury, as Ursus, was this film's main attraction. Without Fury UITVOL (with its inferior "everything") wouldn't have amounted to very much as worthwhile entertainment.

UITVOL's story has a lot more in common with that of Tarzan rather than it does with Hercules.

Though he doesn't know it (until much later), Ursus is of noble blood. As a wee baby both his parents (the King and Queen of Atlea) were savagely murdered when evil King Simud ordered his ruthless army to conquer their tiny kingdom.

Shortly after this tragedy occurs Ursus is taken under the care of a pride of lions, who, instead of eating him up for a snack, raise him to adulthood as though he were one of their own.

Years later, now fully-grown, the brutally handsome and powerfully strong, (prince) Ursus soon ventures out to discover the great, big world beyond his home of the lion pride.

At this point evil King Simud plots to eliminate our hero Ursus, thus preventing him from reclaiming his royal birthright.

Released in 1961 - UITVOL, featuring a mighty impressive Ed Fury, is a fairly entertaining "Sword And Sandal" Epic-Adventure. But, with that all said, I sure am curious to know which one of those absolutely darling lions it was who cut Ursus' hair, regularly shaved him, taught him to speak perfect English and picked out his footwear for him.

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.

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!

The second film in Ed Fury's "Ursus" trilogy, (though there's little in the way of story-line to connect the three movies), begins with an obligatory setting-the-scene prologue which establishes the infant Ursus as the true heir of a kingdom overrun and conquered by a villainous barbarian. Though faithful subjects manage to smuggle the infant Ursus out of the besieged city in a basket, the basket tumbles into the lair of a pride of lions and the lost heir soon becomes nothing more than the subject of wistful rumor and legend. Mercifully the movie quickly jumps forward to the adult Ursus, now grown into a strapping though naive young man who learned his language skills from men in passing caravans. Up to this point the second "Ursus" movie has shown little promise, primarily because the lions which raised our hero look and act like lethargic, second-rate sideshow attractions rather than wildly magnificent Kings of the Beasts. Then we have a routine sequence in which Ursus acquires a slave girl from a passing trader. However, once the evil usurper learns that the rightful occupant of his throne is alive in the land, various elements of the movie finally come together to create a lively and entertaining entry in the sword-and-sandal cycle. One element worth noting here are the two "beefcake-bondage" sequences which are among the best such sequences to be found in the whole gamut of this genre. In the first, a peplum-wearing Ursus -- played, of course, by Ed Fury -- stands as a captive in the usurper's court. A length of wood, (perhaps too thin for this purpose), has been bound to the backs of his outstretched arms. Chains around his wrists and ankles are held by nervous-looking soldiers. Other soldiers guard him with spears pointed menacingly toward him. The usurper taunts him but Ursus remains defiant. Later, having been taken to a torch-lit dungeon, the sweaty Ursus stands with outstretched arms chained to the stone walls. That wooden pole has been removed from his shoulders but a metal ring now encircles his neck and a chain attached to this ring leads up to the ceiling. Two long pieces of wood are fitted around his ankles, preventing him from kicking or changing position. Fury, about 32 or 33 years old at this time, is only ever-so-slightly past his prime -- his waist looks a bit thick -- but he's still a compelling hunk of manhood and his bondage poses are of iconic quality. What's more, his nipples are dark and sharply-defined against his skin. Unfortunately, there's no actual torture here, unlike the other two Ursus movies in which a series of whiplashes play a symphony of pain on Ed Fury's bare back as he's forced to turn grindstones. (As other reviewers have pointed out, the print under discussion here has lamentably faded into muddy-looking sepia tones.)

Though featuring many an unlikely plot point (starting off with Ursus as a baby – even if it was the third of his adventures to be released within the same year!), this emerges as a slightly above-average peplum in which the muscular hero is once again played by the affable Ed Fury. He is the heir to some throne, obviously coveted by the villain of the piece – Alberto Lupo – and thus the target of assassination; amazingly, he not only survives this but is also brought up, Tarzan-like, by a bunch of lions (hence the title). Amusingly, though he seems to have effortlessly mastered the faculty of speech regardless, Ursus is blissfully ignorant of etiquette since he sees nothing wrong in taking a dip into a stream while the protesting (and obviously annoyed) heroine – a girl, intended for a slave market, whom he helps – is bathing! Special mention, then, is given in the credits to the animal wrangler involved, Orlando Orfei, presumably a relative of the film's villainess Moira Orfei (who was actually a staple of such fare: as was the case with the first URSUS, she has to contend with another girl over the love of a man, even if the object of her affection here is Lupo). Surprisingly, the film maintains a fairly sober tone throughout – with little concessions to the genre's usual pitfalls (there is no insufferable comic relief, for instance)…but we still get the villain's unconvincing demise at the hands of Simba, Ursus' favorite lioness (elsewhere it also bonds with the heroine's snowy-white mutt), and some unintentionally hilarious action scenes: Gerard Herter, Lupo's henchman, is hit squarely on the head with a stone-block the hero has dislodged from his prison-cell and lives (at least long enough to be devoured by a creepy pack of hungry hyenas); a soldier is thrown into a fire during a scuffle, rises up blazing, trips and falls flat on his face; a number of soldiers are commissioned to demolish a cave, the meeting-place of rebels, only to end up buried within it themselves, etc. In the end, the film provides standard excitements but proves mildly entertaining nevertheless (if hardly essential); again like URSUS, we find some notable names among the credits – not just director Bragaglia but composer Riz Ortolani and assistant director Ruggero Deodato(!).