The Executioner of Venice

In Venice,during the Inquisition,Sandrigo Bembo,the son of the Doge Giovanni Bembo,is falsely accused of treason out of pure malice by the Grand Inquisitor Rodrigo Zeno.

The villain here is Guy Madison, who is really good as the villain. He schemes and schemes so he can get the fiancee of Lex Barker's character. Lex Barker is in good swashbuckling form, though most of the sword play comes in the last thirty minutes. The first hour mainly consists of court intrigue and schemes. It's a fairly standard Italian costumer but a good villain, swordplay, an interesting lost son and father twist as well as the great Venice locales makes this quite watchable.

This movie tries to buckle the swash of the type of action costume drama that Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster or Tyrone Power would headline for a Hollywood studio. For a product of the Spaghetti Western factories and their relatively limited budgets, the spectacle here is exceptional for sets, costumes and cast size. The big group clashes are well-staged, with clanging swords aplenty. And the whole thing comes in a tight 90-minute package, resisting the temptation to drag things out just because of how much they spent to create a lush Venice of yesteryear.

The bad is that Lex is a charisma-impaired hero compared to the aforementioned stars. He looks handsome and hunky enough, but his panache is pallid. Also, the script is about as paint-by-numbers as they come, including the seminal moment that turns the tide for the good guys. Don't watch this for a new experience. It can only satisfy as another bit of time spent in pleasantly familiar territory.

The weird - Anyone who grew up with Guy Madison as Wild Bill Hickock, or saw him as a hero in most of his other films will have some emotional whiplash watching him play this Machiavellian weasel. Even more unsettling in the English dubbed version is the wimpy, reedy voice used for him. Madison's voice was rich and resonant, making the dissonance even more distracting than the anti-type casting. If'n that don't bother you none, you might like this one more than I could.

Costumed actioner set in the city and benefiting from being filmed in and around the canals. the plot has to do with intrigue concerning the titled character and the inquisition. Its a costumed swashbuckler of the sort they don't make any more and rarely did they ever look this good or have such a great sense of place. Its a shame that a good letterboxed version of this film doesn't seem to be out there since the pan and scan version I saw often had confrontations with invisible men (speaking characters have been chopped out of the frame). the cast headed, by Lex Barker and Guy Madison, is quite good, even when dubbed into English. Its a nice movie for a rainy afternoon, when you want to just sit and watch some adventures from a bygone time.

Exciting story of love and adventure , the complete romance and the historical events about the Venetian council of Dux . It is packed with derring-do , intrigue , a love story , action , drama and moving swordplay . This is a fast moving, colorful adventure which benefits from its Venetian setting . As an evil grand inquisitor called Rodrigo Zeno (Guy Madison) attempts to condemn his enemy, the main Doge of Venice named Giovanni Bembo (Feodor Chaliapin Jr.) and his son Sandrigo Bembo (Lex Barker) . The evil Inquisitor unites forces with a traitor called Michele Arcà (Alberto Farnese). Meanwhile , our hero Sandrigo attempts to marry his bride named Leonora Danin (Alessandra Panaro) . Leonora is a golden-haired beauty entangled in a web of treachery and intrigue . The picture was partially based on historical ¨Dux¨ derived from Latin dūx, "military leader" , sometimes translated as Duke . Doges were the chief magistrates and leaders of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the man selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city. The doge was not a duke in the modern sense, nor was a doge the equivalent of a hereditary duke. The "doge" was the senior-most elected official of Venice and Genoa; both cities were republics and elected doges .

This is an entertaining swashbuckling, full of action, thrills ,romance , double-crosses and of course , a lot of fence . It is something quite diverse from the ordinary adventure scenery : hardly open sea , different boats , the gondolieri , the spectacular designs palaces and bridges . It's Lex Barker against Guy Madison and a strange pirate posing as an executioner well played by Mario Petri . In this set in the end of middle ages , next to the Italian Rennaisance period. Lavish production by Octavio Poggi with excellent gowns , evocative sets , right cinematography and powerful score . Lots of court intrigue , treason, twists and turns . The picture contains rousing action, intrigue , romantic adventure , mayhem and a fine cast doing a fine job . Sympathetic performances by main star cast and enjoyable secondary cast , as the marvelous main actors are completed by stellar cast full of classical and veteran players as Mario Petri as Boia Guarnieri , Alberto Farnese as Michele Arcà, Giulio Marchetti as Bartolo , Feodor Chaliapin Jr. as Doge Giovanni Bembo , Franco Fantasia as Pietro and Raf Baldassarre as Messere Grimani . Splendid color from 16mm by Sandro Mancori and imaginative as well as thrilling soundtrack by Carlo Rustichelli . Lush production design is well showed on the luxurious interiors and exteriors filmed on location in Venice .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Luigi Capuano . He was a good craftsman who directed all kind of genres , and especially adventure movie . Capuano directed Spaghetti Western such as "Il Magnifico Texano" , Peplum as ¨Revenge of Ursus¨ ,"Revenge of the Gladiators" , "Hercules and the Black Pirates" and of course Adventures such as "Zorro in the Court of Spain" , "Zorro, Rider of Vengeance" , ¨Zorro and three musketeers¨ ,"Tiger of the Seven Seas" , ¨leopard of Sarawak¨ , ¨Vengeance of Sandokan¨ , "Terror of the Red Mask" also starred by Lex Barker and "The Lion of St. Mark" also set in Venice and similar period .

Set during the Grand Inquisition, this is actually quite an entertaining little bit of Peplum. The Doge of Venice (Feodor Chaliapin Jr) has a handsome young son "Sandrigo" (Lex Barker) who has managed to irritate the Inquisitor "Zeno" (Guy Madison). The latter decides to frame the former for treason, and now it falls to Barker to save both himself and his father, whilst still keeping hold of his lady love "Leonora" (Alessandra Panaro). Luigi Capuano has packed quite a lot into ninety minutes here. The production standards are actually quite high, there is bundles of intrigue and swordplay, a soupçon of romance and Madison plays well as the baddie. The plot is pretty processional, the ending is never in doubt - but this is still quite a watchable action adventure that looks good and flows well.