The Lion of Thebes

What actually happened to the beautiful Helena after the Trojan War on the way back to Sparta to her old husband Menelaus? Homer and Herodotus give different answers.

The director Giorgio Ferroni gives us a third answer. With him, Helena (Yvonne FURNEAUX) ends up as a castaway in the land of the pharaohs, accompanied by her extremely strong bodyguard Arion (the body-built opera singer Mark FOREST). There, Massimo SERATO, Rosalba NERI and Pierre CRESSOY are both drawn into a crazy series of intrigues. It's good that Arion (in Herodotus he's still the guy with the dolphin) can fight so well! Against Cinecitta-known cascaders like Nello PAZZAFINI and the massive MESSINA brothers (Emilio and Roberto) he even manages to become the "Lion of Thebes"!

Honor where honor is due! But we know our sword and sandal films! Despite all the difficulties and surprises, the Greek beauty and her brave hero return home to Hellas. With a well-built lover like Arion at her side, Helena will be able to endure the Spartan conditions again.

One of the approximately 300 Italian peplum (sword and sandals) films made between 1957 and 1965, Lion of Thebes is unusual for a number of reasons: one, there is actually something like a coherent story rather than a simple collection of "strongman set pieces"; two, there is actually a fair amount of dialogue, and the acting is rather better than usual--one almost has the impression that the muscleman (Aryan) cares about what is happening; three, the film is a little more ethically ambiguous than usual: the good woman (Helen) and the "bad" woman (Naïs) actually want the same thing; the "usurper" is actually the proper heir to the throne; the wicked counselor is evil, but actually wants to save Thebes from its weak and careless leader. Peplums tend to range from laughably bad to simply agonizingly bad--this one's actually okay.

From the first scenes, you discover the predictable story proposed by the long chain of movies of genre. Virtues - the body of Mark Forest and the special beauty of Yvonne Furneaux , the ingrate Menelaus and, sure, the machine of death.

The result is charming for reasonable mix of Iliad and Old Egypt, silly mix of names = Amenofis, Tutmes, Ramses - and the lovely - conventional love story, after fights dosis.

Short - just nice.

LION OF THEBES is the story of Aryan (Mark Forest), a bodyguard who has saved the life of Helen of Troy (a delicious portrayal by the ever-beautiful Yvonne Furneaux) as the Greeks sack the fabled city. Their flight leads them to the deserts of Egypt and finally to Thebes. There Pharoah Ramses goes mad for Helen and decides his intended bride (the wonderful Rosalba Neri) is no longer good enough for him. There is much court intrigue, an assassination, which naturally culminates in Helen being blamed for the whole mess. The true guilty parties attempt to put her to death but Aryan saves the day. This film could have used several hundred more extras but everything considered is not a bad peplum at all. Mark Forest considered this his best film and he certainly is good. The color is dazzling as are the lighting schemes and cinematography. These Italian sword and sandal epics are in serious need of re-evaluation because they certainly do not deserve the critical beatings they took in the Sixties. Worthy of a viewing by anyone who enjoys this genre.

In a beauty contest with contemporary Helen Diane Kruger in Petersen's extravaganza ,Yvonne Furneaux would certainly win hands down,weren't it only for her sublime eyes.

A "cultural" prologue tells us that the film was based on "documents" which would tend to substantiate a thesis that,for Helen,there was a life after Troy.And that she and Menelas were not exactly the best of friends when the war came to an end .I doubt,however,that a junior high school student would get an A plus if he wrote his essay about Helen's fate after watching this flick.

The star is actually Mark Forest a muscle man ,who left reportedly sword and sandals for the opera ,but his acting is so wooden that Yvonne Furneaux's beauty (a French Helen,why not?) is the main attraction.

The story? Helen and her attentive escort Arion arrive in Egypt where they are taken in by the pharaoh.Of course Helen's beauty is bound to cause more disasters but there are plenty of villains around including her hubby himself.Poor Helen is accused of pharaoh's murder and sentenced to a horrible death ( crushed between two stones).There are lots of treasons,murders,even a trial ,in a cheap Thebes.

Girogio Ferroni had directed another movie about Troy with Steve Reeves but he did not use the same actress for Helen:Yvonne Furneaux is an improvement on the former actress,this is the only nice thing I can say about "Leone di Tebe"