Italian adventure with daredevil heroes, intrepid rebels and exotic scenarios. Count Aleksej is a notorious womanizer at the Czar court but also the son of local Caucasus hero Black Eagle. History seems to repeat itself when after some years of peace the Russians attack again cossacks territory. When the Russians invade his land, Aleksej (Mimmo Palmara) must decide where to stand while pursuing his passion for Natascia, who detests him. The count returns home from the court, he finds that a nasty general (Franco Ressel) has been terrorizing the population of Tiflis, Georgia. He disguises himself as a bandit known as "The Black Eagle" and begins taking revenge on the general by ravaging his "empire". However, things take a different turn when he falls for the captain's beautiful daughter (Edwige Fenech). Then the Son of the Black Eagle, legendary hero of the Cossack struggle for independence from Russia, leads a group of brave men to fight the fierce Tsarist general.
The film is a passable adventure movie, lavishly produced for european standards, a lot of extras and usual dancing scenes in charge of gorgeous dancers. This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Technicolor cinematography in charge of cameraman Augusto Tiezzi.
It is plenty of overwhelming battles, duels and full of villainy , romance , and heroism. Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by Angelo Lavagnino. Mimmo Palmara is cool as the hero who encounters dangerous situations while trying retrieve his lover. Stars the handsome Mimmo Palmara as a dashing hero, a notorious seducer at the Czar court but also the son of local Caucasus hero Black Eagle. Palmara was a very ethnic looking Italian actor/bodybuilder whose motion picture career spanned almost 45 years. Usually working as a supporting actor, although a few times he got the main role. His greatest international exposure came with his supporting roles in Steve Reeves' movies including the two Hercules films ("Hercules" (1958) and "Hercules Unchained" (1959)), "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1959), "The Trojan Horse" (1961), "Sandokan the Great" (1963), "Sandokan: Pirate of Malaysia" (1964) and Reeves last film, the spaghetti western "A Long Ride from Hell" (1968). He was good friends with director Sergio Leone. In fact, Mimmo was Leone's first choice to play Ramon Rojo in "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) opposite Clint Eastwood. In what may have been the worst decision of his career, he turned down the role in order to appear in another spaghetti western, Mario Caiano's "Bullets Don't Argue" (1964). The role of Ramon Rojo was played by Gian Maria Volonte. Along with Palmara two beauty Eurostars: Edwige Fenech and Ingrid Schoeller. While the usual baddie Franco Ressel steals the show as the stiff-upper-lip and tyrannical general who makes bloody slaughters against his rebel enemies.
A first "Aquila Nera" (=black eagle) was filmed in 1946, its screenplay was a Puschkin adaptation and William Dieterle remade it in 1959 as "Vendicatore Dubrowski". And in 1952 Riccardo Freda made ¨Revenge of the Black Eagle¨ with
Rossano Brazzi as Vladimir Dubrovskij and Gianna Maria Canale.
The moving screenplay by Umberto Lenzi/Piero Pierotti/Guido Malatesta is incredibly entertaining, there is never a boring moment and the director knows only one tempo: very accelerated. So many things happen, so many reversals of situation, that the viewer does not even notice the plot holes and the implausibilities that abound along a far-fetched, but exciting story. The motion picture was mediocre but professionally directed by Guido Malatesta and it definitively worth checking out if you are a fan of adventure genre. Malatesta was a fine craftsman, sometimes credited as James Read, who wrote and directed all kinds of genres with penchant for adventures, historical and Peplum, such as : Fire over Rome, Colossus and the Headhunters, Raid of the Giants, Tarzana the Wild Woman, Goliath against the giants , La Rivolta Dei Barbari, I Predoni Del Sahara , Samoa , Son of Black Eagle , Mask of Scaramouche , Poppea's Hot Nights, Samson versus Pirates , Catalina of Russia, Giuditta e Olofferne, Zorro versus Maciste , Revenge of the Gladiators Maciste avenger of the Mayans , among others.
