La Leggenda di Enea / Conquérants Héroiques

The Last Glory of Troy
Aeneas, Held von Troja / The Avenger

Italy 1962
produced by
Albert Band, Giorgio Venturini for Mercury Films, Sirius, Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (= CICC)
directed by Giorgio Rivalta
starring Steve Reeves, Carla Marlier, Liana Orfei, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Gianni Garko, Mario Ferrari, Lulla Selli, Maurice Poli, Luciano Benetti, Pietro Capanna, Enzo Fiermonte, Charles Band, Benito Stefanelli
screenplay by Ugo Liberatore, Luigi Mangini, Arrigo Montanari, Nino Stresa, from the epic poem Aeneis by Publius Vergilius Maro (= Vergil), adaptation by Albert Band, music by Giovanni Fusco

Aeneas

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)   CLICK HERE to buy from Double Feature: L’Ira di Achille, La Leggenda di Enea German & Italian language only   CLICK HERE to buy from Box Set: L’Ira di Achille, La Leggenda di Enea, Maciste Gladiatore di Sparte, Ursus nella Valle dei Leoni, La Vendetta di Ercole German & Italian language only Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

Aeneas (Steve Reeves), a former Trojan general (see The Trojan War for his past history), has led the last Trojans from their fallen city to a valley by the Tiber, & wants to ask King Latinus (Mario Ferrari) of Laurentum to give him permission to settle here ... much to the dismay of the neighbouring king Turnus (Gianni Garko), who ... well, is the bad guy.

At first Turnus tries to destroy the Trojan settlement by stampeding a herde of buffalos into its direction, but after that plan fails, he resorts to plotting & scheming at King Latinus' court, where he knows Latinus' wife (& his own aunt) Amata (Lulla Selli) on his side.

But Aeneas finds unexpected allies in Latinus' counselor & his daughter Lavinia (Carla Marlier), who of course immediately falls in love with Aeneas (& she is a hot babe). So Turnus has to fall back on a bigger scheme, as he has some of Aeneas men coaxed into killing some sacred deer. & when the Trojans are attacked by the gamekeepers for that, they kill some of them as well in self defense. Now the public of Laurentum is entirely behind Turnus & against the Trojans, which almost leads to a palace revolt when Latinus lets the Trojans, whom he believes innocent, escape. This leaves Latinus with little choice though but to join forces with Turnus & give him his army to attack the Trojany. The Trohjans are outmanned, naturally, but Aeneas had the good sense to ensure the aide of the neighbouring Etruscans - who are permanently feuding with Turnus anyways - to hold of the attackers, at least for the day.

But in the first night after the fighting had started, Aeneas is shocked about the number of the fallen, friend & foe alike, so he persuades King Latinus to have the war decided in a duel between himself & Turnus, which would end the bloodshed & decide over the fate of the Trojans. Both Latinus & Turnus agree.

The duel is fiercely fought, both on chariots & on foot, with every weapon imaginable back then (&  remember: it was a few centureis before Christ), but guess who wins in the end ... (Aeneas, in case you haven't guessed).

The founding myth of Rome, told as a pulpy peplum (= Italian sword-&-sandal-movie), with a(n American) muscleman (Steve Reeves) as the Roman founding father - which is (naturally) not without a certain charm. However, back then there were funnier peplums around.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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