THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (1957)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *naturalistic*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

This flick, predating the wave of peplum-films initiated by the two Steve Reeves HERCULES movies, falls into the bailiwick of the naturalistic historical adventure, for all that it's based on Tasso's poetic epic JERUSALEM DELIVERED, which includes a handful of supernatural events.

It's the tenth century, just prior to the Christian conquest of Jerusalem and their temporary ouster of the Muslim residents. The film does not attempt to argue either side's ethical position; the main point is to set up a romantic arc between Tancred (Francisco Rabal), the Christians' most formidable knight, and Clorinda (Sylva Koscina), a female knight of the Muslims. In contrast to later peplum, the romance is doomed to a tragic outcome, just as it is in the poem.

CRUSADERS is a cheap looking production, in which most of the run-time is spent in talking-head scenes, whose dubbed dialogue is extremely forgettable. Battles are unexceptional and dilatory. There's one okay scene of mounted combat between Tancred and a Muslim knight who also wants Clorinda. Clorinda gets one scene in which she manages to stab an enemy knight to death, but otherwise she doesn't do much better than the male characters. Still, combative female heroines are pretty rare in Italian cinema, especially those that share starring status with the main hero. Koscina, who would co-star in those Hercules films, seems far more comfortable in the traditional female role. At one point, she's somewhat contrasted with another woman, Armida (Gianna Maria Canale), who emphasizes conquering male warriors with seduction, but the contrast fails since Clorinda seems just as feminine as Armida. In the epic, BTW, Armida is a full-fledged witch, but here she's just a lady with enchanting amatory skills, seducing Rinaldo, the leader of the Christian crusaders.

Aside from providing glamorous scenes for Koscina and Canale, the film's main significance is providing a contrast to the many modestly-budgeted American swashbucklers in which women have central sword-fighting roles.