Roland the mighty
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| ROLAND THE MIGHTY 1961 color Italy directed by Pietro Francisci ("Gordon Douglas") with Rik Battaglia, Rosanna Schiaffino, Fabrizio Mioni, Lorelia de Luca |
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| Roland the Mighty is a splashy,
fun, colorful epic full of action and violence. Mighty Roland the Invincible, one of Charlemagne's Paladin knights, retrieves a sacred Madonna painting belonging to the Saracens, and the two armies form a shaky truce. The king even offers Roland his daughter Alda's hand in marriage as a reward. But sexy Saracen princess Angelica infiltrates the Paladin camp and sets the knights against each other while the Saracens regroup and prepare to attack. Further complications occur when Alda, on her way to the camp, is attacked by a wild boar and falls in love with her Paladin rescuer, Renaldo, while Roland, her intended fiancé, falls in love with Angelica. A tournament is set up to settle the differences between the two armies with the winner getting to marry Angelica and gain control of the loser's territory. But Roland has to withdraw since he is betrothed to Alda, and love-sick Renaldo looks for a way out as well. So Roland takes Renaldo's place, unrecognizable in full armor, and defeats Argelia, the Saracen leader, in a great bit of jousting. But when the deception is discovered, all heck breaks loose and Argelia challenges Renaldo to a duel in which Renaldo is defeated and Roland rides out for revenge. He and Argelia have a great acrobatic sword fight until Angelica begs Roland to spare Argelia's life. Alda finally tells her father that she wants to marry the wounded Renaldo and Roland is free to pursue Angelica. Unfortunately, Garno, a Paladin traitor, stirs up a revolution amongst the Paladins and, with the help of the Saracens, becomes the new king of France, bent on forcing Alda to marry him! Roland and Renaldo must then battle Garno and the Saracens and defeat them with the help of the remaining loyal Paladins.... Elaborate sets, pageantry, and costumes all add an authenticity to the look of the film, and care is also taken to show details of everyday life, such as the Paladins playing an early version of a football game! This is carried through to the action sequences as well, and the jousting tournament is particularly exciting and atmospheric. RIK BATTAGLIA is perfectly cast as the dashing Roland and conveniently finds excuses to take his shirt off and parade around his muscular physique. ROSANNA SCHIAFFINO is suitably exotic as the sultry Angelica. By contrast, the male Saracens, especially the guy playing Argelia, are incredibly slimy-looking. Schiaffino and Battaglia starred together in Warlord of Crete the same year, and Battaglia has appeared in practically every genre of European exploitation there is: jungle (the Liane series), epic (Hannibal), horror (Nightmare Castle), spaghetti western (Man Called Blade), mafia (Gangsters), war (Battle Force), and sex (Sister Emmanuelle)! |
Roland The Mighty(1958) VHS
He's Roland, Roland, Roland, scourge of western Asia, so hide! A legendary gladiator tames his foes with cruel steel and prodigious pectorals in this Byzantine battle epic starring Rick Battaglia.