TinsHeadline Touches You

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Leofwine_draca Once again we have another Italian movie where the Romans - despite their many faults - end up being noble and victorious by the end of the film. Even if its easy to guess the outcome, ARMINIUS THE TERRIBLE is still a great movie to watch. The reason is the action. The battle scenes in this movie are excellent, involving large numbers of actors who take part in some talented swordfighting and with plenty of stunts and people being shot with burning arrows and the like. The plot this time around throws an old twist on the Romans vs. Barbarians routine by having Arminius, the barbarian leader, actually being a former Roman soldier who has turned on the Romans and decides to massacre them instead! The only thing I really didn't like about this film was the ending. After a huge battle, all of Arminius' army are destroyed, Arminius is defeated in hand-to-hand combat, but...they let him go! Apparently to work out a union between the Romans and the Barbarians. Now, I don't know if this film is historically accurate or not, but the fact that the bad guy gets away in the end (especially after slaughtering so many of the opposition) just strikes me as unbelievable and also a letdown to the movie. What was the point of all the fighting anyway if they just wanted to unite their tribes in the end after all? All they had to do was talk and all of this could have been avoided.The film has a great look to it, enhanced by some crisp, clear photography. Apparently location work was done in the real Black Forest which gives the movie an excellent sense of realism in the majority of the scenes. The actual "massacre" of one of the titles is an expertly realised ambush scene, followed by a truly moving aftermath which has the ever-great Mitchell walking through the marshes and surveying the skeletons and skulls of his dead men in regret. Anyone who scoffs at Mitchell's acting abilities should be made to watch this scene! Mitchell is as good as ever in the leading role of a just Roman officer who is torn between friendship for his former colleague, Arminius, and his strong moral obligation to serve the Roman Empire and obey their will. Mitchell is one of the few actors with enough screen presence to be able to realistically play a leader of men. However, the supporting cast are also very good as well, even the women who are usually second-rate in these productions, and especially the guy playing Arminius who invests his barbarian leader with character.The final battle scene, in which the barbarian hordes storm a wooden fort only to discover that the set-up is a trap and that they themselves are being attacked by the Roman army, is a lengthy and stirring piece of action with plenty of fighting and death. The film has a real brutality in scenes such as where a row of men are instantaneously cut down by spears or archers are knocked from their tree-top hiding places by well-placed arrows. The most shocking scene comes when Mitchell is surrounded by the enemy and has the flesh explicit flayed from his face with a whip - not something you expect to see in a film released in 1967! ARMINIUS THE TERRIBLE is an authentic-looking and exciting action picture with strong characters and fine pacing, and thus is recommended by me.

smkranz The versions of this film I have are the Italian (Massacro della foresta nera) and U.S. (Massacre in the Black Forest). They differ in that not only is the US version dubbed in English, but the title and credits are in English as well. I have read elsewhere that the "Hermann der Cherusker..." titled version is actually a compilation of this and another film, "In the Shadow of the Eagles." But I digress...Cameron Mitchell does not play the part of Arminius as the prior commenter states. That part is played by Hans von Barsody. Cameron Mitchell plays the Roman Consul Sessina...and he broods his way through from beginning to end. Maybe the attitude was borne of being stuck making films in Italy.The production tries very hard to be epic and huge, but...no. Yes, there are lots of guys riding around on horses, and some of these scenes look big. But much of the soundtrack reminds one of an episode of Aesop's Fables (or is that Fractured Fairy Tales?) from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. And while the story of Arminius' massacre involved the slaughter of thousands of Roman soldiers, the actual depiction of that battle here in the flick doesn't seem to involve more than a couple dozen guys at best.Still, anyone who knows the tale of Arminius will get a kick out of this film...if you can lay your hands on it. I rate the film a 7 just because it exists. If I were intellectually honest, it's closer to a 3-4.

MARIO GAUCI This middling peplum is one of a myriad genre efforts which American actor Cameron Mitchell appeared in throughout the 1960s. As was the custom, the Italian names in the credits were Anglicized for the foreign market – sometimes comically so with, for instance, Lucky Stetson as cinematographer (even the director became Ferdy Baldwin)! Incidentally, the film is a German-Italian co-production – and the cast, apart from the obligatory American star, includes performers from both these countries (with a Rutger Hauer lookalike for the German villain, an allegedly legendary historical character, Antonella Lualdi – from Vittorio Cottafavi's splendid THE 100 HORSEMEN [1964] – as his lover and, again, a German actress providing Mitchell's tentative romantic interest).The plot – to say nothing of the wintry settings – recalls THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964), one of Hollywood's finest spectacles from this era; the result is equally glum and, similarly, features an ominous score atypical of the genre. The film, then, is highlighted by two spectacular (if uninspired) battle sequences – the first depicting the titular ambush by the Barbarians, and the other being the Romans' elaborate retaliation.

Marcio F Cuzziol Better-than-average Italian epic, considering that the average doesn't mean too much in this case. Rebel Germans, so-called barbarians, fight against the Roman Empire. Their leader, played by American actor Cameron Mitchell, is a former member of the Roman army. The film, also known as "Massacre in the Black Forest", has two long, violent battle sequences which are not bad (although you can see the same scenes repeatedly) and a surprisingly introspective, maybe shakespearean scene with Caesar pondering over power and glory, the meaning of life, or something like that. Another advantage: as the story is set in the winter, you don't have to see Roman warriors fighting in mini-skirts. Here they wear pants and it helps a lot...