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When he is still a baby, the parents of Ursus, rightful rulers of
who-knows-what are killed in a palace revolt, only Ursus, rather by chance,
escapes, but ultimately ends up in the desert, surrounded by lions. Quite
some years later, Ursus (now played by Ed Fury) has grown to full musclebound
size, & still lives with his lions, whom he treats like a circus-lion
tamer. But then a slavetrader crosses his path, & Ursus takes a liking in
one of his (female) slaves, Annia (Mariangela Giordano), whom he gets from the
trader in exchange for the amulet that proves Ursus' identity (after the trader
refused to exchange Annia for a lion). Ursus & Annia now would live
happily ever after, but as it happens the trader's next stop is the city Ursus'
parents once ruled, & there both a group of rebels & the men of evil
king Ayak (Alberto Lupo) spot Ursus amulet in the possession of the trader
& try to get Ursus' whereabouts form him. In the end though it's
treacherous slavegirl Attea (Moira Orfei) who tells Ayak where to find Ursus
but insists on becoming his wife ... Soon Ayak's men poison Ursus' lions
& take Annia hostage to make Ursus their prisoner in exchange for her life.
Ursus is soon chained up in the dungeon of Ayak, & Annia is to become
Ayak's wife, so all seems to be lost for the good cause, when Attea, furious
that Annia & not she will marry Ayak, changes sides, frees Ursus &
tells him where to find the rebels to start an insurrection. Then she sets out
to kill Annia to have total revenge on Ayajk, but is killed before she can get
through with it ... Annia meanwhile manages to escape herself, to meet up
with Ursus & the rebels, but she is followed, & soon she & all the
rebels are captured, only Ursus is cuaght inside a cave after a cave-in &
left to die. But Ayak's men haven't taken into account his best friend, the
lion Simba (who has somehow survived the poison-attack), who digs Ursus free
(!), & now there's no stopping for Ursus as he sets out to free Annia &
the rebels, who are about to be burned publicly, even if Ursus has to fight
hyenay & elephants along the way. In the end of course, Ursus defeats
Ayak (who is killed by Simba), & he & Annia become king & queen of
whatever-it-is. By the early 1960's, sword-&-sandal movies (or peplums, as they are sometimes called), especially of the muscleman-variety,
were produced a dime a dozen in Italy, with most of the initial enthusiasm &
originality pretty much gone ... as in this movie, where some clumsily
incorporated animal-taming scenes (done by leading villainess Moira Orfei's
husband Orlando Orfei) substitute for real creativity, the plot is as formulaic
as it is simplistic, & the actors are all mediocre at best. ... &
still, all this adds to the film's naive charm - you just must not take
it seriously.
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