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As Attila the Hun (Anthony Quinn) moves his troops too close to the Roman
empire & its capital Ravenny, the empire sends an emmissary, Aetius (Henri
Vidal) to broker a truce with the Huns. Attila though is less than pleased, but
his brother & co-regent Bleda (Ettore Manni) agrees, eventually signing his
death warrant, as the next day Attila personally kills him ... Aetius
meanwhile comes back to Ravenny to present the decadent emperor Valentian
(Claude Laydu) & his possessive mother Galla Placidia (Colette Régis) with
the rather crippling conditions of the truce .... & is promptly stripped of
his function as commander of the Roman troops & put under house arrest. Valentian's
sister Honoria (Sophia Loren) meanwhile figures Rome is lost , but as she wants
to be on the winning side she offers herself to Attily ... who accepts her but
ultimately treats her like dirt. Meanwhile the Huns approach Ravenny like
nobody's business, so in all haste, Galla Palladia re-instates Aetius as the
commander of the armed forces, & with the weak troops he has got he builds
a reasonably effective defense force arund the city, but once he is killed in
battle, the defense (& ravenny with it) falls. Honoria, also in that
battle, is killed by her own compatriots for treachery. The night after the
battle, Attila rides over the battlefield full of corpses with his son, when an
arrow, intended for Attila, kills his son ... From here on, Attila is filled
with doubt & guilt, but he, & his troops, march on towards Rome ...
when the pope (!) crosses his way & persuades him to leave Rome alone ....
which Attila does. End. Ratrher dull historical epic that relies
more on dialogue than on action ... which wouldn't even be all that bad were
any of the characters interesting or even fleshed out. But unfortunatley, apart
from Attila himself who's bought to life by a rather fine performance by
Anthony Quinn, the characters stay rather one-dimensional & give the
audience little reason to care about them. ... & the non-showdown at the
end is a big letdown.
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