The Mighty Crusaders (1958)

With Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale in the cast, it can't all be bad, 27 April 2017
- La Gerusalemme liberata

Instead of the normal write-up for The Mighty Crusaders, let's look at the plot summary found all over the internet – "SEE – The Dance of the seven orgies! SEE – The Duel to the death with 100-pound battle axes! SEE – The seduction of Renaldo, the White Knight, by the dark daughter of Damascus! SEE – The mammoth battle between Heathens and Knights for the Holy Sepulcher! SEE – Assault towers and battering rams breach the walls of the Holy City! SEE – Men turned into human torches by the flaming pitch of the Infidels!" So, how true is all that? 

SEE – The Dance of the seven orgies! Yes (sort of), there is a brief clip of a harem dance. While it's quite nice and reasonably provocative by 1958 standards, there was nothing approaching an orgy. 

SEE – The Duel to the death with 100-pound battle axes! - Yes (sort of), the Crusader named Tancredi does engage in a fight with battle axes against Argante. The way they handle the axes, however, it's easy to tell they don't weigh close to 100 pounds – more likely 5 pounds each. And, the battle goes on for so long, the men grow weary and agree to put off their fight until the next day. Very gentlemanly and accommodating.

SEE – The seduction of Renaldo, the White Knight, by the dark daughter of Damascus! Yes (sort of), Renaldo is smitten by Armida the moment he lays eyes on her. At least that's the way it seems because after what felt like no more than 30 minutes, Renaldo is willing to kill one of his comrades just to be with her. However, he quickly realizes that Armida is evil and wants nothing to do with her.

SEE – The mammoth battle between the Heathens and the Knights for the Holy Sepulcher! Yes, (sort of), there is a final battle between the Crusaders and the Muslims. But I'm not sure I would call it mammoth. It is fairly impressive given the nature of this movie, but it's easy to see the number of men actually in the battle scenes is limited. 

SEE – Assault towers and battering rams breach the walls of the Holy City! Yes (sort of), the Crusaders do build some flimsy, movable towers that they use to get over the wall. However, I don't remember seeing a single battering ram. I could be wrong, but I honestly don't remember it happening.

SEE – Men turned into human torches by the flaming pitch of the Infidels! Yes (sort of), during the assault on the walls, a couple of guys are hit by some flaming stuff and you do see their clothes burning. But most of the flames safely miss their mark.

Here's how I would describe The Mighty Crusaders – SEE – Terribly staged, unrealistic sword fights! SEE – Trained soldiers who easily forgot their purpose and fall madly in love with the first woman they see! SEE – The idiot Trancredi battle and kill his true love even though he should have known he fighting a woman and Clorinda is the only woman fighter in the whole movie! SEE – Swords fights that sound like someone hitting two aluminum curtain rods against each other! SEE – Fabulous costumes and outfits that always look perfect, even in the pitch of battle! SEE – Sylva Koscina unconvincingly play a Persian Princess. 

Still, the movie looks great and provided me with a decent amount of entertainment. A lot of it feels cheap, to be sure, but I wasn't expecting anything else. Plus, with Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale in the cast, it can't all be bad.

5/10