Io Semiramide

Assyrian king Minurte (Renzo Ricci) is getting old, and his son is still a child who cannot follow on the throne yet. Several members of the court are thinking about taking the throne or at least use the opportunity to share the power of the new ruler. There is Semiramis (Yvonne Furneaux), a woman who is enchanting any man and wants to build Babylon, a city of her own design. Then we have Kir (John Ericson), the enslaved young king of another country and a great warrior, Omnos (Germano Longo), an ambitious, successful general, and last not least Ghelas (Gianni Rizzo), an adviser to the king. The complex story revolves around intrigue, treachery and murder. Some characters are not really round, and if the credits state that 5 different screenplay writers were involved, I can imagine they wanted to push it into different directions, perhaps. Semiramis herself is everything from tragic goddess to relentless devil, depending on which scenes you watch. But despite some plot holes, the movie is entertaining enough to watch, 1960s costume drama above average.