Well before the so-called 'Spaghetti Westerns' were produced, Italian film companies were recruiting international actors for their films. Starting in the 1950s, Hollywood talent began to be featured in these movies...especially when acting jobs in the States were few and far between. And, these Americans starred in all sorts of films...Hercules films, swashbucklers, Fellini pictures and many more. And in each, the films were dubbed into a variety of languages for international release. "Il Maestro di Don Giovanni" ("Crossed Swords") is one of these films and it stars Errol Flynn.
The story is set during the Renaissance in the duchy of Sedona (I looked it up...it appears to be fictional). Renzo (Flynn) is a bandit with style....just as happy seducing women as improving his wealth. One woman, in particular, is his quarry, Francesca (Gina Lollobrigida...who IS captioned despite her ability to speak English). She wants to marry him...and there's been a new law enacted that says EVERY unmarried adult man MUST be married! Despite the law and Francesca's great beauty, Renzo is loathe to give up his wicked ways and settle down...and her father is beside himself at the prospect of getting this rogue as a son-in-law!
This film was made late in his career when heavy drinking & drugs, womanizing and his failing health all made it difficult to get work. In 1954, Flynn still looked pretty handsome but by 1957 or so, he was a bloated mess...ultimately dying at only 50 due to the effects of his lifestyle upon his body. It's nice that although this isn't a great film, he looks pretty good and was able to do a semi-convincing job. However, I did notice that stuntmen seemed to be used a lot more than they were employed back in the 1930s-40s....as in mid mid-40s he just wasn't up to all this rigorous work Because of this, you see some odd camerawork (such as the top-down view of his staff fight).
So is it any good? Well, surprisingly, for a 1950s film this one is in full color...and this along with the costumes make this a very good looking picture. The story itself is actually pretty light on action and tends to be a tad talky. Enjoyable but also not a film big and exciting enough to revive Flynn's flagging career.
