User reviews

"Drakut" (Burt Nelson) is riding back to his home when he espies a coach being attacked by some bandits. He rescues the occupant - a girl who is maid to the local Princess and he quickly discovers that his people - the Gypsies, and her's are being manipulated into a conflict that maybe only he can thwart. It is pretty obvious from the start who the maiden really is, but Luigi Capuano makes us wait a while before both that is confirmed, and before "Drakut" must face down the evil Grand Duke Atanas (Mario Petri) who is scheming to have his mother - the Queen of his people, burned as a witch. Things complicate further when the Princess's father is killed and she must nominate a regent - perilous times for all. It's quite a decent little peplum, this one. It moves along quite entertainingly with plenty of chases and swordplay. The combat scenes are way too choreographed, though - the fighting scenes wouldn't look out of place in a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon. The dubbing is fine, it does the job, and the characters offer just enough for 90 minutes to keep it watchable, if also entirely forgettable.

Somewhere in between the sword-and-sandals and spaghetti-westerns, the Italian film industry of the 1960s turned out a few costume-adventures which might, very loosely, be termed Renaissancers. They're set in post-medieval Europe and display swordplay, men in tights, buxom barmaids, coaches pulled by teams of horses, masked balls, etc. "Revenge of the Conquered" is a passable but undistinguished example of this minor genre, featuring the underused and now forgotten Burt Nelson, who only takes his shirt off once, and the lovely, always-watchable Wandisa Guida. To date, this is the movie's only review. It doesn't quite deserve such borderline oblivion but then, there's little reason to remember it.

(Note: the English-dubbed DVD print under review is in b&w rather than color and runs 90 minutes.)