King
Sardanapalo (Howard Duff) conquers the city of Babylon and puts his baby-faced
kid brother Shammash (Luciano Marin) in charge.
Mirra (Jocelyn Lane), a beautiful survivor of a nearby raid, is chosen
to be Sammash’s servant girl and he falls madly in love with her. However, she has eyes for his brother, which
sparks a feud between them.
Jocelyn
Lane is great in this movie. With her
long flowing crimson hair and pouty lips, she is reminiscent of Bardot, but has
her own unique brand of sex appeal about her.
If it wasn’t for her beauty (not to mention her solid performance), the tension
between the brothers would’ve been kind of blah. Because she’s so gorgeous, you can see why
two guys (brothers at that) would go to war over her. The love triangle is surprisingly effective
(each of her suitors are equally worthy of her affections), which gives the film
a dramatic center that most Italian peplum lack.
Likewise,
the crisp direction by Silvio (Amuck) Amadio helps prevent War Gods of Babylon
from becoming a standard-issue sword and sandal flick. The scale is larger than your average
Hercules movie and the sets and costumes look great. Amadio does an especially good job on the
finale when Duff draws the wrath of the gods, who flood the city. The effects in this sequence are better than expected.
Sometimes the scale of the water
crashing down on the walls of the castle is a little off, but the shots of
people drowning in their own beds are startlingly effective.
The
most memorable scene though is when the two brothers go on a lion hunt. The part where the lion attacks them is hilarious. It’s obviously just a guy in a dime store
lion suit. Later, when they bring the
carcass home, it’s the same suit, just with no one in it.
Silly
lion effects aside, the severed heads are well done (for the time, that is). We also get an arrow to the eye and a gnarly death
involving some spikes. These little bits
of gruesome business weren’t necessary, but they help make War Gods of Babylon
a better than average toga-fest.
AKA: Apocalypse Over Babylon. AKA:
7th Thunderbolt.
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