The Sword and the Cross

Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia’s fourth and final film of 1958 was La spada e la croce, which also marked a return to the kind of historical adventures that he’d had some success with earlier in his career (Il falco rosso (49), A fil di spada (52), Il falco d’oro (55)). Unfortunately, though, it’s a rather flat affair and, although not badly made, it suffers in comparison with some of the more vibrant, modern films in the same general field that were being made in Italy at the time.

The Road to Salina

Here’s an entirely fabulous French / Italian co-production from 1970, directed by Georges Lautner. A kind of perverse (or more perverse) reworking of The Postman Always Rings Twice, it’s the type of film which really reminds me why I love European cinema of the time quite as much as I do. And, as with so many of these kinds of films which bridge the arthouse and the exploitatative, it’s rather fallen through the cracks today, probably better known for it’s ubercool soundtrack (which features on Kill Bill Vol 2) than anything else.