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APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE

Aka Afrodite Dea Dell’Amore (Italy), L’Esclave De L’Orient, Slave Women of Corinth (UK), Aphrodite - Göttin der Liebe (WG)
1958
Italy
Schermi Produzione
Director : Mario Bonnard
Script : Mario Bonnard, Mario Di Nardo, Sergio Leone, Ugo Moretti
Music: Giovanni Fusco
Cinematography: Tino Santoni
Editor: Nello Nannuzzi
Set designer: Saverio D’Eugenio
Release details: Italy (registered 26.08.58, first shown 29.08.58), Germany (20.03.59, 91 mins), UK (1960, 87 mins)
Cast: Isabelle Corey (Lerna), Antonio De Teffè (Demetrio), Irene Tunc (Dalia),Ivo Garroni (Antigono), Giulio Donnini (Erasto), Carlo Tamberlani (Matteo), Gioan Paolo Rosmino (Dionso), Andrea Aureli (Kibur), Matteo Spinola (Glauco), Adriano Micantoni (Ftire), Mino Doro (Crepilo), Germano Longo (Osco), Paolo Muller [Paul Muller] (the assassin), Silvio Lorenzon [Livio Lorenzon] (the spy), Liliana Gerace, Edda Soligo (the countrywoman), Nada Cortese, Emma Baron (Onoria), with Clara Calami (Stenele), John Kitzmiller (Tomoro), Massimo Serato (Quinto Rufo)

AD67. Emperor Nero victoriously returns to Rome after conquering the city of Corinth, and leaves it in the charge of the decidedly unreliable Antigono (Ivo Garroni) and his questionably bearded advisor Erastus (Giulio Donnini). He also dictates that, to mark his glory, a great canal should be built – a canal that will, unfortunately, run straight through the current temple of Aphrodite. In order to appease the people, Antigono sets about building a new one, and sends for the revered artist Demetrio (Antonio De Teffè) to work on a great sculpture of the Goddess. He also decides to start taxing his people relentlessly in order to pay for it. Any attempts at resisting are punished with extreme harshness.

Meanwhile, a bunch of goodytwoshoes Christians – persona non grata to the Romans – are hiding out in some nearby caves. One of them, Lerna (Isabelle Corey), is captured when she is accidentally involved in a riot and is sold to the despicable slave trader Kibur (Andrea Aureli). Also sold at the same time is Dalia (Irene Tunc), a haughty dame with an eye partly on survival and partly on power – she quickly seduces her new owner by dancing erotically for him. This is not enough, however, and she is soon performing the same moves for Antigono, who falls dick-first in love with her – and persuades Demetrio that she is the perfect model for his masterwork.

Demetrio, however, does harbour some doubts. This is mainly because he has met Lerna and believes that she can be his only true inspiration. It also has something to do with the fact that Dalia has a face like a younger Maggie Thatcher (if, that is, Maggie Thatcher was ever younger). Of course, when she finds out that she has been ousted by her erstwhile friend she is right royally pissed off, and determines to destroy her rival. Matters are not being helped by the fact that Antigono is becoming increasingly hedonistic, a plague is spreading through the land and Erasto is up to all manner of mischief…

There’s lots of intrigue in this historical melodrama. The plot contains enough twists and turns to hold the attention, even if – like most films of its type – the division between good (who must triumph and are nice) and bad (who must lose and are nasty) is a bit simplistic. The budget is relatively large, as is evidenced by the high production values and a pretty substantial cast. Any film which boasts both Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una volta il West, 68) and Romolo Guerrieri (The Sweet Body of Deborah (Il dolce corpo di Deborah, 68) as assistant directors is of some value as a curiosity at the least.

Beyond this, there is less action than is regularly the norm (Aphrodite is, if there can be such a thing, a character driven peplum). There are, however, plenty of wailing women in flimsy dresses and screaming children (of a decidedly ugly nature). My particular favourite scene is the one where a bunch of female slaves are ordered to stand up and then start posing around like a bunch of wannabes at a fashion shoot. The film is crowned off with a group of Christians being burnt at the stake – an altogether healthy activity, it seems to me, if the Christians of the time were anything like the Right Reverend Ian Paisley.

For some reason, Steffen reminded me of a slightly less personable Christopher Walken in this. It is certainly unusual to see him in a clean-shaven, righteous role after watching him in any number of grungy Spaghetti Westerns. There’s also a nice one-minute cameo for the great Paul Muller. Johnny Kitzmiller, who plays Dalia’s faithful servant, was in a number of adventure films (such as Demicelli’s Son of Captain Blood and Capuano’s Tiger of the Seven Seas (La tigre dei sette mari, 62)) as well as playing Quarrell in the first Bond film, Dr. No. Director Bonnard was an ex-matinee idol from the early 1900’s who directed about seventy films – not many of which made it out of Italy - before his death in 1965.

Matt B