Samson (1961 Italian film)
1961 film directed by Gianfranco Parolini
Samson (Italian: Sansone) is a 1961 Italian-French co-produced peplum film shot in Yugoslavia. It was co-written and directed by Gianfranco Parolini in his first film with Brad Harris who plays the title role.
It is the film which introduced the character of Samson, cleared of his Biblical traits, into the sword-and-sandal cinema. Following the success of Samson, the character was later featured in a series of four films released between 1963 and 1965.
Plot
The treacherous court counselor Warkalla takes possession of the throne of Sulan and of the goods of Queen Mila, replacing her with the beautiful but insignificant Romilda. Samson joins Mila and the rebels to regain the kingdom of Sulan and to hunt Romilda and Warkalla.
Cast
Brad Harris: Samson
Alan Steel: Macigno aka Hercules
Serge Gainsbourg: Warkalla
Mara Berni: Romilda
Luisella Boni: Janine (credited as Brigitte Corey)
Carlo Tamberlani: Botan
Irena Prosen: Mila
Franco Gasparri: Mila's son
Vladimir Leib as Terrabentus
Reception
Serge Gainsbourg's performance as the creepy villain Warkalla has been highlighted as the film's strongpoint.
References
Bibliography
Michele Giordano (1998). Giganti buoni. Rome: Gremese Editore.
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This entry incorporates text from “Samson (1961 Italian film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.