The Lion of Thebes (1964) User Reviews

Mythological epic with a magnificent he-man : the corpulent Mark Forest

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 19 September 2006]

Menelao (Alberto Lupo) and Helen of Troy (Ivonne Furneaux) are going to Greece when they are shipwrecked on shores of Egypt . Menelao disappears and Helen stays under protection of superhero Aron (Mark Forest) . Our protagonist unhesitatingly goes into action and must use his strength to save the woman he loves from villain Tutmes (Massimo Serato) who is pharaoh's counselor (Pierre Cressoy as Ramses) . Then , he becomes inextricably involved in a war between rulers of High Egypt (capital is Tebas) and Under Egypt (center is Sais) . The Greek warrior under the command the Egyptian troops must fight against the enemies .

This is a good spaghetti , myth-opera with action , love , battles and luxurious scenarios . The movie has not mythological accuracy neither historical prospect . The picture contains stock shots from anterior films , as some flashbacks of previous movie by Giorgo Ferroni : ¨The Trojan horse¨and battle scenes . Mark Forest , in his last film , is perfect as the mythical hero who encounters many dangerous situations while trying save his true love -the queen Helen- of numerous odds . Forest who played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hércules , Goliath , Samson or here Aron for U.S. viewing . Robust and strong Forest was a muscle-man who left allegedly the sword and sandals genre for the Opera , he used the amount of money he made acting as hero and gladiators films in Italy to study Opera , he currently teaches in the Los Angeles zone . He was one along with Ed Fury , Dan Vadis , Brad Harris ,Alan Steel , Reg Park , Gordon Scott whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures , but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity . Above average muscle-men fodder and better than most muscles operas-spaghetti , thanks to Mark Forest and by Peplum specialist like is fine director Giorgo Ferroni .

Mark Forest at His Best

[csdietrich · 5/10 · 15 October 2001]

LION OF THEBES is the story of Aryan (Mark Forest), a bodyguard who has saved the life of Helen of Troy (a delicious portrayal by the ever-beautiful Yvonne Furneaux) as the Greeks sack the fabled city. Their flight leads them to the deserts of Egypt and finally to Thebes. There Pharoah Ramses goes mad for Helen and decides his intended bride (the wonderful Rosalba Neri) is no longer good enough for him. There is much court intrigue, an assassination, which naturally culminates in Helen being blamed for the whole mess. The true guilty parties attempt to put her to death but Aryan saves the day. This film could have used several hundred more extras but everything considered is not a bad peplum at all. Mark Forest considered this his best film and he certainly is good. The color is dazzling as are the lighting schemes and cinematography. These Italian sword and sandal epics are in serious need of re-evaluation because they certainly do not deserve the critical beatings they took in the Sixties. Worthy of a viewing by anyone who enjoys this genre.

THE LION OF THEBES (Giorgio Ferroni, 1964) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 7 October 2006]

This is another above-average peplum and one that's actually a follow-up to Ferroni's own THE Trojan HORSE (1961), since it follows the exploits of Helen Of Troy after the fall of that city; the earlier film had already had a sequel, THE AVENGER (1962), made by other hands but again featuring Steve Reeves in the role of Aeneas (who doesn't show up here)!

Anyway, for an obviously low-budget spectacle (with flashback footage borrowed from HORSE), the film certainly looks good - courtesy of cinematographer Angelo Lotti, who later shot the Jess Franco masterpiece VENUS IN FURS (1968)! - while the plot is filled with amusing suspense trappings: secret passageways, dungeons, a duel to the death by a snake-infested fountain, intrigues, murders, a coveted treasure, a nick-of-time escape for the heroine - strapped to a stone slab - from being crushed to death by a descending massive piece of machinery, etc.

The cast, too, is peppered with familiar faces: he-man hero Mark Forest (whose favorite role this was, according to the "DVD Drive-in" review of Trimark Home Video's 7-film set THE ADVENTURES OF HERCULES!) doesn't alter the expression of his face much during the course of the film but, at least, he fares better here than in the earlier laugh-fest GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (1960); Yvonne Furneaux appears as Helen Of Troy and, given that the film is largely set in Egypt, I couldn't help being reminded of her role in the classic Hammer horror THE MUMMY (1959); Massimo Serato and Alberto Lupo provide a double dose of (sometimes) ripe villainy; and Rosalba Neri (yet again) as the current Pharaoh's jilted fiancée but who takes her rival Furneaux's defences, against usurper Serato, when Helen Of Troy is accused of murdering the Egyptian ruler - and suffers the consequences for her actions!

Helen of Troy...sorry of Thebes!

[dbdumonteil · 13 October 2005]

In a beauty contest with contemporary Helen Diane Kruger in Petersen's extravaganza ,Yvonne Furneaux would certainly win hands down,weren't it only for her sublime eyes.

A "cultural" prologue tells us that the film was based on "documents" which would tend to substantiate a thesis that,for Helen,there was a life after Troy.And that she and Menelas were not exactly the best of friends when the war came to an end .I doubt,however,that a junior high school student would get an A plus if he wrote his essay about Helen's fate after watching this flick.

The star is actually Mark Forest a muscle man ,who left reportedly sword and sandals for the opera ,but his acting is so wooden that Yvonne Furneaux's beauty (a French Helen,why not?) is the main attraction.

The story? Helen and her attentive escort Arion arrive in Egypt where they are taken in by the pharaoh.Of course Helen's beauty is bound to cause more disasters but there are plenty of villains around including her hubby himself.Poor Helen is accused of pharaoh's murder and sentenced to a horrible death ( crushed between two stones).There are lots of treasons,murders,even a trial ,in a cheap Thebes.

Girogio Ferroni had directed another movie about Troy with Steve Reeves but he did not use the same actress for Helen:Yvonne Furneaux is an improvement on the former actress,this is the only nice thing I can say about "Leone di Tebe"

Another palace intrigue

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 24 March 2017]

If you thought the fall of Troy was the end of things for the beautiful Helen than this film The Lion Of Thebes will set you straight. Yvonne Furneaux as Helen is shipwrecked with one of King Menelaus's men the mighty Mark Forest soon to be known as the Lion Of Thebes because of his strength and courage.

These two are no sooner arrived at Thebes in Egypt then they are hip deep in a struggle for palace power at the court of Pharoah Rameses.

All I can say is that Helen finally gets a happy ever after ending in this rather poor Peplum film. I'd not be wasting any of my viewing time with this.

Italian Peplum Movie with Mark FOREST and Yvonne FURNEAUX

[ZeddaZogenau · 5/10 · 17 February 2024]

What actually happened to the beautiful Helena after the Trojan War on the way back to Sparta to her old husband Menelaus? Homer and Herodotus give different answers.

The director Giorgio Ferroni gives us a third answer. With him, Helena (Yvonne FURNEAUX) ends up as a castaway in the land of the pharaohs, accompanied by her extremely strong bodyguard Arion (the body-built opera singer Mark FOREST). There, Massimo SERATO, Rosalba NERI and Pierre CRESSOY are both drawn into a crazy series of intrigues. It's good that Arion (in Herodotus he's still the guy with the dolphin) can fight so well! Against Cinecitta-known cascaders like Nello PAZZAFINI and the massive MESSINA brothers (Emilio and Roberto) he even manages to become the "Lion of Thebes"!

Honor where honor is due! But we know our sword and sandal films! Despite all the difficulties and surprises, the Greek beauty and her brave hero return home to Hellas. With a well-built lover like Arion at her side, Helena will be able to endure the Spartan conditions again.

Another lovely bit of historical epic fiction.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 15 February 2022]

So Helen has survived Troy and ends up at the palace in Alexandria where she is the suspect in the assassination of Pharaoh Ramses. Yvonne Furneaux. Her guard, Mark Forest, must fight to save her from being crushed between two huge stone walls for her alleged crime, and it turns out that there's a bigger plot going on. But he's running out of time as she has been drugged and is being prepared to wake up to face her fate. Forest arrives just as the sophisticated contraption is slowly being lowered that would give Helen a slow and extremely excruciating death.

While the sets all pretty impressive, the film still has a cheapness about it, but there are still some very impressive things, particularly a scene with Forest fighting with a man who wants to throw him in a pool of asps and of course the finale where is a large stone is right on top of Furneaux, not really giving her much space to breathe, let alone have time for Forest to be able to easily get her out. This is interesting because it attempts to tie in two different ancient cultures, but obviously the history lesson is far from the truth. A fairly enjoyable time filler that won't tax the viewer's brain, but not one to add to the list of peplum classics either, let alone the great historical epics.

above average peplum flick

[prosopopeia · 6/10 · 27 November 2006]

One of the approximately 300 Italian peplum (sword and sandals) films made between 1957 and 1965, Lion of Thebes is unusual for a number of reasons: one, there is actually something like a coherent story rather than a simple collection of "strongman set pieces"; two, there is actually a fair amount of dialogue, and the acting is rather better than usual--one almost has the impression that the muscleman (Aryan) cares about what is happening; three, the film is a little more ethically ambiguous than usual: the good woman (Helen) and the "bad" woman (Naïs) actually want the same thing; the "usurper" is actually the proper heir to the throne; the wicked counselor is evil, but actually wants to save Thebes from its weak and careless leader. Peplums tend to range from laughably bad to simply agonizingly bad--this one's actually okay.

Peplum at its best

[fwmurnau · 8/10 · 27 September 2007]

Mark Forest's personal favorite of his films is one of the best Italian sword & sandal films of the 1960s. Superior writing and direction, and handsome Egyptian sets and costumes, make it seem like a wonderful comic book come to life. Forest, in great shape, has never been better or been better-photographed. Furneaux capably heads a strong supporting cast.

The story finds the Pharaoh Rameses in love with Helen of Troy (Furneaux), who prefers Aryan (Forest), her beefy bodyguard. A mythological mix-up, but it's one of the genre's strongest, most logical and compelling stories.

A film like this, in an unfaded print with strong bright colors, makes one wonder if some of these films aren't actually better than they seem in their ludicrously-dubbed American TV versions. If this had been made by Fassbinder, David Lynch or some other fashionable director, it might be acclaimed as an avant garde masterpiece.

Lion of thebes review

[linaeliar · 6/10 · 22 February 2019]

Il leone di tebe(1964) Regia di Giorgio Ferroni Con Mark Forest, Yvonne Furneaux, Massimo Serato, Rosalba Neri, Pierre Cressoy, Enzo Fiermonte, Alberto Lupo

That the set are well done but a bit in the studio, the costumes and hairstyles are good.The story at the beginning is a bit' slow and boring, but then it becomes interesting.Yvonne Furneax is beautiful and she had breathtaking close-ups, has a wonderful body. No chemistry with Mark Forest and their love story is boring. The music is recycled and not very incisive.Rosalba Neri is beautiful and manages to be more provocative, sensual and charismatic of Furneax.Mark Forest better than usual but in the fight scenes you can see his double . Very good Alberto Lupo, Massimo Serato and Pierre Cressoy as the villains.There are some interesting twists. A good peplum film even if there are moments of bore.

nice

[Kirpianuscus · 28 May 2022]

From the first scenes, you discover the predictable story proposed by the long chain of movies of genre. Virtues - the body of Mark Forest and the special beauty of Yvonne Furneaux , the ingrate Menelaus and, sure, the machine of death.

The result is charming for reasonable mix of Iliad and Old Egypt, silly mix of names = Amenofis, Tutmes, Ramses - and the lovely - conventional love story, after fights dosis.

Short - just nice.

The Lion of Thebes

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 28 January 2024]

When the Greek army conquers Troy, Helen is exiled from her city. Her loyal guard Arion and Helene ends up shipwrecked on the shores of Egypt, they meet a caravan in the desert and escape from them to Thebes. In the Egyptian city, the Pharaoh Ramses falls in love with Helen, and this ends up making her numerous enemies during her stay in Egypt. She ends up being blamed for the assassination of Ramses, and its up to Arion to save her from those who wish to harm her.

Mark Forest, the dependable star of musclebound adventures, stars in this peplum that comes across thoughtful with a fairly intelligent plot. It's a little quiet, unravels rather gradually. Yvonne Furneaux is more in the lead as the exiled Helen of Troy and Forest as her guardian , who, of course, fancies her. There's a fair amount of dialogue, the acting is good, the characters are little complex rather than the plain "I'm a good guy and he's the bad guy." Here, the playboy Ramses loses interest in Rosalba Neri when Helen comes along and wants to marry her. Jealous Neri wants to be rid of her but Helen reassures she doesn't fancy the playboy. But Helen fancies her guardian. Then there's the murder of the playboy and intrigue is added as well as the usual heroics. Ends with Helen getting a crushing reception under a stone grinding down towards her, and of course, the gallant Forest comes to the rescue, but before saving her he has a well-staged rough and tumble with a guard. I didn't find this a snore fest, but quite interesting and watchable.

Mark the Magnificent!

[PrincessAnanka · 10/10 · 21 March 2007]

Mark Forest was probably the most magnificent of all the Hercules heroes, even more so than the God-like Steve Reeves. In his farewell movie, "Lion of Thebes," Forest has never looked more incredible, with his phenomenal torso on full display and his beautifully expressive face--sensuous lips, slanted eyes, chiseled features--all photographed to maximum advantage. Starting out as a physique model, Lou Degni from the Bronx, Forest went on to win Mr. America and it was only fitting that he was brought in on the coattails of the beautiful Reeves to make his share of muscle movies. No one had pecs as enormous as Forest or a ridged stomach that was justly famous. HIs whole torso was a work of wonder and thankfully, we have him on film during his peak to show the world just how phenomenal a speciman of manhood he was. Probably his best movie, "Kindar the Invincible" is included in the 50-movie package, "Warriors", that has ALL the musclemen who portrayed Hercules, Atlas, Samson and so on. But it was Mark Forest and his extraordinary torso and charisma that makes your mouth drop when he appears nearly naked except for a brief loincloth in most of his film work. He conveys a smoldering sensuality lacking in Reeves and you envy the number of actresses who had love scenes with him and were able to squeeze those powerful shoulders and arms. If Hollywood had any brains at that time, Forest would have been a Number One leading man. Male beauty, such as that enjoyed by Reeves and Forest, comes along only once in a century and in these vastly enjoyable "sword and sandal" entertainments, we can enjoy them forever. And wish we had movie heroes today who come anywhere close to Forest and Reeves.

MARK FOREST AT HIS BEST IN ANCIENT EGYPT.

[larryanderson · 9/10 · 21 October 2020]

I read all the other reviews that cover the details of the story in this action movie. The story itself is rather unbelievable in that Helen and Menelaus both ended up in the center of Egypt at the same time. There is an old legend that Helen did visit Egypt in her effort to evade her possessive husband but that is only a legend. Here we have everyone in Egypt at the time of Rameses II who immediately takes a liking to Helen. (the next time you visit a drug store remember the name Rameses). Unfortunately there is only the old TV showing from 1965 and a rather fuzzy version on Y/T for fans to reference. There was a VHS release but that was fuzzy as well. However, there is the Italian version that is very clear and bright. In the Italian copy, they start with this on screen SCROLL that tells the story of how they arrived in Egypt. (Many of the dates are wrong). After the scroll is finished we the see Helen and Arian on a raft at sea arriving on shore.. Then they start the Titles which is where all the other versions start. The rest is a very clear copy, especially when we look at the details of the throne room and other sets. If you know a lot about the art of ancient Egypt you will notice the fine detail in the columns, the wall art, furniture and everything else displayed in this LBX release. The duplication is excellent. Gold everywhere and even the costumes are very accurate. If you are lucky enough to find a copy, buy it and see. You will soon forget about the flaws in the story and enjoy the fabulous display of the set re-creation.