The Huns (1960)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie of this year hands down!

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

THE HUNS is something of an obscure addition to the Italian peplum cycle and having watched it I can see why. It has bargain basement production values and mainly exists to feature starlet Chelo Alonso parading around in a form-fitting bikini for the most part. The story is about a battle between Tartars and Huns, with Alonso's character kidnapped before rising in status to become queen. This is cheesy stuff indeed which feels more like a 1980s-era production rather than a film from its era. There's a lot of action in the form of pitched battles and sieges but none of it convinces and it all feels more than a little silly.

With her village utterly destroyed by rampaging Huns, a young girl named "Tanya" (Chelo Alonso) is taken by the leader of the tribe, "Igor" (Folco Lulli) and essentially raised as his daughter. But rather than being just any ordinary woman Tanya wants to be a warrior and because of this she is trained in archery and allowed to ride with the rest of the warriors. Unfortunately, not all of the men approve and her most vocal critics are Igor's son, "Timur" (Mario Petri) and the chief of a rival clan, "Malok" (Jacques Sernas). Ironically, when Igor is killed and Timur thought dead, it is Malok who helps Tanya become the chief of her tribe. But Malok has ulterior motives. Now rather than reveal any more of this film I will just say that it turned out to be an okay "Sword & Sandal" movie for the most part with Chelo Alonso certainly being the main attraction. Frankly, I thought some scenes could have used a bit more excitement and the ending was somewhat pretentious but that's just my opinion. In short, while it may not be a good movie I didn't think it was necessarily that bad either and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

....but don't expect this film to put much of a fresh spin on the sword-and-sandal genre. Despite Alonso's top billing, the lion's share of the action is still done by the men. And speaking of the action, it is not particularly well staged. But the music score is appropriately epic, the landscapes are sweeping, and there are lots and lots of extras. The story has some interesting themes (the transition from barbarism and prejudice to civilization and wisdom), but for the most part it's too episodic - there is not even a clear goal until midway through the picture. The busty Alonso does look spectacular in her green peplum bikini, though! ** out of 4.

Great peplum with lots of charm! It's kinda like the first 10 minutes of a sword and sorcery flick, where a bunch of barbarians dressed up as Manowar pillage some village, but for 90 minutes. It even features a man in a bear costume! The tartar queen is really a kick-ass girl, who takes no crap and is a better leader than the men (ps! she's really cute too). I wouldn't go an call it feminist masterpiece, but well... it's about as feminist as the peplum genre gets (remember this is the genre where women with black hair are automatically cunning and evil). If you're a peplum fan and get the chance to see this little film, by all means do - it's one of the best of its kind!