THE IRON CROWN (1941)

There is, we are told, a legend forgotten even by time, of an iron crown made between the 2nd and 3rd Crusades, forged from the swords of Roman emperors, embedded with great jewels and containing a nail from the Holy Cross. It was taken on a pilgrimage to Rome, and a holy voice from above proclaimed that peace, mercy and justice would follow in its journey. In the town of Kindor, the legitimate king, Licinio, wants to make peace with rival city Barbagon, but he is killed by his less noble brother Sedemondo. Barbagon is captured and much of its populace driven into slavery, though a band of rebels escape into the nearby hills. When the Iron Crown comes through his land, Sedemondo throws it down where it magically grows heavy and sinks into the ground. Licino's queen bears a daughter and the former queen of Barbagon bears a son, but because Sedemondo has made it known he wants a son, the two are switched, and eventually raised as siblings. As children, both are whipped on the arm for bad behavior, leaving each with a scar (Chekhov's scars?). Sedemondo eventually learns about the switch, and because of a prophecy from an old woman about a child of Barbagon usurping him someday, the king has the boy taken to the Valley of the Lions where it is assumed he will be killed. But in Jungle Book fashion, the lions take to him and make sure he lives to manhood. Years later, the walls of the Valley of Lions collapse in an earthquake, and the boy Arminio, now a man, meets the king's daughter, Elsa, and they start to fall in love. But for Arminio, the stronger pull is toward Tundra, the leader of the Barbagon rebels. When Sedemondo holds a tournament whose prize is Elsa's hand in marriage, Arminio enters. Meanwhile, an old prophesying woman says that Elsa will never marry and that the king will lose his throne. The rest of the movie shows how these predictions come to pass. (Meanwhile, are we ever getting back to the Iron Crown?)

I saw this on a YouTube channel called Peplum TV, but it's actually an adventure fantasy, sort of a forerunner to peplum. For a movie just under 90 minutes, there's a lot of plot packed in and I'm not sure my summary above is completely accurate, but it's close. I rather doubt that the supposed legend of the Iron Crown is real, as it sounds like an amalgam of folklore bits and pieces, but it has potential as a legend—except that the Iron Crown literally vanishes for most of film, re-entering at the very end when we've forgotten it (just as we're told time forgot it). But the rest of the narrative is engrossing enough, if fairly predictable. The handsome Massimo Girotti, impressive a couple of years later in OSSESSIONE is good here, not as muscled as later legit peplum heroes but nicely heroic anyway. Of the two leading ladies, Elisa Cegani, as Elsa, is a more traditional damsel in distress, and Luisa Ferida, as Tundra, is fairly butch and resourceful, usually the type that doesn't get (or even want) the hero. Based on movie tradition, the way the three get sorted out is a bit surprising. I liked that Arminio sometimes looked like Tarzan, Tundra looked like Robin Hood, and the rebels looked like her Merrie Men. Nice for something a bit off the beaten path. Pictured are Cegani and Girotti. [YouTube]