The Lion of St. Mark

source: The Lion of St. Mark

Moviecut—The Lion of St. Mark

source: The Lion of St. Mark

Good sad, lots of action and adventurous story takes the viewer to Venice where pirates are causing disarray, causing nobleman Gordon Scott to disguise himself as the "Lion of St. Mark" to keep the city safe. He falls for female pirate Gianna Maria Canale while ending his engagement to the controlling Franca Bettoia who vows in the first few minutes of the film before she gets the boot that she can get him to do everything she wants. At least she loves her dog from her childhood who just died. About 20 minutes into the film, there is a sequence that seems almost like a trailer for it without the titles, and it's a very strange attempt at narration. The film looks more expensive than it probably is, with lots of period costumes and glamorous sets, and more importantly, dubbing that doesn't look phony. This is one of the more upscale of these much churned out peplum adventures, but the characters are basically cardboard cutouts and no different than pirate movies that had been besieging the screen the decade before. The light attempts at comedy distracting or silly, and it ends up being just a pleasant time filler. Scott is quite a formidable leading man, with Canale rather rugged even if her hairstyle is a bit too modern.

Set in Venice, around 1620, a group of Skokian pirates invade a nightly ball where the Doge's son, Manrico (Gordon Scott) is engaged with a Lady, and after stealing the guests' jewellery, Manrico makes a vow to stamp out these pillaging pirates from terrorising Venice and dons a mask to become the leader of St. Mark ( the symbol of Venice), however, during this, he falls in love with a pirate (Giana Maria Canale), which poses a problem as his father wouldn't approve of this union. Gordon Scott dons in flamboyant costume and tights and rattles a fair sabre ( well, epee) as the hero, though it's baffling why his likeminded group of saviours didn't don a mask too, but that's overthinking, and with a vibrant film punctuated with so much action - sword fighting galore- it's best just to relax and enjoy this pulp matinee style swashbuckler for what it is. Good escapism. The production is really good, there's opulent sets, great costumes, ballroom dances and the grand view of Venice, it's canals and it's ornately gaudy gondoliers. The latter lends an authenticity to the proceedings. Gordon Scott cuts (quite literally) a fine dash as the hero, coming across as sincere, and Gian Maria Canale acts well as the lady pirate who is willing to change her ways for love. Ah, the perils and fortunes of romance!

This film is mainly worth seeing for its exquisite photography of historical Venice in the 17th century. The action is a romantic swahbuckler account of the son of a Doge who falls in love with a pirate princess, for whose sake he deserts his bride to be, another but more conventional princess. The action is fast with many brilliant fights and a great siege to a fortress and a naval battle in the end. The costumes are also exquisitely stylish, the story is all right in its romantic exaggerations, while the actors are all rather mediocre, incluidng Gordon Scott in the lead. If you find this entertainment somewhat superficial and undramatic in its load of clichés, at least you can enjoy the beauty of Venice and its 17th century people to the full.

Venice 1620: pirates are attacking the town almost weekly, and the army of mercenaries does not defend it properly. So Manrico (Gordon Scott) decides to pick up the black mask of the "Lion of San Marco" and attack the pirates when they don't expect it, only with the help of a few dedicated citizens. Things become complicated when Manrico falls in love with the beautiful pirate lady Rossana (Gianna Maria Canale) - now both are suspected to have become traitors... A fast moving, colorful pirate adventure which benefits from its Venetian setting. It is something quite different from the usual Caribbean scenery: hardly open sea, different boats, the gondolieri, the designs. Nice role for Mirko Ellis who later appeared in many westerns. The lively music by Carlo Rustichelli also deserves mentioning. Note: the German version (for the cinema distribution in 1964) was cut to 89 minutes.

Young Manrico seems set for a life of idle luxury, in the company of his elegant but vapid fiancee Isabella. Most people assume that he'll land a cushy "job" at some embassy or some court. However, Manrico is a fiery warrior who longs to defend his native city of Venice against a bunch of pirates. In secret, he surrounds himself with a band of like-minded companions... With "The Lion of San Marco" we're clearly in B-movie territory. We're also in "Zorro" territory, with a masked aristocrat defending the weak and attacking the wicked. And yes, it's one of those movies where a character becomes wholly unrecognizable by putting on a modest mask. It's a colourful adventure movie with lots of swashbuckling and pageantry. The story is set both in Venice and in the surrounding areas, which makes for charming and interesting scenery. One can safely assume that no brain cells were worked to exhaustion while the screenplay was being written, since about 70% of the plot consists of people shouting "Trust me, I won't betray you !" or "You've betrayed me, and I trusted you !" The costumes and props have an undeniable charm, although some anachronistic details here and there scream "20th century". For instance, the pirate woman who steals Manrico's heart wears a fetching make-up which comes straight from the 1950's to 1960's. It's not a particularly good movie, but it's not the worst thing ever filmed either. Five stars seem about right...

THE LION OF ST. MARK is an action-packed swashbuckler of the kind that the Italians loved making. The director had a prolific career almost entirely devoted to action movies and this might well be one of the best of them; it's certainly an engaging little picture with lots of colour, energy, and excitement. The underrated Gordon Scott plays a man fed up with the pirate raids that have been taking place on the coast around Venice, so he decides to don a Zorro-style disguise and take the fight to the enemy. This is one of those films where an energetic sword fight pops up every five minutes or so and the toughness of the bad guys is only matched by the resolution of the hero. Gianna Maria Canale has a strong supporting role as a female pirate and overall this is a fast and fresh viewing experience.

One could claim that the first 20 minutes of "The Lion Of St. Mark" are purposefully dull, to show why Gordon Scott's character feels trapped by his present aristocratic life and prefers adventure. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't really get much more exciting later on. The production values are better than you might expect (the climax even features an attack on a castle by sea and by land), but the action scenes are kind of messy, and the outfits of the pirates and the Venetians who are fighting them are sometimes so similar that you can't tell who's winning. Gianna Maria Canale is good, but underused, as a feisty and defiant pirate girl. Great tagline on an old poster of the film: "The Lion who made his mark with a Tigress!". ** out of 4.