''The Seventh Sword'' ( it, Le sette spade del vendicatore, french: Sept épées pour le roi, also known as ''Seven Swords for the King'') is a

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

Italian-French adventure film directed by

Riccardo Freda Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films. Freda began directing '' I Vampiri'' in 1956. The film became ...

. It is a remake of Freda's debut film '' Don Cesare di Bazan''.

Cast

Brett Halsey Brett Halsey (born Charles Oliver Hand, June 20, 1933) is an American film actor, sometimes credited as Montgomery Ford. He appeared in B pictures A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during ...

as Don Carlos di Bazan * Béatrice Altariba as Isabella *

Giulio Bosetti Giulio Bosetti (26 December 1930 – 24 December 2009) was an Italian actor and director. Career Giulio Bosetti appeared in film, on television and on stage over 30 times. In 1972, he narrated the television special ''La vita di Leonardo da Vi ...

as Duke of Saavedra *

Gabriele Antonini Gabriele Antonini (born 16 April 1938, died October 2018) was an Italian film, stage and television actor. Life and career Born in Rome, the son of an army general, Antonini was chosen by Mario Monicelli for the role of Sandro in '' Fathers an ...

as Filippo III *

Mario Scaccia Mario Scaccia (26 December 1919 – 26 January 2011) was an Italian actor and author. He was a prominent figure in the Italian theatre of '900. Biography Born in Rome, the son of a painter, during the Second World War Scaccia was conscripted i ...

as Cardinal Inquisitor * Gabriele Tinti as Corvo * Alberto Sorrentino as Sancho *Jacques Stany as The seargeant

Release

''The Seventh Swords'' was released in Italy on October 30, 1962, where it was distributed by

Cino Del Duca Cino Del Duca (25 July 1899 – 24 May 1967) was an Italian-born businessman film producer and philanthropist who moved to France in 1923 where he made a fortune in the French publishing business. Biography Cino Del Duca Born in Montedinove in ...

. The film had a domestic gross of 140 million

Italian lira The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually ...

in Italy.

Reception

In a contemporary review, the ''

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with ...

'' stated that the Director "is here at his best" and that ''The Seventh Sword'' is "a film which is in its way delightful, with much to charm the eye and tickle the senses" The review noted specific scenes a tongue-in-cheek fight scene that plays in and out of a bedroom and "the final duel staged in a torture chamber of almost surrealist design and lurid colours"

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* 1962 films French adventure films Italian adventure films Films directed by Riccardo Freda 1962 adventure films Films set in the 17th century Films set in Spain Films based on works by Victor Hugo 1960s French films 1960s Italian films {{1960s-France-film-stub