The Crown of Iron (1942)

A deadly tournament for a princess' hand, a mystic "golden deer," babies switched at birth, a raised-by-lions quasi-Tarzan; everything but the proverbial kitchen sink was thrown into this extravagant fantasy adventure. Loin-clothed foundling Arminio (Massimo Girotti) leaves the jungle he grew up in upon reaching adulthood, unknowingly commencing the fulfillment of a prophecy that will have him regain the royal throne that is his birthright. Reviving the invincible muscleman hero of popular Italian silent films, THE IRON CROWN also anticipated the "sword and sandal" craze originating from that country in the 1950s, more directly triggered by two international hits: Alessandro Blasetti's own 1949 FABIOLA (released in 1949) and, not quite a decade later, HERCULES with American bodybuilder Steve Reeves. THE IRON CROWN won the "Mussolini Cup" for Best Italian Film at the Venice Festival but wasn't released in the U.S. until years after the end of World War II. Though little-remembered today (compared to some of the films it partly inspired), it survives as a vigorous if goofy gem of all-stops-out escapism. Here, it is presented it in its original language with English subtitles, minus the clumsy dubbing of poorly re-edited versions that were seen for decades outside Italy - Dennis Harvey