PeplumParadise
Cheaply produced, but enthusiastic, period piratical peplum comedy. Guy Madison is the nominal star wearing the most unflattering star hairpiece since Bette Davis was the Virgin Queen, but is unconvincing as Alfonso di Montelimar, a governor on an island off the Spanish Main. Imported German leading lady Ingeborg Schöner - in her only peplum appearance - is equally at sea as a white-skinned red Indian princess, accompanied by Mino Doro looking odd in brown face as her silent Indian servant (or should that be native Tortugan?). The film belongs to third-billed Rik Battaglia as the dashing pirate captain Pedro Valverde, who steals every scene he is in and, with his piratical band of peplum stalwarts, lifts the film to another level. There's a native wedding ceremony towards the end which is rather bizarre, you feel like you've just walked in onto a set from another movie altogether. It's one of those piratical a yarns where they seem to spend most of the time on land and even when they do make it on board a ship they don't actually go anywhere. It's also one of those where you root for the pirates, despise the authorities and cheer for the hard-done-by natives who come to the rescue, all done with enough panache to keep it lively, but be wary that there's not much there if you dig beneath the surface.
