A hotbed of imperial Roman intrigue and sexual politics that flounders about
for 90-minutes. Massalina. A name that has come down in history from 2,000
years ago for her treachery, cruelty and promiscuity. Our kind of girl. Familiar
partly because of the TV show I, Claudius in which her sexual desires are
on full display. She would no doubt be very surprised to discover that her
name was still known, that movies and TV shows were made about her because
in the story of the Roman Empire she was but a footnote but a salacious one.
Since there was no Entertainment Tonight back then, historians are dependent
on only a few near contemporaries who wrote about her and apparently had
an agenda - but she isn't here to protest so we go with the popular opinion.
Messalina was related in one way or another to that whole slew of Roman Emperors
at the time - cousin of Caligula, grand-niece of Augustus, cousin of Nero.
first cousin of Claudius. Family get togethers must have been great fun.
A game of who is the craziest. She became the wife of the much older Claudius
and after he had ascended the throne she became Empress. For the next seven
years she slept with much of Rome and constantly conspired and intrigued
to kill her enemies using her sexual prowess to influence her husband and
others. It caught up with her eventually when she conspired to assassinate
Claudius and was found out and put to the sword. You might have thought just
being an Empress with a steady flow of lovers and luxury would have been
enough but she was an ambitious girl our Messalina. A modern woman who knew
how to get her way. But went one step too far.
In this Italian film she is portrayed by the lovely Belinda Lee, an English
actress. Belinda has been forgotten for the most part because of her early
death in a speeding car but she was hot stuff in her time appearing in a
number of films in England and then moving to Europe where she became quite
popular, I first came across her in one of the St. Trinian films and she
made enough of an impression on me that I was curious to see one of her Italian
films. She is the headliner in this one produced at Cinecittà Studios.
It is entertaining to some degree and Belinda is very enticing but it feels
small for its setting. There is one big set of a large grand structure of
steps leading to the palace - probably from another film - but most of it
takes place in cloistered bedrooms and homes. There is a good battle near
the end between troops loyal to Caligula and those of Messalina leaving a
floor of dead bodies. But mainly this sticks to Messalina and her intrigues
and sexual magnetism that made many a good man go bad.
It begins with her about to enter the ranks of the Vestal Virgins but becoming
a lifelong virgin was not her fate. She falls in young love with Lucio Massimo
(Spyros Fokas) a Roman solider but he is sent off to Albania to fight in
the wars but swearing to always love her. While he is gone she is chosen
to be Claudius's wife and she immediately begins her reign of seduction.
The aristocrats send an assassin to kill her in her sleep - but one look
at her and he instead decides to bed her. Big mistake as he loses his head
in the morning. Two years later Lucio returns from the wars looking for his
dear Valeria, the name he knew her by, only to hear about Messalina from
the lips of everyone. Imagine his surprise when he is introduced to Messalina
in her baths only to see Valeria. He is soon a bedmate. And so it goes with
a few orgies thrown in. Romans knew how to conquer and have great parties.
But with all this sex, there is no nudity.
Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, who went on to direct a few Peplums - Hercules
and the Captive Women, Amazons of Rome and Goliath and the Dragon. Sound
like must-sees!
