Duel of Champions (1961)

Heaven's to Betsy! What on earth was Alan Ladd doing in this nonsense? Originally injured in battle, "Horacio" is cared for by a family of Albanos. Returning home, he is met with great suspicion - is he telling the truth, or is he a traitor? Anyway, he ends up one of three brothers charged with representing the Kingdom of Rome against their arch rivals the Kingdom of Alba. After some plotting and a fair degree of betrayal and subterfuge, the battle royal to save thousands of lives and decide the fate of Italy takes place. I'm guessing they allocated the vast majority of the budget to their star (apparently he never did get paid!) because the rest of this is really rather poor. His co-star Franca Bettoia ("Marcia") is glamorous enough, but those fluttering eyelids can only carry an actress so far. Elsewhere, there are a few scenes with an equally out-of-sorts Robert Keith and there is a distinct paucity of action. When we do get any, it is colourful and grand enough, but choreographed to within an inch of it's life. There is history behind the plot - the Orazi and the Curiazi did, reputedly, fight a duel with the spoils going to the victor's kingdom, but sadly this depiction of such a valiant and exciting event falls well short. It just goes to show that drafting in a big star can actually make a jobbing, workmanlike effort much worse than had it just been the usual Lex Barker or Steve Reeves type of affair.