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In the Egyptian desert, El Kabir (Mark Damon) begins attacking Roman military bases. He was always leaving one of the commanders alive to send a message to Governor Petronius. Later, at a tribal meeting, he is told that he is too European-looking and later learns from his father that he indeed is not Egyptian, but the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra and was hidden away to not suffer the wrath of Rome. In retaliation, El Kabir kidnaps the daughter of Petronius who he hopes would listen to him and convince her father that his tribes have honorable intentions. With everything moving so fast in the background, it seems like he is about to lose hope when Rome captures his brother and, in revenge, tortures him to death. All of El Kabir’s hope is gone, but in an ultimate act of desperation, he sets out to enact a brutal vengeance on the Egyptians who dared kidnap his daughter.
Ferdinando Baldi, with a co-writer credit on the film, Son of Cleopatra, takes a while to establish the plot. The first thirty minutes move at a snail’s pace and are bogged down by a simple genre story and dreadfully dull pacing. Luckily, after this point, it gets a lot better as it sets into motion an incredibly sophisticated plot, wonderfully enriched character archetypes, and a unique romantic nuance that gets better as the story unfolds. From what it seems, the action scenes are neglected and set aside though they had the ability to propel the story forward. A few middle sequences, like the horse-mounted whipping of El Kabir and the gladiatorial tournament, do feel a little out of place. The fighting at the climax is much smoother, but the final battles are very lackluster. After the great level of tension, the absence of a major combat did not feel satisfying.
El Kabir is one Pepla out of many that relate in some way to history. For once in a Peplum, the English title and the name of the leading character is one of those that can be traced back to the original Italian script, making the storyline resonate historically more than other titles do (many Pepla had their titles changed for Anglo-American markets and were forced to narrate in a way that made the set places believable). The character of El Kabir is a figure that seems to take some loose influences from the biography of the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, named Caesarion, who was actually executed by Augustus. Despite these loose and lesser changes, there are glaring historical mistakes. In the case of the English language script, the main city in the film is based on Alexandria, which of course was the capital city of (Roman-governed) Egypt, however, the city seen in the film is clearly meant to be somewhere in the Cairo region (Giza Pyramids and Sphinx are part of the scenery in several scenes) and is supposedly a couple of days march away from the sea.
Ferdinando Baldi did a great job directing the film, which is not a surprise considering he had quite a bit of experience in destroying Sandal films. He incorporates balance within the dialogue scenes by using a more conventional widescreen style, as opposed to the scope widescreen many pioneers of the genre used to shoot dialogue scenes. The production allowed real Egyptian sites to be used which adds a lot more realism rather than the typical Spanish exteriors or deserts with surprisingly large sets of extras. Nonetheless, the battle scenes do not come across as a primary focus in this dialogue-heavy Peplum, and therefore the active scenes, especially the fighting in the later stages, become background activity, while the primary action focuses on the main characters. The set pieces and costumes are all well designed and unlike many other Pepla made in the latter years, Son of Cleopatra does not use old footage. Carlo Rustichelli, the composer, gives a dominant theme another strong soundtrack.
Mark Damon, an American actor, is most known for his roles in horror films for Roger Corman and Mario Bava. However, he was active in several Italian movies from the 60s. After finishing a couple of non-licensed sequels to El Cid, he finally got a role in his only Peplum movie. Thankfully, he is not asked to portray the stereotypical bodybuilder hero. Instead, he is cast as a believable warrior. Having good acting skills is quite important in this film which is loaded with storyline. Fortunately, the script offers a plausible reason for his Western appearance. Other than the Gala, a number of well-known actors appear in the rest of the cast. These include Alberto Lupo as Caesar and Livio Lorenzon as Petronius.
As a director, Ferdinando Baldi was set to make a mark in Spaghetti Westerns, and much like the unconventional Il Pistolero dell-Ave Maria, Son of Cleopatra focuses on the exquisitely crafted narrative instead of the usually expected action scenes. Luckily, the budget clearly allows for exteriors since the actual Egyptian locations are stunning and generously filled with extras, marching armies, and real locations, although the action scenes are sidelined for the purpose of the story, and the gladiator tournament and the battle foreseen at the end suffers from the neglect for the basic principles of creativity. This is highly recommended for enthusiasts of historical fictional sagas.
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