Intolerant fantasy If Italian director Marcello Baldi’s film were released today, it would immediately be anathema for promoting “racism,” “fascism,” and other intolerant horrors. And how else, if in this innocent supposedly fantasy noble hero with a sharpened “Roman” profile fights with hordes of black savages, bringing death and destruction to civilized Europeans, and in the back he is going to be hit by dark traitors with long paces on the temples! Nope. Without Hitler and Goebbels here clearly did not do! And the director probably secretly read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, hiding under a blanket with a flashlight.
Joking jokes, but one of the reasons that “Mars, the God of War” is much less known today than other European peplumas of the 50s and 60s is probably his dubious ideology from a modern point of view. Although, most likely, making the film, its authors did not even think about it. After all, in 1961, most African countries were not yet nationally liberated, neo-Nazis were quietly holed up, and the Israelis had enough work to catch the real fascists, not the Internet. In general, there was no one to shout at all corners what a bad and intolerant man Mr. Baldi was. People just without any second thought watched the magical adventures of a muscular superhero, scattering hosts of enemies with one left, and the fact that these enemies have a different appearance from him – so they are enemies.
In those years, mythological characters roamed the screens in crowds. Aeneas, Achilles and the rest of Hercules almost occupied cinemas, so the appearance of Mars in this company hardly surprised anyone. The God of War, like a number of other peplums, appeared in the image of the American Roger Brown, whose courageous face and muscular torso were the best suited to depict the belligerent Mars. Naturally, the celestial went to Earth in the guise of a mortal; of course, immediately fell hopelessly in love and began to fight for his beloved, with all the fervor of the hero of the fantasy fighter fighting monsters, savages and simply villains.
However, despite the figure of the protagonist, the budget of the film did not allow for especially large military operations. A fifteen-minute battle was fought between the conqueror Afro and the defenders of the city of Telbia using a reasonable number of extras. All the rest of the time Mars happened personally, in the chamber version: penetrated into the temple of the Vestals, broke out of the city locked by vile peisate villains, defeated the giant predatory pigeon Faganto and the like. His mortal assistant, a prohindai trader Frickko, as befits a companion of the hero in fantasy - cunning, crooked, a little cowardly, but in general a pretty guy responsible for humor in the film. Beautiful Daphne also has all the hallmarks of a fantasy princess: beautiful, noble and brave - in short, such that the Hero rushed to save her without thinking about the consequences.
Despite the frank schematic nature of the characters (what to do, the fairy tale is a fairy tale), their adventures look very dynamic, the plot is entertaining, and some characters (for example, the daughter of King Hecuba or deaf-mute Maya, Frickko’s beloved) are even original. However, trying to find some references to real mythology is hardly possible. Unlike, for example, “Legends of Aeneas” by Giorgio Venturini or “The Wrath of Achilles” by Marino Girolami, who filmed specific antique plots with varying degrees of accuracy, Baldi shot a fantasy story. In this "Mars, God of War" is closer to the numerous tapes about the adventures of Hercules. But hardly for entertainment tape this can be considered a disadvantage. But frankly weak acting work, among which for the better can be noted except that Fricco performed by Dante Di Paolo, of course, do not testify in favor of the picture. However, this became a problem for many peplums of that time. It is no secret that they were filmed by the stream method, often in the same scenery, with the participation of the same actors who glued their masks to themselves.
"Mars, God of War" is no worse or better than other similar tapes. It’s fun for an hour and a half for the whole family. It is a reason to recall the good old movie, which did not know the problems of “tolerance” and “racial quotas”, and just relax.