Too much of everything

A Major Disappointment

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Italian director Antonio Margheriti is better known these days for the schlock he directed in the 1970s and 1980s, but with this early effort of his, he was working on a higher class project. Clearly having a lavish budget (at least by European standards of the time), Margheriti does manage to make this particular movie look quite good. The sets, props, desert backdrops, and some of the special effects are pretty decent. However, this pretty look does not hide the fact that the movie for the most part is pretty boring. There's nowhere near enough action or suspense to captivate viewers, and as a result the movie plods along very slowly. The little action and suspense there is isn't particularly engaging. The only interest comes from wondering about questionable decisions from Margheriti and his screenwriters, from plot turns that don't make much sense to the fact that the three magical helpers that assist Tab Hunter along his journey were clearly ripped off from the animated Disney movie "Sleeping Beauty", which came out a few years earlier.

The only two names us film fans from the English speaking world will recognize is that of Tab Hunter and Rosanna Podesta in The Golden Arrow. This is another of a gazillion epics made in Italy in the late 50s and 60s to take advantage of those Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, and Cleopatra sets that American companies built for those productions and left for the Italian cinema.As for Hunter he was one of several B list actors who left for Europe to appear in these and in spaghetti westerns just coming into being at the time. After this one he never did another for which he was grateful no doubt,It's the usual Arabian Nights type fare with Hunter as a bandit who's really a prince lest how else could he compete for the hand of princess Rosanna Podesta and defeat the evil vizier who's peddling her hand in marriage to an even eviler prince.But before Hunter can do that he's got to go through a lot of adventures and collect his arsenal which consists of a magic carpet and magic Golden Arrow which always hits what it's aimed at. Like the Lone Ranger, Tab only shoots to wound or disabled. He's got a posse of three wizards who could have been played by the 3 Stooges. Now that might have been interesting. For reasons only God could imagine they dubbed Hunter's voice with an actor who sounded an awful lot like Stephen Boyd. He might have made more sense than blond All American Tab Hunter in the part.

If you are looking for a mindless but entertaining fantasy film that would be great for children, has a lot of exciting twists and turns and magical happenings, THE GOLDEN ARROW fills the bill nicely. Tab Hunter is perfect visually as the outcast who must prove himself and defeat all foes to win the hand of his love. As this featured a major star, it had a bigger budget than many cheap Italian costume epics with lesser-known Americans (it's comparable to, say , a Steve Reeves movie), so it's colorful and visually exciting. Director Antonio Margheriti (aka Anthony Dawson) turned out all kinds of genre films in the 60s and after--westerns, peplums, horror, spy, erotic, giallo, science fiction, etc--and generally produced an exciting, fast-moving product. The only flaw with this film--and, unfortunately, it's a major one-- is that Tab Hunter did not dub his own voice in the English version of the film (at least in the one I'm watching). That seems odd because Hunter has a distinctive voice that would have been well-known to American audiences of the day (as opposed to, say, Brad Harris or Richard Harrison or even Steve Reeves--who would know what THEIR real voices sounded like?). Also, in other European films that are quite obscure and were certainly NOT made with the US theatrical market in mind--films like SHOTGUN and THE LAST CHANCE-- Hunter DOES do his own voice. He certainly is doing his own voice in Sidney Pink's Spanish-made FICKLE FINGER OF FATE (See my review). Why MGM, a major studio, would not have paid Hunter to spend a few days in post-synchronization I don't understand. The voice assigned him is not TOO ill-fitting for his character, but it clearly is not Tab Hunter. While I enjoy the film and have watched it a few times over the years, I find it difficult to forget this as I'm watching THE GOLDEN ARROW. Still, it's a fun way to kill 90 minutes on a rainy afternoon, and it looks great (my copy is letter-boxed, fortunately). If it had featured Mr. Hunter's own voice, I'd consider it a classic.

I mean it. This movie stinks sulphur and brimstone, while being sweet laden with sugar and honey on top –yuck. As if that wasn't enough it makes you feel sticky and wanting to puke afterwards. Even as historically incorrect as absolutely possible. Stating these realities about this movie is actually kinder than it deserves.It is incredible that someone even wanted to finance the making of such ill-conceived tales.It would have been better of, had it been a pornographic setting - because that is just about how yucky this film really is.If you want to have a good time. Skip this one.