The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I can't help it. I can't.In spite of all of its many flaws and inadequacies, I quite enjoyed Ursus In The Valley Of The Lions (UITVOL). Of course, muscle-man Ed Fury, as Ursus, was this film's main attraction. Without Fury UITVOL (with its inferior "everything") wouldn't have amounted to very much as worthwhile entertainment.UITVOL's story has a lot more in common with that of Tarzan rather than it does with Hercules.Though he doesn't know it (until much later), Ursus is of noble blood. As a wee baby both his parents (the King and Queen of Atlea) were savagely murdered when evil King Simud ordered his ruthless army to conquer their tiny kingdom.Shortly after this tragedy occurs Ursus is taken under the care of a pride of lions, who, instead of eating him up for a snack, raise him to adulthood as though he were one of their own.Years later, now fully-grown, the brutally handsome and powerfully strong, (prince) Ursus soon ventures out to discover the great, big world beyond his home of the lion pride.At this point evil King Simud plots to eliminate our hero Ursus, thus preventing him from reclaiming his royal birthright.Released in 1961 - UITVOL, featuring a mighty impressive Ed Fury, is a fairly entertaining "Sword And Sandal" Epic-Adventure. But, with that all said, I sure am curious to know which one of those absolutely darling lions it was who cut Ursus' hair, regularly shaved him, taught him to speak perfect English and picked out his footwear for him.

At some point in ancient history Generic Power Mad Usurper conquered Generic Greek CityVilleopolis and King Rightful Ruler was slaughtered. But not before Lil' Prince Trouble-Waiting-To-Happen...er I mean Ursus was spirited away by his mom and a couple ladies-in-waiting. Mom and the gang made it about as far as the parking lot behind the studio before they were fallen upon by the Usurper's men. Since they were escaping during a siege neither mom nor her guards thought to bring any weapons and are quickly butchered, except young Ursus, whose horse runs away with him attached. Eventually he is found by a pride of lions. Instead of turning him into a mid-day snack, they decide to raise him as one of their own. This is shown by a wipe type effect where a shot of a lion licking an infant's face (did they actually let a real lion lick a real infant's face!!??) is replaced by a shot of a lion licking a grown and strapping Ursus' face.Ursus spends most of his time frolicking with his lion friends, yanking their tails and shouting" HO SO YOU THINK YOU'RE STRONGER THAN URSUS? HAHA!" Yet the lions let him live. This would have never gone over in my family, not that seeing this movie as a kid influenced me to behave in any like manner. No way. Not me.So Ursus lives a simple life which he really seems to enjoy until one day while out hunting he finds in his pit trap, not dinner, but a slavers wagon, loaded down with some sweet looking slave girls and their slave trader.Ursus hauls the wagon out of the pit and exchanges googly eyes with one of the slave girls. They have a real Hubba Hubba moment and Ursus decides to throw her over his shoulder and haul her off to his cave. The slave trader doesn't want to lose good product do he follows Ursus to the Cave of Lions, where he is scared spitless by a Cave full of lions. He demands payment and Ursus, not knowing what money is, offers one of his lions as a trade for the girl. The slaver is less than enthused until he sees an amulet, an amulet that was given to Ursus by his father right before he died, an amulet that is in reality...THE ROYAL SEAL! The slaver knows he can get a pretty denari for that, so he offers to take it off Ursus' hands. Ursus agrees and off the slave trader goes to sell the Seal in the Big City.The slave girl is charmed by Ursus' simple honesty, massive physique and inexplicably well groomed hair and teeth and decides to stay with him, despite the fact that the only furniture in her new house is a rock, some elk bones and some lion poop.But their rustic happiness can't last forever. Eventually the Royal Seal falls into the hands of the Usurper, who fears Ursus will one day visit some poetic justice on his behind, and sends his soldiers out to kill our hero. They fail of course, probably because ancient despots didn't have access to modern human resource-style motivation and training techniques. They do manage however to kidnap Ursus' lady and kill most of his lion friends with poison meat. (Because lions are immune to arrows) I'll leave the rest of the movie a surprise, although I will say Ursus spends it rescuing his honey and avenging the death of his father, mother and lion friends. He fights tons of soldiers, a pack of trained killer hyenas and a herd of elephants among other things. Although it would have been really funny if the writers added a little more "fish out of water" humor when Ursus was learning about civilization, overall this was a very entertaining peplum. It's absolutely worth your time and shekels

The second film in Ed Fury's "Ursus" trilogy, (though there's little in the way of story-line to connect the three movies), begins with an obligatory setting-the-scene prologue which establishes the infant Ursus as the true heir of a kingdom overrun and conquered by a villainous barbarian. Though faithful subjects manage to smuggle the infant Ursus out of the besieged city in a basket, the basket tumbles into the lair of a pride of lions and the lost heir soon becomes nothing more than the subject of wistful rumor and legend. Mercifully the movie quickly jumps forward to the adult Ursus, now grown into a strapping though naive young man who learned his language skills from men in passing caravans. Up to this point the second "Ursus" movie has shown little promise, primarily because the lions which raised our hero look and act like lethargic, second-rate sideshow attractions rather than wildly magnificent Kings of the Beasts. Then we have a routine sequence in which Ursus acquires a slave girl from a passing trader. However, once the evil usurper learns that the rightful occupant of his throne is alive in the land, various elements of the movie finally come together to create a lively and entertaining entry in the sword-and-sandal cycle. One element worth noting here are the two "beefcake-bondage" sequences which are among the best such sequences to be found in the whole gamut of this genre. In the first, a peplum-wearing Ursus -- played, of course, by Ed Fury -- stands as a captive in the usurper's court. A length of wood, (perhaps too thin for this purpose), has been bound to the backs of his outstretched arms. Chains around his wrists and ankles are held by nervous-looking soldiers. Other soldiers guard him with spears pointed menacingly toward him. The usurper taunts him but Ursus remains defiant. Later, having been taken to a torch-lit dungeon, the sweaty Ursus stands with outstretched arms chained to the stone walls. That wooden pole has been removed from his shoulders but a metal ring now encircles his neck and a chain attached to this ring leads up to the ceiling. Two long pieces of wood are fitted around his ankles, preventing him from kicking or changing position. Fury, about 32 or 33 years old at this time, is only ever-so-slightly past his prime -- his waist looks a bit thick -- but he's still a compelling hunk of manhood and his bondage poses are of iconic quality. What's more, his nipples are dark and sharply-defined against his skin. Unfortunately, there's no actual torture here, unlike the other two Ursus movies in which a series of whiplashes play a symphony of pain on Ed Fury's bare back as he's forced to turn grindstones. (As other reviewers have pointed out, the print under discussion here has lamentably faded into muddy-looking sepia tones.)

The print I saw was a very worn black and white one from Sinister Cinema and as the film went on it rapidly became clear that the print's lack of quality and color work against real enjoyment of the film.The good king and queen of some far off kingdom are brought down by an evil invader, however the queen escapes with their infant son. She soon commits suicide rather than be taken prisoner, but does so only after getting the baby away. The baby ends up being raised by lions. Years later the adult Ursus ends up captured by the evil king who killed his parents and moves to prevent him from ever taking the throne. There's more to it than that but it at least gives you the basic idea of the plot.The movie is a step or two above the normal sword and sandal film thanks to a largely knowing translation that has Ursus speaking of wanting to become the special friend of a slave girl he's carried off. I know you're saying why would Ursus carry off a slave girl, simple he was raised by lions. The acting isn't bad and the translation seems to match the lip movements.Is this a movie your going to watch over and over again? Probably not but should you run across it on TV late one night you'll find yourself entertained.