good film but with many flaws

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The evil Hamilkar (Adriano Micantoni) wants to dethrone old king Lotar (Nando Tamberlani) and become king himself. But besides King Lotar, there are three other people blocking his way to the throne: the high priest who accuses him of sacrilege and murder, the popular hero Ursus (Ed Fury) and the king's daughter, princess Diana (Luciana Gilli). Hamilkar needs another mind's help (namely his wife's) to come up with a plan how to kill them all! Especially in the case of our hero Ursus, he'll find that very hard, though.It's an OK genre movie, all the usual trademarks, but nothing outstanding. Good studio sets, but the outdoor scenes look cheap. The volcano is shoddy, and the lake is supposed to be the border between two countries, so they should not have picked such a small pond... The most memorable action scene is the tournament, when 5 opponents try and push Ursus into a spiked pit.

If the Italians had made a version of Dynasty back in the early '60s that was set in ancient times and featured Greek warriors, snakes, monsters, strong men and impaling, it would have looked a lot like this movie. There's all kinds of back stabbing, bed hopping and double dealing here, as well as plenty of action, although unlike Dynasty, there are no catty slap fights between Joan Collins and Linda Evans...:( With all the wheeling and dealings it's difficult to discuss the story much without giving anything away. Suffice it to say that a "BAD PERSON" steals the kingdom from "A GOOD PERSON" whilst wiping out a the home village of a "REALLY BIG GOOD PERSON" who then teams up with the PEOPLE to free the land and dispense beefy, man-skirted justice.Special bonus appreciation points go to Claudia Mori who played the king's niece, turncoat and an especially sultry femme fatale.Ed Fury played Ursus in both movies and he's one of my favorite peplum heroes. He's a big imposing guy but not in a bulky ponderous way that some other Hercules types appear. He actually seems capable of performing some of the athletic action packed stunts his role requires.This is a solid combo of peplum action and adventure. A little more humor would have tipped this into the five star basket, but as it stands we're looking at a more than respectable four star entry into the peplum lists.

I found this film in a collection of old films on eBay. I certainly wasn't expecting "Spartacus" , just some matinée fun like the old Sinbad features. Ursus is the sort of predictable film you could add your own smart-alec dialog to and still have fun. Well the film doesn't have a cast of thousands, but it really isn't that bad. The film revolved around Ed Fury's pre-steroid abuse hulking frame and his diminutive little brother. They end up on a quest to help a princess Ursus had a romantic history with. During the first battle scene, Ursis kicks butt bare handed until he reaches into a cart and finds a conveniently placed 5 foot long club replete with spikes that looks like it came from the Flintstones. The bad guy looks amazingly like "Lost!" actor Terry O'Quinn, and is reminiscent of Ming The Merciless. The women are all buxom and tightly clad, and there are Herculean challenges and evil plots for Ursus to surmount. I always wondered why these sort of films gave these strong men feats of strength to prove their innocence. In Ursus's case, he might have defeated an elephant, but I bet a math test would have laid him low.

Made in 1963, URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE was Ed Fury's third and final film as Ursus (although there was not much continuity from film to film with the specifics of Ursus' personal details!) and also Fury's final peplum film in the 1960's. Filmed in rich pastel colors (blue seems to be a favorite color in many scenes) and featuring fascinating and imaginative set designs throughout, the film is an above average peplum in every way. As another critic noted, the series of tests and physical challenges for Ursus are ingenious and require Fury to display his strength and physique to their best advantage. The sequence where he shows up at a tournament run by the evil ruler and then stands up to the evil one AND whips everyone who takes him on is very well-staged and exciting. Co-writer Luciano Martino has many strong credits as producer and/or writer in sword-and-sandal, westerns, giallo, and 70s crime films including a number of cult classics. Director Giorgio Simonelli went on to direct a number of Franco and Ciccio comedies--his previous peplum work as a writer includes two Brad Harris classics (Samson and The Fury of Hercules) as well as the fascinating 1963 horror film TOMB OF TORTURE aka METEMPSYCHO. This film may well be Ed Fury's best starring vehicle and is probably the film I would show someone I wanted to convince of Fury's status as a major peplum star. The US television print I taped off UHF in the early 1990s isn't really pan-and-scan--it's as though the outer two-thirds of the picture are just lopped off and you are watching the middle-third. The credits are hard to read as you only get the end of the first name and the beginning of the second name! As I've said about many other peplums, this cries out for a sharp, letterboxed DVD transfer. With this film's rich visuals, beautiful photography, and interesting set design, it's well worth tracking down for any sword-and-sandal film devotee.