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.

I was looking forward to this one, being a fan of Arabian Nights fantasies and in view of cult director Margheriti's participation (unusually billed under his real name here, instead of the familiar pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson!); distributed internationally by MGM, the film used to crop up from time to time on the TCM U.K. schedule – but it may have been the 1936 Warner Bros. effort bearing the same title, and which I acquired not too long ago via this very channel, all along!Anyway, the movie is appropriately colourful and intermittently diverting; yet, given the utter lack of originality, the result is mainly dreary – not helped by lifeless treatment, ill-advised star casting (blond Tab Hunter as the proverbial 'prince who was a thief'!) and ropey special effects (the handiwork of the obligatory suppliers of resistible comedy relief, a buffoonish trio of wizards who literally come down to earth to aid the hero regain his throne)!! The current princess (Rossana Podesta', a regular of such costumed fare) is contended by a number of potentates, one of whom is in league with the – what else? – wicked Grand Vizier (for once, though, he does not covet either the girl or the throne himself, apparently content merely to pull the strings at court!). Eventually, she asks them to bring her the most precious gift – but, what they come up with (a crystal ball, a life- restoring potion and a magic carpet), has equal value in her eyes when she is stricken by a 'mysterious' illness and near death!Hunter naturally has a coterie of bandit pals (who initially turn against him when he allows the kidnapped princess to flee rather than demand a ransom for her) – but their role is downplayed in favour of the afore-mentioned magicians. Incidentally, the script is indiscriminate in its borrowings: the titular weapon is first presented as having Excalibur-type powers i.e. only the right person can handle it; while, halfway through, we get thoroughly pointless sections that would have better served the peplum genre involving a cave guarded by flaming monsters and, subsequently, a Theban community – from what I could gather, under some sorcerer's spell – which the hero saves (by destroying a temple in the desert)! The climax, then, features the protagonist's 'supernatural' sidekicks dumping jars from the air on the assailing forces and Hunter adopting the golden arrow to slice up the villains' own flying rug!

The Golden Arrow is an above average Italian adventure fantasy with much to recommend it. Start with lead Tab Hunter, whose portrayal of Hassan the Thief is either the least realistic film portrayal of an Arab character in film history or a refreshing refusal to pander to ethnic stereotype--take your pick. Even though he's dubbed here, he's physically perfect for the role. The Golden Arrow is the tool Hassan must master in order to assume his rightful place on the throne of Damascus, but there's plenty of action, adventure, and magic before a satisfying and amusing denouement featuring flying carpets that, erm, carpet bomb the bad guys. This is not your average, cheapjack sword and sandal 'epic'--though the special effects are showing their age, the lush location work, superb widescreen cinematography, and impressive set design make this one a winner from a technical perspective. And though I can't prove it, some of the location footage seems to take place amidst the same columnar ruins as featured (I think) in 1978's Hercule Poirot mystery Death On the Nile. Or was it Ten Little Indians? Either way, this is a very good fantasy film from underrated auteur Antonio Margheriti.

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.