Review of Scipione l'africano

I was very much looking forward to watching this film on DVD but was sorely disappointed by the IHF Region 1 edition which reproduces the 83 minute American edition (dubbed in English), thus robbing the viewer of 24 minutes of the original film. More than elephants were butchered in this version... This was done in order to reduce an almost 2 hour long epic film to a little actioner that could easily be programmed on a double bill in the US. Much of the melodrama - which is the most worthwhile and typical part of this film - has been cut so that the historical love triangle of Syphax, Sophonisba and Messinissa (which was also covered in the silent Italian classic "Cabiria") is cut down to the bare minimum, making this story a poor man's version of "Cleopatra". Another romantic subplot of separated Roman lovers is also cut short but its main elements remain, i.e. the woman is violated by Hannibal, she misses her chance to assassinate him when he shows his more human side and she eventually dies in the arms of her lover, any happier outcome being considered immoral in those days, I suppose. It is also difficult to follow the geography of the events since most of the comings and goings have been excised. The disc box boasts "digitally restored from the original film master". I don't know which "film master" they mean but the only apparent "digital" restoration seems to be the transfer of the mono track to a 2.0 track. The picture itself has been severely cropped right and bottom (black bars being visible at times at the left and at the top of the picture), with the result that the feet of characters are often missing in action even in an non-overscanned progressive scanning mode. The 20 minute final battle scene has been preserved for obvious reasons - besides the economic one that it didn't need much dubbing. It is the kind of brutal spectacle that film directors have been trying to keep out of their epic battles for decades and which will provide unsavoury thrills to the more sadistic part of the audience. The political propaganda aspects of this film have to do with the Romans' humane treatment of prisoners (and even animals in one scene) contrasted to the barbarian habits of the Carthaginians ravaging Italy. On the film's defense, it must be noted that in matters of war, Scipio was mostly on the side of the angels, according to historical accounts. The music has been dialed down in this dubbed version so we are not given much of a chance to appreciate the sometimes funereal, quasi-religious music used for the prelude to battle, the operetta-like jaunty marches used for the conquering Roman army and the Verdi-like choruses of the Roman population. Still, the number of extras is impressive as are the Cinecitta sets of ancient Rome. As this is an important, historical film, I think it deserves to be shown in its original, uncut Italian version, preferably in a truly restored state.