Der Löwe von Babylon (1959) Poster

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5/10
Mediocre Paella/Schnitzel adventure co-produced by Spain and Germany , being utterly shot in Madrid and surroundings
ma-cortes6 October 2016
Spanish/German co-production shot in Spain , including dangerous adventures and sympathetic roles , being shot in Madrid studios and surroundings as Seseña , La Pedriza and Aranjuez , Toledo . A pleasant adventure set in 19th century Iraq , there Kara Ben Nemsi (Helmuth Schneider replacing Viktor Staal) a writer , adventurer and doctor crosses the sunny desert when he meets his old friend Hadschi Halef Omar (Georg Thomalla) who is now married and has a baby , but he early abandons his family and accompanies him to enjoy other adventures . The adventurer doctor is asked for help from Dosorza (Antonio Casas) whose wife was killed and his children kidnapped by the nasty smuggler Säfir (Rafael Luis Calvo) . Meanwhile , Kara Ben Nemsi and Hadschi Halef Omar are pursued by Safir's hoodlums : the extreme villains Pädar (Barta Barri) and Aftab (José Manuel Martín) . As they are fighting an unseen Arab enemy who always struck in the dark . There also appears two lost men , a British , archaeologist Sir David Lindsay (Theo Lingen) and the German Professor Ignaz Pfotenhauer (Fernando Sancho who bears the comic relief) , a real expert on ornithology , who are taken imprisoned . But Kar Ben Memsi discovers the smuggling shelter : the Babylon ruins , he then frees two beautiful damsels in distress , Säfa (Mara Cruz) , Safir's daughter , and Irida (Pilar Cansino) and meets his abducted friends .

This is a sequel to ¨Die Sklavenkarawane¨ or ¨Caravana De Esclavas¨ (1958) by Ramon Torrado with Viktor Staal , Georg Thomalla , Mara Cruz , Theo Lingen ,José Guardiola , made with similar artistic and technician team . It is an exciting adventure movie including thrills , shots , fights , duels and marvelous oriental outdoors , though filmed in Spain . Risked adventures and interesting roles along with solid action and a good sense of humor pulled off by an attractive couple : Fernando Sancho and Theo Lingen . The most spectacular scenes are the fights on the desert and the Babylon ruins . Although some fights are not convincing and the short budget is occasionally revealed , as it is filled with stock-shots and matte-painting . Support cast is plenty of familiar Spanish faces , usual in co-productions of the 60s and 70s , such as : Fernando Sancho, Antonio Casas , Angel Alvarez , Barta Barri , Francisco Bernal , José Riesgo , Xan Das Bolas , José Luis Martin and an ominous leader of the bandits , Rafael Luis Calvo , who played with vicious intensity . Originally it was planned to shoot this picture at its historical location in Turkey , but for organizational reasons it was decided to make it in Spain instead . The film is set in Bagdad , Basora , Iraq , though is was actually shot in Aranjuez, and Madrid , Spain ; being well photographed by the prestigious cameraman Ricardo Torres who photographed notorious titles as ¨La Mies Es Mucha¨,¨Fray Escoba¨, ¨La Vida Por Delante¨, and ¨Comicos¨ .

It is based on Karl May novel , about a known personage , ¨Kara Ben Memsi¨ , this role starred several films , most of them performed by Lex Barker , such as : "Kingdom of the Silver Lion" (1965) by F.J Gottlieb , "Wild Kurdistan" (1965) by F. J Gottlieb , "The Yellow One" (1964) by Robert Siodmak and ¨Die Sklavenkarawane" or "Caravana de esclavas" (1958) by Ramón Torrado/Georg Marischka and its follow-up : ¨Der Löwe Von Babylon¨ (1959) titled Spain ¨En Las Ruinas de Babilonia¨ or ¨Lion of Babylone¨ also directed by Ramón Torrado . And other silent versions starred by Carl De Vogt as "Caravan of Death" (1920) , ¨Auf den Trümmern Des Paradieses¨ (1920) and ¨Die Teufelsanbeter¨ (1920) . In addition , a series television titled "Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi" (1973), 26 episodes starred by Michael Vogler as Kara Ben Nemsi .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Ramon Torrado , he made a mostly decent , colorful fun , but not without gaps , failures and flaws . Similary to previous film ¨Caravana De Esclavas¨ (1958) , it was not huge hit , but successful enough to have this sequel : "Der Löwe von Babylon" following in the same year 1959 . Ramon was born in 1905 , Galicia, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for directing some vehicles of known Folklorics stars such as Peret in ¨Amor a Todo gas¨ (1969) , Manolo Escobar in ¨Un Beso en Puerto¨ (1966) and Paquito Rico in ¨Malvaloca¨ (1954). Torrado directed four mediocre Chorizo Westerns such as 1965 ¨Los Cuatreros¨ , 1964 ¨La Carga de la Policía Montada¨ , 1964 ¨Relevo a Pistolero¨ and 1963 ¨Bienvenido, Padre Murray¨ . Rating . 4.5/10 . Very average adventure movie .
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