Tempestzzzz Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Where ever you come down on this movie (it was produced by the late dictator Quaddafi) depicting the time Italy occupied Libya- it does have first rate production values. Whether they built fiberglass replicas of period Italian Armor and armored cars I don't know. Trailer But as I said it has first rate production values. They threw a lot of petro dollars in this one. Didn't spare with the replicas or the stars (Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger and Anthony Quinn) Just for your 'militaria' consideration. Full movie is on youtube if you do a search. Actually the movie isn't bad- considering who funded it. http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/lion_desert.htm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I watched that on tv almost 30 years ago and thought it was very good. Obviously slanted pro-Arab, but not outrageously so. Italian imperialism was as dirty as anybody else's. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Tempestzzzz, I had no idea Qaddhafi was involved in the making of this. A lot of work went into providing all the AFVs for this film. No digital FX of that scale then! Thanks for the clip! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baneman Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Extraordinary, I actually remember seeing that at the cinema - of course back then I knew nothing about historical fidelity. Thanks for the reminder. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Here's a nice overview of the real Umar Mukhtar--the Lion of the Desert. http://www.welcome-back.org/profile/m_asad_11.shtml And the "Making Of" video for the film. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2667399334260259982 Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amedeo Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Tempestzzzz, I had no idea Qaddhafi was involved in the making of this. A lot of work went into providing all the AFVs for this film. No digital FX of that scale then! Thanks for the clip! Qaddafi was very fond of this movie and tried, in part, to built the legitimacy of his rule on the story narrated by it. BTW, it's worth noting that the movie was banned in Italy and it was, eventually, broadcast on TV, for the first time in 2009 in occasion of Qaddafi state visit in Rome. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 They built the vehicles and AFVs from steel, not fiberglass, with the help of experts in the U.K. They built them because such vehicles were simply not to be had. The degree of technical rigor in the film was extraordinary, down to using Mussolini's former barber to shave Rod Steiger's head, for his Mussolini role, exactly as he had done for Il Duce. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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