Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen" or "Kingdom of the Silver Lion" is a West German / Spanish co-production, but like almost all of the other Karl-May films, this is in German language in the original, even if some of the non-German actors got dubbed (e.g. Barker). It runs for 90 minutes and was directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb, who is today mostly known for his German trash films from the 1970s. The cast includes many familiar faces for fans of the German Karl May western films, such as the aforementioned Lex Barker, Marie Versini (very stunning) and Ralf Wolter (again not really funny). This is the third and final of Barker's Kara Ben Nemsi films and I guess this is a good thing as this movie has almost nothing to offer beyond the nice landscapes anymore and for these you can also watch a nature documentary and you will also learn something at least. You learn nothing here. The story, plot and acting are all entirely forgettable aspects here, very generic and predictable. The "spectacular" final fight sequence feels forced and it's the old problem of all good or all bad that was very existent in that era. Characters simply lacked shades altogether. I would say that this is among the weaker Karl May films, but I am not a fan of these in general. I thought the absence of Pierre Brice, who is a pretty lousy actor, could help here, but the script is just far too weak to let me recommend this one. Thumbs down. If that is what quality films looked like in the 1960s, then we can be proud of our films heroes these days.