Seven Seas to Calais *** (1962, Rod Taylor, Keith Michell, Irene Worth, Terence Hill, Edy Vessel) – Classic Movie Review 11,689

Director Rudolph Maté’s 1962 Italian historical adventure Seven Seas to Calais [Il Dominatore dei Sette Mari] is an entertaining Spaghetti swashbuckler, with Australian Rod Taylor as a piratical Sir Francis Drake sinking the Spanish Armada, and Irene Worth as Queen Elizabeth I, whose life is threatened by the men of King Philip of Spain (Umberto Raho). Fellow Australian Keith Michell also stars as Malcolm Marsh.

It stars Rod Taylor, Keith Michell, Irene Worth, Terence Hill [under his real name of Mario Girotti], Edy Vessel [Hedy Vessel], along with Anthony Dawson, Basil Dignam, Umberto Raho, Gianni Cajafi, Esmerelda Ruspoli, Marco Guglielmi, Arturo Dominici, Rossella D’Aquino, Wensley Pithey, Giuseppe Abbrescia, Luciana Gilli, and Massimo Righi.

Made in Italy by Austrian-born director Maté, it was his last movie.

It is attractively filmed in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, though it is a pity that the battle is staged with such feeble models.

The film was mainly shot at the Titanus Appia Studios in Rome, but some scenes were filmed at the Bay of Naples.

It was a hit, costing $650,000 and taking $2.25 million, and earning a profit of $293,000 for MGM.

Rod Taylor was born on 11 January 1930 in Sydney, Australia. He was dating Anita Ekberg at the time.

Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) appeared in more than 50 films, including The Time Machine (1960), The Birds (1963) and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Edy Vessel was born as Edoarda Wessellovsky on 23 October 1940 in Trieste, Italy.

The cast are Rod Taylor as Sir Francis Drake, Keith Michell as Malcolm Marsh, Edy Vessel as Arabella Ducleau, Terence Hill (credited as Mario Girotti) as Babington, Basil Dignam as Sir Francis Walsingham, Anthony Dawson as Lord Burleigh, Gianni Cajafa as Tom Moon, Irene Worth as Queen Elizabeth I, Arturo Dominici as the Spanish Ambassador Don Bernardino de Mendoza, Marco Guglielmi as Fletcher, Esmeralda Ruspoli as Mary of Scotland, Rossella D’Aquino as Potato, Umberto Raho as King Philip of Spain, Aldo Bufi Landi as Vigeois, Rossella D’Aquino, Wensley Pithey, Giuseppe Abbrescia, Luciana Gilli, and Massimo Righi.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,689

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