Sergio Grieco

During the final days of world war one, a German army deserter steals the identity of a dead German soldier. His new name is Otto Josef Klems. After the war, he joins the French Foreign Legion as Sergeant Otto Josef Klems. The year 1924 finds him in a French Foreign Legion garrison in French Morocco. Two European powers, France and Spain, control colonial Morocco. However, both colonial powers face strong rebellions from the local Moroccan tribes that unite in order to defeat the European armies and achieve independence for Morocco. During the course of his duties in Morocco, Sergeant Klems runs afoul of a new brutal commanding officer, a Captain. Disgusted by his Captain’s behavior and by the treatment of locals at the hands of the French troops, Sergeant Klems decides to desert. It seems that others, too, had the same idea, since many native troops desert the French garrison at night. On such a night, Sergeant Klems is on duty and surprises a group of French soldiers of native origin, desert to the enemy. Klems refuses to shoot the escaping deserters, due to his personal friendship with some of them. Unfortunately, his Captain finds out about Klems’ refusal to shoot the deserting soldiers and court-martials Klems. Found guilty, Klems is condemned to prison but he escapes from the garrison’s jail-cell and deserts. Wondering in the desert, he collapses in the heat and without water or food. He is found by a passing Bedouin who takes Klems prisoner and sells him to the rebel army of rebel Moroccan leader Mohamed Abdel Krim. At the rebel stronghold, Klems is about to be executed by the rebels when he witnesses an accident. A group of rebels attempt to load a captured French howitzer with the wrong caliber ammunition. While hammering the round into the gun’s barrel, the round explodes killing many rebels. Klems intervenes and saves the life of a beautiful Moroccan woman who happened by. She turns out to be the sister of the rebel leader. Klems tries to tell the rebels they cannot load a gun with the wrong type of shell but the rebels, who only speak Arabic, dismiss him. At that moment, the rebel leader Mohamed Abdel Krim, who speaks a few European languages, notices the incident. He allows Klems to explain the correct procedure of loading and firing an artillery piece to the curious rebels. Sensing an opportunity to save his own life, Klems offers to teach the rebels how to properly use captured enemy artillery pieces. But he also has another reason to want to stay alive. He wants to meet the beautiful woman whose life he just saved. Eventually, the rebel leader Mohamed Abdel Krim allows Klems to join his rebel army and to meet his sister. However, a small rebel army of natives has little chance in defeating the combined armies of several European powers that are determined to end the rebellion by any modern military means necessary. (fonte: Imdb)… (meer)

"Le Scomunicate di San Valentino" is a cheap piece of nunsploitation most likely developed as a cash-in on Ken Russell's classic "The Devils". The Romeo and Juliet flavoured plot is fairly basic: accused heretic Esteban (Paolo Malco) takes refuge in the convent where his beautiful lover Lucita (Jenny Tamburi) has been confined by her father. The convent is ruled over by a wicked Abbess (Françoise Prévost) who has her own sordid plans. The story is by director Sergio Grieco (along with Gino Mordini and Max Vitali) and unfortunately fails to bring sufficient quantities of either sleaze or horror to make the film completely worthwhile. There is plenty of ham-fisted sword-fighting and escaping the inquisition, but that is hardly the stuff required for a heady dose of nunsploitation. A semi-nude freak-out towards the end of the film helps raise the overall tone towards the average. There are a few decent moments and it is watchable enough but overall this is rather tame fare.… (meer)

Nel 1918, al termine della battaglia di Artois, un giovane ufficiale tedesco, scampato dalla carneficina, scambia la sua divisa con quella di un francese morto in trincea. Fatto prigioniero e ritenuto una spia, viene condannato alla fucilazione. Lo salva un ex legionario, disertore, destinato alla stessa sorte. Assunto il nome di Otto Klems, il tedesco viene spedito in Marocco nella Legione Straniera. Insofferente ai soprusi di un ufficiale diserta e viene catturato dai ribelli arabi.
Qui, catturato dagli arabi insorti, aderirà alla loro causa combattendo contro i dominatori spagnoli, finché, arrestato e condannato all’ergastolo, troverà la morte nella Guyana.… (meer)