Gianna Maria Canale - A Tribute

. Gianna was the undisputed Queen of Cinecitta, having made more Peplums (Sword & Sandal, Swashbucklers, etc) and horror films for Cinecitta studios than anyone else except maybe Mimmo Palmara. Gianna had something mesmerizing about her which is hard to figure out; was it her vivid blue eyes? her amazingly symmetrical face? her jet black hair? her curvaceous body? her sly acting? I dunno but whenever she's on screen you can't take your eyes off of her. She was often as a villain/ evil seductress but she also shined in "good" roles and even comedies. She's the best thing in COLOSSUS AND THE AMAZON QUEEN, in which she plays a frustrated Queen who's never been kissed. What's really remarkable about her is that she was way ahead of her times as well since she often starred in action films when females were rarely seen as action stars. You can see her in a chariot race in THEODORA, SLAVE EMPRESS, made 5 years before Hollywood's BEN-HUR. She also made several Pirate movies and played the leader, in such films as TIGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS and QUEEN OF THE PIRATES. And yet her contribution to the world of cinema goes unnoticed. What a shame. Her Garbo-like retirement from the movies in 1964, after which she simply disappeared from the face of the earth and refused to do anything with her past as a movie star, is probably the main reason she's not recognized for her body of work. This 11 minute tribute is dedicated to Gianna. IMDb claims Gianna passed away this past February but because there was absolutely no mention about her passing away anywhere else that I'm still hopeful that she's still alive and IMDb are in error. List of films in this montage: 01 - Sins of Rome (with Massimo Girotti) 02 - Theodora Slave Empress (with Georges Marchal) 03 - Warrior & the Slave Girl (with Ettore Manni) 04 - Hercules (with Fabrizio Mioni) 05 - Tiger of the Seven Seas 06 - Goliath & the Vampires (with Leonora Ruffo) 07 - Colossus & the Amazon Queen (with Dorian Gray) 08 - Goliath & the Vampires 09 - Lion of St Mark (with Gordon Scott) 10 - Goliath & the Vampires 11 - The Slave 12 - Tiger of the Seven Sea 13 - Hercules (with Fabrizio Mioni) .