The Fencing Master

Set during the mid 19th-century decline of Spain's Bourbon dynasty under Isabella II, this lumbering historical drama awkwardly grafts a standard issue femme fatale thriller onto a standard issue "let's overthrow the monarchy" rabble-rousing costume period piece. Omero Antonutti is Don Jaime, a legendary aristocratic swordsman who has devised the perfect thrust which he reluctantly teaches to a mysterious raven-haired beauty (Assumpta Serna) who wins the Don's heart with her virtuoso swordswomanship. When one of the Don's pupils turns up dead (killed by the notorious killer move), the Don suspects Miss Slice & Dice...but not nearly as quickly the audience does. When the raison d'être for the murder is revealed as--heart be still--utterly, banally political, viewers (excepting avid students of Spanish history) are liable to be rather disappointed. I certainly was. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)