British actress Belinda Lee, who passed away much too young, plays the lead role as Messlina in director Vittorio Cottafavi’s 1960 Italian sword and sandal film Messalina (aka Messalina Venere Imperatrice) which was one of her final films.

In this story, Valeria Messalina is arranged to be married to an older man Claudius, who just became the Roman Emperor after the murder of evil tyrant Emperor Caligula. Not satisfied with being the empress and married to someone she doesn’t want; Valeria uses her sexuality to get what she wants from men who are seduced by her beauty. She wants power, political influence and to be with Lucias Maximus (Spiros Focas), the man she does love. What follows is murder, milk baths and more seductions by Valeria Messalina, even to those who are out to kill her.

Twilight Time presents Messalina on Blu-ray. The 2:35:1 transferlooks spectacular in 1080p with rich vibrant robust colors throughout the video presentation. The scenery just sparkles with rich textures, deep black levels and a tremendous amount of detail to interior and exterior shots, wonderfully shot by cinematographer Marco Scarpelli.

Twilight Time offers English or Italian LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks and both audio options are flawless. Dialogue, action sounds and musical scores by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino come in clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

There are no extras for this release.

This Italian peplum film is recommended to those who love this genre and the release by Twilight Time has superb audio and video. Despite the lack of extras, this is a great recommended release!

Messalina aka Messalina Venere Imperatrice

Director- Vittorio Cottafavi

Cast- Belinda Lee, Spyros Fokas

Country of Origin- Italy

Distributor –Twilight Time / Screen Archives Entertainment

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date-6/4/21