Bella Cortez
Acting
Biography
Alicia Paneque was spotted by an Italian film producer visiting Cuba. She accepted the proposal and moved to Italy. Her first release was Primo Zeglio's The Seven Revenges (1961). Cortez played niece to Orson Welles's character and formed "an attractive pair of young lovers" with Luciano Marin in the international film The Tartars (1961). The same year, she was paired opposite Gordon Mitchell in the Seven Arts production The Giant of Metropolis (1961), directed by Umberto Scarpelli. They appeared together in two more films; Vulcan Son of Jupiter (1962) and Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens (1964). Cortez's characters were that of and Greco-Roman mythological Aetna an Arabian princess, respectively in these films. She continued her starring roles with Antonio Leonviola-directed epic drama Taur, The Mighty (1963). Cortez played the female lead in Ali Baba and the Sacred Crown, directed by Erminio Salvi. The book Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908-1990 noted that Cortez was a "major asset to the production". She made appearance in a supporting character in Gothic horror Katarsis (1963). Beside starring in 11 films, Cortez also did print modelling for cars and graced the covers of several European magazines. Following her marriage, she left the film industry.
Known For
A superhero battles lizard men and other monsters that are terrorizing the countryside.
Vulcan, Son of Giove
Obro the muscleman goes to Atlantis and sinks a death-ray king who knows the secret of immortality.
The Giant of Metropolis
The Tartars and the Vikings maintain a fragile peace in the harsh landscape of the Russian Steppe. When the leader of the Vikings, Oleg, declines to accompany the Tartars on a campaign against the Slavs, there is an explosion of violence. After Oleg kills the Tartar leader and kidnaps his daughter, the dead man's brother, Burandai, retaliates by holding Oleg's wife, Helga, hostage. The stalemate can be resolved only on the battlefield.
The Tartars
A group of young people happen upon an old man in a castle who turns out to be the devil.
Challenge the Devil
The warlike men of Kixos murder the king of Surupak and abduct his two daughters, Jia and Tuja. Jia's bridegroom Syros asks the mighty warrior Taurus for assistance. Taurus faithful companion Ubaratuta will give Taurus a hand to defeat the warlike tribe.
Taur the Mighty
A rebel leader returns to his city for a final confrontation with the evil king he is fighting. However, he finds himself attracted to the king's beautiful niece.
Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens
The leaders of Circassians and Kyrgyz face off in a tournament divided into seven challenges: only one will gain the supremacy.
The Seven Revenges
The members of a gang of drug dealers are killed one by one. Clues lead to an elegant villa on the Bosporus. The Turkish police knows almost everything, but only the FBI man from the USA takes action.
F.B.I. chiama Istanbul
A group of retired crime leaders is meeting to discuss the death threats they are all getting.
Appuntamento a Dallas
A wizard summons Ali Baba to transport a sacred crown to a nearby country. An evil ruler has taken over the land, and the crown is needed to free the people from his influence.