This post is for all of you who remember how much fun it was finding a good paperback on a spinning rack. This 1959 Monarch paperback has as much tingle and zest on every page as anything else I’ve read lately. It’s not great literature, and it doesn’t pretend to be, but it’s as entertaining as a Saturday morning B-movie. The historical backdrop, flawed though it may be, adds texture to the sauciness, wanton women, court intrigue and idyllic Italian setting. Sword of Casanova is one of those well-written throwaway paperbacks that you’ll be glad you read. Originally selling for thirty-five cents, it was worth every penny. I have no doubt that the author had Errol Flynn or Robert Taylor in mind when he penned this melodramatic swashbuckling tale. In fact, there are numerous scenes reminiscent of Errol Flynn’s classic Adventures of Don Juan that I’m convinced the author was influenced directly by that film. The story is about Captain Firebrand, Michele di Cadogna, close friend and confidant of Giacomo Casanova. Michele is skilled with a rapier and as famous as Casanova when it comes to romance. Early on a woman asks him, “Am I beautiful?’ and Michele replies: “Whoever invented the word must have had you in mind.” While being kissed he quips: “Your lips are sweeter than the wine you fed me.” There is also plenty of sword fighting – or fencing, if you will. There are enough clashes of steel, slashing rapiers and parry and riposte to remind me of the forgotten swashbucklers of Louis Hayward. The basic plot is a tale of vengeance. Captain Firebrand will seek revenge against Ludovico da Tulleschi, the evil landowner who murdered his father and brother. Michele’s primary love interest is Tea del Andriola. Together, Michele and Casanova fight and romance their way through 12 chapters and 159 pages. It’s all epic, manly stuff, B-movie style, and a treat for fans of pulp paperback fiction. You won’t believe you’re in Italy in 1750, but you’ll believe you’re on a Hollywood backlot reading a story synopsis set in Italy. I’ve been told that James Kendricks was yet another pseudonym for Gardner Fox. Other titles by “James Kendricks” include The Wicked, Wicked Women and The Adulterers.
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