Ironmaster (La guerra del ferro - Ironmaster)

Ironmaster (original Italian title La guerra del ferro) is an Italian-French co-production directed by Umberto Lenzi and released in 1983. It was made in 1982 and reached cinemas the following year. Produced by Medusa Film, the roughly 94-minute film is classed as fantasy and action. It is known in France as La Guerre du fer, in Germany as Er – Stärker als Feuer und Eisen and in Spain as La guerra del hierro.

The story is set in the Stone Age, yet the film is usually filed alongside barbarian pictures as a B-movie. A prehistoric adventure inspired by La Guerre du feu, it adds touches of heroic fantasy that recall Conan the Barbarian. Unlike La Guerre du feu, its characters speak in contemporary language. The screenplay is by Alberto Cavallone and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by producer Luciano Martino and Cavallone, and Lenzi also worked on the script.

Its tongue-in-cheek tone earned it better reviews than comparable barbarian films of the period. The leading cast is George Eastman, Benito Stefanelli, Giovanni Cianfriglia and Nello Pazzafini, with Elvire Audray, Pamela Prati, William Berger and Jacques Herlin also among the actors.