Fantaghirò 2

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Fantaghirò 2
Directed by	Lamberto Bava
Produced by	Lamberto Bava
Written by	Gianni Romoli
Starring	Alessandra Martines Kim Rossi Stuart Brigitte Nielsen
Music by	Amedeo Minghi
Cinematography	Gianlorenzo Battaglia
Editing by	Piero Bozza
Release date(s)	1992
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Preceded by	Fantaghirò
Followed by	Fantaghirò 3
IMDb profile

Fantaghirò 2 (aka The Cave of the Golden Rose 2) is the second television film in the Fantaghirò series. It is directed by Lamberto Bava and stars Alessandra Martines as the title character. It originally aired in 1992 as a two-parter, and so is known in certain releases as Fantaghirò 3 and Fantaghirò 4. Most of the principal cast of the previous film returned for this installment, with the only exception being Ornella Marcucci, who was replaced by Barbora Kodekova in portraying the character of Catherine. This film also featured child actress Lenca Kubalkova playing the character Bolt, when she had portrayed young Carolina in the first film.

[edit] Synopsis

Fantaghirò and Romualdo are due to be married, but the evil Dark Witch (also known as the Black Queen) is plotting to destroy their love affair. The Dark Witch kidnaps Fantaghirò's father and holds him hostage, and the news arrives back at the kingdom just as Fantaghirò and Romualdo are about to take their vows. The couple decide to hold off their wedding, and Romualdo leads their army to save Fantaghirò's father.

On the journey to the Dark Kingdom, Romualdo and his men encounter Forest Elves and their Queen, who force them to submit to a series of tests to prove that their intentions are pure. Romualdo passes and the army continue on their way. They eventually reach the borders to the Dark Kingdom where they make camp for the night before attacking the castle. As they are resting, the Dark Witch (disguised to look like Fantaghirò) arrives. She gets Romualdo to kiss her, and he collapses, unconscious.

Elsewhere, the real Fantaghirò has decided to secretly go to the Dark Kingdom on her own. She cuts off her hair and travels with her horse Golden Mane. Along the way she encounters bandits lead by the Lemon Gobbler, but she manages to escape. She soon arrives at Romualdo's camp, which has been left abandoned. Fantaghirò enters the Dark Castle and learns that Romualdo's men have all been captured and thrown in the dungeon. She negotiates with the Dark King to have a single duel between Fantaghirò and the Dark Kingdom's champion to decide the victor. The Dark King agrees.

Unknown to Fantaghirò, the Dark Witch's kiss has erased Fantaghirò from Romualdo's mind and caused him to fall desperately in love with the Dark Witch herself. Fantaghirò is horrified to discover that she has to fight her beloved, who does not recognise her.

While the duel is going on, the Dark Witch's minions Bolt and Lightning rebel against their mistress. Bolt poisons the Dark Witch, and when she falls asleep, they release Romualdo's men from the dungeon. Cataldo and Ivaldo subdue Romualdo, stopping him before he kills Fantaghirò. Everyone then quickly flees from the castle, taking the Dark King with them as hostage, and hoping to make it past the Dark Kingdom's borders before the Dark Witch wakes up.

Everyone manages to escape the Dark Kingdom except Romualdo, who fights against his friends and runs back to the Dark Witch, and Fantaghirò, who goes after Romualdo. Fantaghirò and the Dark Witch then face-off, with Fantaghirò emerging victorious after a battle of wits. The Dark King is unmasked as being Fantaghirò's father all along, and now that the spell placed on him has been broken, the group return to their kingdom.

However, Romualdo's memories still have not returned to him. Fantaghirò, with the help of the White Witch, recreates the events of the previous film where they crossed paths for the first time. Romualdo starts to regain his memories but in doing so, it is revealed that a piece of the Dark Witch has been hiding in his mind. The Dark Witch transforms Fantaghirò into a lowly creature off-screen. The White Witch comes to their rescue by using Lighting (who has transformed into an arrow) to defeat the Dark Witch, causing her to explode into many pieces. Romualdo then guesses correctly that Fantaghirò has been turned into an ugly toad, and upon kissing her, the two are reunited again.