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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Hercules And The Masked Rider

The title to this feature is a trifle misleading. Hercules And The Masked Rider is not much of a Hercules film. In fact, Hercules (Alan Steel) is not the star of this movie at all. He is simply a strongman from a troupe of Gypsies, who are drawn into the story at a later stage. And even then, he is very much in the background. It’s almost as if Steel walked onto the wrong set and decided to throw around a few objects in the background. The star of the film is The Masked Rider (Mimmo Palmara), who is very much in your Zorro tradition. Despite the misleading title, . Hercules And The Masked Rider is actually an enjoyable film.

A river divides the lands of the elderly Prince of Val Verde, Don Francesco, and the malevolent Duke of Madina. The Duke has sold half his population as soldiers and only has a few overworked men and women working the land for food and clothing. These overworked peasants, revolt against the Duke and try to flee over the border to Don Franceso’s lands. One couple, Phillippé and Delores make it across the border, but Duke follows after them anyway. Luckily Don Francesco intervenes and gives them sanctuary. The Duke isn’t happy and intends to take the couple by force, but changes his mind when Francesco’s daughter, Donna Blanca (the gorgeous as always, José Greci) arrives on the scene. The Duke is infatuated with Donna Blanca and backs down, offering the two peasants as a gift.

Meanwhile Don Juan (Mimmo Palmara) after a successful stint as a soldier in Flanders is returning home to Val Verde, and his sweetheart, Donna Blanca. But Don Francesco throws a spanner in the works, and the reunion doesn’t go quite to plan. Francesco realises the Duke of Madina is a cruel man, and a man of war. But Francesco is elderly and won’t be around to protect his people forever. His people are peaceful and would be crushed if a civil war broke out between Val Verde and Madina. In an attempt to broker a peace, Francesco wishes to marry off his Donna Blanca to Madina. She is not happy about it, but it is for the good of the people.

When Don Juan returns home, and hears of the Don’s plan, he objects quite vehemently. Don Francesco sees Don Juan’s objection as a lack of respect and casts Don Juan out of Val Verde. In fact Don Juan is banished as an outlaw.

With Don Juan out of the way, the Duke’s plans don’t stop at gaining a beautiful wife. No, he wants the lot! He wants to control both lands, so goads Don Francesco into a sword fight. Naturally, the elder Francesco is no match for his younger and more vicious opponent. Francesco is killed, and the Duke gains control of Val Verde.

Don Juan leaves the city, but in the country side adopts a new, secret identity as the Masked Rider. The Masked Rider wears a red mask, and is an amalgam of Zorro and Robin Hood. He joins a troupe of Gypsies, but before being accepted he has to prove himself worthy. This involves a fight with the Gypsie strongman, Hercules (Alan Steel). Surprisingly, Hercules loses – I told ya it was a Masked Rider movie. Once accepted by the Gypsies, Don Juan (or Masked Rider as he is now called) leads them against the Duke.

Hercules And The Masked Rider is a good little adventure movie. All the clichés are in place, but in these types of films, you expect that. In fact, you tend to notice the clichés more when they are missing. I’d love to see a pristine widescreen print of this film, as this print is pretty washed out. All in all, not a bad way to spend one and a half hours.

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posted by David at 8:17 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Sunday, March 9, 2008

Gladiators 7

I don't know a whole lot about Richard Harrison. I first discovered him when I bought the Retromedia Terminal Force / Ring Around The World Double Feature DVD. Terminal Force is almost unwatchable (even by Teleport City's standards), but Ring Around The World has quickly become one of my Eurospy favourites.

Gladiators 7 is an earlier role for Harrison, and the film, despite there being 'Seven' gladiators is very much in the style and tradition of The Three Musketeers.

Darius (Richard Harrison) is a Spartan Prince who has been captured by the Romans. However the Romans do not know he is a Prince, and have him locked up with all the other Spartan prisoners, who are forced into service as Gladiators. The film opens with five of the Spartan Gladiators climbing the walls and escaping. We later learn that Darius was responsible for their escape and is to be punished. He is lead out into the Coliseum, where the Caesar and the crowd are baying for blood. Eight Gladiators are waiting in the arena to fight Darius, and they begin a relentless attack upon him. Darius fights like a lion (sorry, I had to put that cliché in), and even though he is outnumbered, he slowly cuts down the numbers against him.

Somehow he manages to survive the onslaught, but that does not mean he is allowed to live. Caesar orders the Legionnaires surrounding the arena to kill Darius. The legionnaires surround Darius and throw their lances, but each deliberately miss. The Legionnaires respect Darius' fighting ability and tenacity, and they request clemency for the brave warrior. The Caesar reluctantly agrees. Darius is freed but must return to Sparta.

Much has happened in Sparta since Darius has been gone. His father has committed suicide and Yarva is now the ruler. Those who have watched a few Peplum will know that Rulers of Ancient Kingdoms do not commit suicide. There is always a treacherous deed that leads to their downfall. And so is the case here. In fact Yarva killed the King, and one of the town's respected elders, Melong, cover it up, proclaiming that it was suicide.

To complicate matters even further, Yarva wants to marry Melong's beautiful daughter, Aglaia (Loredana Nusciak). But she is in love with Darius. Hmmm, nice little love triangle.

Darius returns home and finds his whole world turned upside down. He visits his home, and finds his family gone. The old housekeeper hands over his Father's sword and tells him to seek vengeance. Which he does, with the help of the housekeeper's son, Livius (Enrique Avila).

It's not long before the two are in trouble, when they are set upon by Yarva's men. The duo fight like tigers (sorry) and vanquish there foes, but in the skirmish, Darius drops his sword.

The sword is found by Yarva, who kills Melong with it. As it's Darius' sword he gets the blame. And more importantly for Yarva, now Aglaia hates Darius. She believes he murdered her father.

Yarva's men once again try to capture Darius, but he escapes. He decides he needs a little help. With Livius, he heads into the country to find the five Gladiators he helped free from the Romans. Naturally each of these men is a great warrior and agrees to help Darius regain his rightful position.

Gladiators 7, storywise is familiar territory for those who have watched any vintage swashbucklers, but it handles it all with a great sense of style and fun. As we've already seen in the 50 Movie Pack there are quite a few clunkers in the set, but this isn't one of them. This is enjoyable if somewhat predictable entertainment.

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posted by David at 9:58 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Friday, February 29, 2008

Ali Baba And The Seven Saracens

There seems to be a few versions of this EuroSword flick floating around and depending on which version you find, the hero is either Ali Baba (sans forty thieves), or Sinbad (sans sailing). The most common version available appears to be Ali Baba And The Seven Saracens. The film itself is a middling affair. Some of the sets are rather fake and the dubbing into English is quite wooden. All the actors shout at each other, vowing acts of vengeance and the like. The best thing about this movie is voluptuous actress Bella Cortez, who plays Fatima. She fills her costume in a way that very few of our modern actresses could do.

The film opens in an unnamed Kingdom in the Middle East. It appears that the Kingdom is without a king, and Omar (Gordon Mitchell) is filling in as care-taker. He is answerable to the unseen Magi (wise men, I guess), and the leaders of the Seven Saracens (or districts, if you will) that make up the Kingdom. But acting as care-taker is not enough for Omar. He is an evil tyrant-type who wants nothing but total control over the Kingdom, and to sit on the Golden Throne without interference.

The Magi decree, that to find the new King, a tournament will be held. Each of the Saracens will send their leader to fight in a battle to the death. Whoever is alive at the end will be the new King. Omar, with a massive strength advantage, is the odds on favourite to claim the crown.

One of the Saracens, the ‘Mahariti’ have been without a leader for some time. Ali Baba (who may be a Prince, but it is never really explained?) has been in exile. He returns to lead the Mahariti. Omar isn’t happy about this and sends some guards to capture Alia Baba. They fail, and Ali Baba escapes, only to be found by Fatima (Bella Cortez). In, what has possibly got to be the shortest romance of all time, Ali Baba and Fatima fall in love. No sooner than they have confessed their love for each other, than they are captured by Omar’s troops, and sent to the dungeon.

In the dungeon, Ali befriends a midget named Dookie (Tony Di Mitri). Dookie, who is small enough to crawl around the air vents and secret passages in the castle, has formulated a plan to free all the prisoners in the dungeon.

Ali Baba And The Seven Saracens is pretty silly in parts but it is fairly fast paced, which is a big plus. My main problem with the film is the character of Alia Baba. Nothing against Dan Harrison’s performance, he looks the part, but the character is simply not very convincing. He falls into nearly every trap set for him. SPOILER AHEAD: And even at the tournament at the end of the film, where he represents the Mahariti’s for the crown, his victory (yes, he wins, but you knew that, didn’t you?) is really hollow. He seems to win, more from good luck rather than outsmarting his physically stronger opponent. Personally I think he a bit of a loser, but he does get the girl in the end – so what more can I say?

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posted by David at 5:08 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Hercules Against The Barbarians

As with most of the Peplum films that are out there, there appears to be many versions of this film, varying in running time from about 90 minutes to 120 minutes. As well as differing running times, the films hero seems to change from either Hercules or Masciste, the son of Hercules. But that shouldn’t matter too much. The version I am reviewing here is the shortened American version, Hercules Against The Barbarians from, you guessed it, the Mill Creek Warriors 50 Movie Pack.

In many ways this is a follow up to Hercules Against The Mongols. Both films feature Mark Forest as Hercules (or Maciste), Ken Clark, and José Greci; and they are directed by Domenico Paolella. Unfortunately this film isn’t as entertaining than it’s ‘unofficial’ prequel.

In Hercules Against The Mongols, Ken Clark played one of Genghis Khan’s sons (Sayan), but this time he plays Kubilai. But in both films he had to sport a silly hairpiece and a droopy moustache.

The movie starts off with Genghis Khan and his Mongol army invading Poland. Actually we don’t see the invasion, only lots of Mongols, waving spears of horseback. The narrator tells us the Mongols have suffered their first defeat. We are also told that Hercules has fought alongside the Polish, like a ‘tornado’. And when we finally clap eyes on Hercules, he is being thanked, slapped on the back and sent on his way. The opening seems like a bit of a ripoff to me. We hear of a great battle but don’t see it.

Hercules is heading back to Arminia (Jose Greci), his fiancé, but before he arrives, strange things are happening in her village. Firstly a woman, Arias (Gloria Milland) is being chased by an angry mob. They accuse her of being a witch and want to burn her at the stake. She finds refuge in Arminia and her father’s cottage. However, he protection doesn’t last too long, as a band of Mongols arrive and kidnap Arminia, and kill her father. Arias is left arrive, and blamed for the atrocity. The mob quickly pick up their flaming torches once more and tie Arias to a stake. But just before going up in flames, she is rescued once more, this time by Hercules.

It is determined that the Mongols have taken Arminia to the city of Tornapol, where she is being held captive by Genghis Khan (Roldano Lupi). Naturally enough, Hercules and his new lady friend, Arias, set off in a bid to rescue Arminia.

The real villain in this movie is Kubilai (Ken Clark). Kubilai is a vicious piece of work, prepared to kill anyone who hinders his ascension to power, including his father and his brother. His malevolence is shown when he stabs one of his lovers in the heart after she has learnt too much about Kubilai’s plans.

At times, Hercules Against The Barbarians veers into Tarzan territory. Hercules battles various rubber creatures during his travels including a giant python, and a crocodile. Forest makes an admirable attempt at making the croc fight seem real, but cannot overcome the glaringly fake rubber reptile.

For me, Hercules Against The Barbarians is a weak entry in the Sword and Sandal series. Forest is not my favourite Hercules. He takes the role far too seriously and always looks to be in pain. At best the Hercules films are the antecedents of the swashbuckling films of the thirties and the forties. Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power always had a cheeky smile. Not so Forest. He is workman like in his approach.

On top of that this movie is fairly slowed paced and drags between action sequences. There is one sequence that is worth mentioning though. It is in the palace of Genghis Khan, and we are treated to an array of ‘regal’ entertainment, including oriental dancers spinning plates on sticks, and acrobats spinning and tumbling over giant flags as they are swirled around the room. The entertainment culminates with Hercules and one of Genghis Khan’s warriors fighting to the death in a gauntlet of (rubber tipped) spears.

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posted by David at 5:01 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Monday, February 25, 2008

Goliath and the Sins of Babylon

Goliath and the Sins of Babylon is one of the better peplum films I have watched recently. This is due to two reasons. The first is the cast, and the second is that it seems to have had more money thrown at it than most.

The film opens in the town of Methra, which is under the control of the Babylonians. Each year, as a tribute to their rulers, the Methranites send thirty young virgins to Babylon. As the girls are being rounded up, one of them tries to escape. Three soldiers capture her and man-handle her roughly. This doesn’t go over too well with Goliath (Mark Forest). He steps in and makes short work of the soldiers.

A midget (or a little person, if you prefer) who is hiding in a barrel strapped to a pack horse warns Goliath that more soldiers are on their way. I don’t know why Sword & Sandal epics have this fascination for ‘little people’ - they just do. And now, I must admit, if I see a S&S film and it doesn’t have a comic relief midget, I don’t feel I have got my money’s worth.

But back to the story. Goliath doesn’t seem too perturbed that more soldiers will come after him. The ‘little guy’ on the other hand, is worried, and runs off to tell two burly pals that Goliath is in trouble. The two guys happen to be Xandros (Giuliano Gemma) and Alceas (Mimmo Palmara). The three men team up and plan to overthrow the Babylonians.

At the top I talked about the budget and the cast. Expanding upon that, the money was put to good use, firstly on a ocean battle, where two ship engage in a bit of pirate style warfare, and secondly on a chariot race. The race isn’t up to the standard, or provide the level of excitement as the race in Ben Hur, but then again, what would? As for the cast, the main actors are all pretty good. In other reviews I have been farely scathing in my assesment of Mark Forest’s acting ability, but have to admit that he is pretty good in this. He is ably assisted by Giuliano Gemma and Mimmo Palmara. All three get a fair amount of screen time, and each has individual battles and opponents to overcome. Gemma comes off particularly well, displaying a degree of acrobatics that was never showcased in the Spaghetti Westerns that he is so famous for. With three male leads, unfortunately the female lead, José Greci doesn’t get much screen time. Of course, she still looks great though.

One of the highlights of the film is when the villain of the piece has captured Goliath and is about to torture him. Goliath is tied to a table which sits under a roof with holes in it. Housed in each hole is a spear, which is attached to a length of rope. When the connecting rope is cut, one of the spears drops down from it’s hole above. When the villain forces Xandros and Alceas to cut the ropes, it’s a waiting game as each spear falls. Which rope will release the spear that will kill Goliath?

I am far from an expert on peplum films. With each film I see I learn new things. Some of the ones I have seen so far, have had me wondering why the genre was so successful – but then I stumble on a film like this one, which was obviously made at the peak of the genre’s popularity, and it all becomes clear. At there best, peplum movies are damn good fun. They aren’t boring. And they don’t have to have poor visual effects and rubber monsters to entertain. This is one of the good ones.

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posted by David at 1:41 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Hercules Against the Mongols

The year is 1227, and the infamous Ghengis Khan has died. His power has gone to his son Ogadai, but his three other sons squabble among themselves for the scraps, always looking for an opportunity to elevate themselves through whatever means possible. And that is the basis for much of this film, which features Ghengis' three backstabbing sons trying to outmaneuver one another. Enter Maciste, or is it Hercules? Exactly what Hercules was doing alive in 1227 AD is a mystery.

We first meet Hercules as he is strolling through 13th century China. While Hercules is in China, the Mongols are kicking up a lot of dust in Europe. Ghengis Khan's sons are busy trying to oppress the masses when along comes Maciste, who must have walked from China. Maybe he did that thing the Incredible Hulk used to do where he could jump really high and far to cover long distances in a short amount of time.

Hercules kicks some Mongolian tail, then befriends the beleaguered population of eastern Europe. The sons of the Khan are annoyed that this beefy Greek has strolled thousands of years into the future to spoil their fun, but they are torn asunder over what to do with him. The obvious answer is "kill him." One of the sons decides it would be better if he tried to be buddy-buddy with Hercules and get him on the Mongol side. After all, no one really ever failed to benefit from having a demigod behind their cause. Plus, you know, they're just two beefy tough guys with a lot to tell each other about protein shakes and the finer points of Mongolian wrestling.

So they manage to capture Hercules, or rather, he sort of just walks up to them and gets captured after his tactic of going, "Hey, why not call off the conquest of the world?" doesn't pan out the way he planned. So the main Mongol puts Herc is chains but is generally pretty nice to him, hoping that Hercules will join him after the Greek hero learns a little more about traditional Mongol puppet theater and that throat singing thing.

Hercules gets to fight in a tournament, because all peplum films must have a tournament. If he wins, he gets to chose either his own freedom or the freedom of a captured European princess, who of course instantly falls madly in love with Hercules. The plan was for Herc to kick ass on the first two evil brothers but then throw the fight for his friendly captor, thus making the others look like dolts while the other one looks all cool and tough. Hercules gets carried away though and just kicks everyone's ass, thereby winning the freedom of the princess but not winning any points with his captors.

And then there's this sleazy guy who pretends to be her most faithful servant when, in fact, he is a villainous traitor working with the Mongols to kill whitey and make Hercules looks like a coward. It all results mostly in Hercules kicking a lot of Mongol ass and then strutting around heroically. At the end of the day, it has action, drama, muscles, spear-throwing, hearty laughing a-plenty, more action, and plenty of other good stuff. Throw it all in the stew, sprinkle with a healthy dose of men in loin cloths and women in revealing outfits, and you have a recipe for one fine night of entertainment.

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posted by Armando at 9:35 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Saturday, December 15, 2007

Hercules vs. the Moon Men

With a name like Alan Steele, you're bound to become a Hercules. That's one of those names like Bart Savagewood or Rock Slabchest. Along with Kirk Morris, Steele (born Sergio Ciani) was one of the few Italian-born actors to find success as a leading man in the sword and sandal genre. Bodybuilding had yet to catch on Italy the way it had on America's West Coast, so homegrown stars were generally relegated to the ranks of second fiddle or "skinny little buddy." Steele was an exception, and that allowed him to work his way up the peplum food chain (high in whey protein). He began his career in 1959 with a small part in Hercules Unchained, and later appeared in Samson (1961), Fury of Hercules (1962), Samson and the Slave Queen (1963), and The Rebel Gladiators (1963) before hitting the big-time with a starring role in 1964’s Hercules Against Rome. That same year, Steele made what is probably his best-known sword and sandal film, the strange Hercules Against the Moon Men, which once again attempted to blend the worlds of ancient fantasy and science fiction by having Herc face off against a bunch of slow moving rock monsters from outer space.

It starts off pretty well, as a meteor lands on Samar Mountain, causing a volcano to erupt. Shortly thereafter, the residents are forced to offer their children once every third full moon to this "hungry mountain of death." Apparently this is under the orders of the Moon men. In one of the opening scenes, we see a door open up on the side of the mountain, while Roman soldiers push in the wailing sacrifices. The Moon men want to take over the world. If you lived on the moon, you'd consider relocating as well. Sure it looks cool and everything, but after you visit the Sea of Tranquility for the millionth time, you'd probably start dreaming about things like lakes, trees and waterslides. And since you'd have grown up there, the novelty of doing those astronaut leaps would have worn off after a while. So yeah, screw the moon.

The Moon men have organized these sacrifices of Earth virgins mostly just for shits and giggles, and being a man of righteousness, or at least a man in need of some asses to kick, Hercules won't stand for such injustice, especially from a bunch of out-of-towners. The Queen of Samar, however, is in cahoots with the moon people. Hercules tries to get the citizens of Samar to revolt against the queen, but the subjects are too cowardly to follow. After fighting some soldiers and throwing around some boulders, Hercules is invited to the Queen's chambers. Seems that she has a powder that "makes men look at her with eyes of love." She gives it to Hercules, and...he laughs at her as only Hercules can laugh. No pansy powder can control Hercules' emotions!

At the same time, the planets align in a red-tinted display of all hell breaking loose. Will Hercules defeat the Moon men and make Samar safe from extraterrestrial terrorism? Will the peasants and soldiers rise up against the evil queen? Well, hell yeah. In the meantime, we get lots of fights, lots of oiled chest close-ups, and Hercules strapped to a big spiky crusher thing. Not only does Hercules have to fight evil soldiers, he also gets trapped in a chamber full of rushing water and has to fight the Moon men, which are big slow-moving rock formations who encircle him and try to crush him. When he meets the head of the Moon men (who is decked out in a cool silver skull mask and cape), it takes one punch to knock him down. Guess that'll teach him a little something about gravity, huh?

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posted by Armando at 9:38 PM | 3 Comments | Links to this post


Friday, December 14, 2007

Colossus and the Amazon Queen

Born Edmund Holovchik in June of 1928, Ed Fury gave himself a tough sounding name and went on to a successful career as a fitness model during the 1950s, and by fitness model I mean he was in lots of photos with compositions like, "Ed is naked and tangled in a fisherman's net. Ooo, be a sexy merman! Be a sexy merman!". His acting career started on the stage, and he later moved into small roles in films like Athena (alongside Steve Reeves). In 1960, he packed his bags and set sail for Italy, where he made his sword and sandal debut in the wild peplum comedy Colossus and the Amazon Queen. It's a clever film, playing off many of the gender cliches already emerging in the genre. The women perform tasks most often associated with men, while the men all run around like a bunch of howling fops. It’s also one of the only peplum films to feature a hero who shouts, "Yahoo!" in a high-pitched voice.

The film decided to have some fun with things by turning everything upside down while also delivering the sexiest -- yet most feminist (as feminist as these movies could be) -- peplum adventure there had been. The city of the Amazons is a subversion of everything people expected from peplum. Effeminate men prance around and swap tips on getting the whites whiter when doing laundry. When the women come home, the men all giggle and run home to engage in arguments with their wives in which the wife complains that the men don't understand the value of a hard day's work while the men whine, "You think cooking and cleaning all day isn’t work?"

Eventually, some marauding pirates threaten to upset the Amazonian society, and the two sexes must unite on equal ground in order to combat this common enemy. Fury is great as a way goofier hero than peplum was used to, and Rod Taylor (who would make b-movie history by appearing in the superb films The Time Machine and World Without End before hitting the big time with a starring role in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller The Birds) manages to provide comic relief that is actually funny as he sashays around with delight in order to lead the dames along and get himself a little nookie.

Many people have analyzed the homoeroticism of the sword and sandal genre then patted themselves on the back for their clever insight and reading of homosexual tendencies boiling just below the surface of the film. Given that many of these films contain greased-up, stripped-down muscleman heroes bent over a table covered in spikes and whipped mercilessly by some foppish henchman, revealing to people that there may be some homoerotic shades to the films is about as insightful as revealing that Pink Floyd's The Wall is about a guy going insane and is “really cool to watch while tripping.” Of course, none of the heroes were expressly homosexual. They still lusted heartily after the ladies, even if they also loved a good grappling session. Athletes will slap each other on the ass after a good game, and gladiators will slick themselves up with sweat and oil and do that Spartacus handshake where you grasp your buddy firmly by the forearm and slap him on the back. As with all things in peplum films, the underlying message is simply, "Relax, buddy. Don’t worry about it. Here, let work that tension out of your lats."

Fury starred in a few other sword and sandal films, including Ursus in the Land of Fire (1963), Samson Against the Sheik (1962), Ursus in the Valley of the Lions (1961), and The Mighty Ursus (1961). Obviously, the guy was really into Ursus.

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posted by Armando at 9:38 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Colossus and the Headhunters

Given the fact that sword and sandal films were Italian, one would assume there were quite a few Italian actors filling the starring roles. One would be wrong, however. Most of the peplum stars of the 1960s hailed from the United States. Only a few were born in the land which spawned the genre. Of these select few, Kirk Morris was one of the first. After leaving a lucrative career as a gondolier, Morris (real name Adriano Bellini) made his film debut in 1960’s Samson and the Sea Beast. Morris always seemed stiffer and less engaging than guys like Mark Forest and Reg Park, but what he lacked in on-air charisma was compensated for by the fact that the movies in which he starred were just so damn weird.

This movie opens with scenes from the end of Fire Monster Against the Son of Hercules in which cavemen flee an erupting volcano. Leading the retreat is Maciste, who casually struts out of the jungle and into the mayhem. Did he not notice the volcano erupting? Sure, he was probably thinking about important stuff like hurling a boulder or scoring some Joe Weider Ultra Bulk-Up vanilla drink mix, but a volcano tearing apart the entire island on which you're strolling is really something that tends not to go unnoticed. Well, whatever he was thinking about, Maciste is quick to assume command and set sail for a new home. Since Maciste is a show-off, rather than just sail a few miles away to another city, he has to go all the way across the ocean to a strange new land.

Upon arriving in the promised land, Maciste and some pals lead an expedition into the jungle while everyone else gets captured by some very Greek looking natives. Maciste soon learns they are not all that bad as far as jungle folk go, and in fact are the people of a noble king who Maciste has heard of. They are in a pickle because another tribe is bullying them around and trying to force a marriage between the evil leader and the good queen Amoa so they can control the whole territory. The good guys ask Maciste to help, and although Maciste feels their pain he says he is too busy to help, as he must first help his own people find a new place to live.

Maciste eventually feels pangs of regret for not lending a hand when he could, so he decides to return and help out after all. Well, too late, because the evil tribe has already attacked and slaughtered a bunch of people! When Maciste returns to find Amoa under more pressure than ever to surrender to the evil king, he decides to lead them in battle. The evil king has a bargain with some headhunters, and they serve as his foot soldiers even though it's never really clear exactly what they get out of the deal.

Despite the promising set-up of Italian beefcake ancient heroes clashing with headhunters, Colossus and the Headhunters is a better surf guitar band name than it is sword and sandal movie. For starters, the main villain is about as imposing as Charles Nelson Reilly. Secondly, Kirk Morris is pretty stiff in this outing. There's no real charisma on display. It's certainly not an awful movie, and it fact it's perfectly serviceable, but there are better sword and sandal films.

What is lost as a result of these weaknesses is made up for in other areas. Director Guido Malatesta makes up for the lack of charisma on behalf of his main players by throwing a wild script at us full of two-fisted gusto. This is one of the bloodier peplum entries. The wild spirit behind the film lifts it a couple notches. It's worth checking out because it's not every day you see Hercules beat up a bunch of headhunters and their foppish leader.

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posted by Armando at 9:36 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Thursday, December 13, 2007

Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World

Starring a primed and fresh off his Tarzan movies Gordon Scott, Samson, a.k.a. Maciste, has strolled to China in order to help put an end to the oppression. If we use this film as a basis for reality, and I can see no reason why we wouldn’t, then the downfall of the Mongolian Empire was actually caused when Samson, after being buried by a dwarf, started punching the ground until he caused an earthquake, burst forth from his tomb, then lead the Chinese in revolt against their cruel masters. And oh yeah, he also rescued a beautiful princess, because that's what he does, and what's the point of overthrowing tyrants if you don't also get to liberate a beautiful princess?

The princess in this case is Eurasian Yoko Tani, a familiar face to many fans of European fantasy and spy films from the 1960s. She had been working in film since 1953, primarily in French productions but also with one Japanese movie (Women in Prison, 1956) and the Eastern European sci-fi adventure First Spaceship on Venus (1959) and a couple scattered English language productions on her resume, including a small role in the 1958 version of The Quiet American. Although she'd gotten some sword and sandal-esque experience in France while making a comedic version of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Seven Miracles is her first turn in a true peplum. Her only other sword and sandal credits include 1961’s Marco Polo directed by Witch's Curse director Piero Pierotti and 1962’s Ursus and the Tartar Princess directed by Remigo del Grosso, who went on to direct a whole slew of enjoyable spaghetti westerns and spy films during the remainder of the decade. Tani herself made the transition to Eurospy films and starred in a number of slick mid- to low-budget espionage thrillers, including turns in two British espionage series: the obscure but interesting Man in a Suitcase and the highly acclaimed Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner series) show Secret Agent. She was active on and off through the decades until her death in 1999 after a bout with cancer.

Also on hand are a slew of peplum regulars. Helene Chanel makes as convincing a Mongol princess as I would, but she carried herself with typical grace and beauty, so it's not worth complaining about. Considering her filmography contains some of the weirdest sword and sandal films ever made, including Witch's Curse and Conquerors of Atlantis, passing herself off as Asian is the least of her stretches.

Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World benefits greatly from top-notch action scenes anchored by Gordon Scott and beautiful sets that look far more lavish than the budget should allow. The medieval Chinese towns and the mountain temple look thoroughly authentic, or at least as authentic as something you'd find in a Shaw Brothers kungfu film. Of course, there are a few missteps, the most obvious one being that there are apparently very few Asians in China, and there's not much attempt to hide he shortage of Chinese looking actors. A few Asian extras are sprinkled here and there amid a slew of Italians with Fu Manchu mustaches pasted on. Actually, some of the mustaches don’t even look like stereotypical Fu Mancho mustaches, leading one to wonder not so much why Maciste is in China, but instead why so many people in China look like Pancho Villa. Gabriele Antonini plays our nominal local hero, Cho. Never has a Chinese hero looked so much like a cross between Frankie Avalon and Ray Romano. Someone apparently thought that people might find all these Caucasian looking Chinese to be a bit suspicious, so they threw in a line for Cho where he sort of off-handedly says, "You know, I’m only half Chinese."

The film seems unconcerned with such trivialities, however, a disregard that is not all that important and is best exemplified by the scenes in which Maciste, towering over everyone else, clad in a loin cloth, and looking huge and Caucasian, "blends in" with the locals.

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posted by Armando at 9:42 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules sees the genre dip its feet in the realm of science fiction (it would plunge into that pond in other films like Conquerors of Atlantis and Giants of Metropolis) as Mark Forest squares off against an underground race, which, all things considered, was at least more capable than the ancient underground race in the film The Mole People.

In this rousing adventure, Maciste (Mark Forest) must battle a race of underground dwellers who like to kidnap surface dwellers and make them turn a big birdcage round and round. It's one of those wheel of pain type deals, but unlike others, where they all turn the wheel very slowly, this one requires you to haul ass at top speed.
Maciste, being the fine fellow he is, agrees to seek out these underground hooligans and dish out some prime ass whuppin' like only Maciste, Hercules, Atlas, Colossus, and Goliath can. Along the way he befriends a massive young African played by Paul Wynter. This right here sets this film apart from the rest of the sword and sandal genre in a couple ways.

First of all, Paul Wynter is huge. The norm in peplum films was to hook the star up with a scrawny sidekick who would make the hero look even bigger than he already was. Pairing the hero with a guy every bit his equal was unheard of. Second is the obvious fact that Paul Wynter is black -- and in a film in which he and Maciste must fight extremely white people, though I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Black heroes in film were rare in 1961, extremely rare if you agree not to count Sidney Poitier. Black heroes in peplum were almost unheard of. Sure, every now and then, some "Nubian" would show up, flex, and get his ass beat by the hero, but Wynter was one of the only true heroes of the genre. His character in Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules is a bit of a goof, but he's still a grade-A ass kicker. Mark Forest would also star in Colossus of the Arena, featuring another black co-star, who although a good guy, was as weenie as every other peplum sidekick to come before and after him. Not that anyone is trumpeting this movie, or any peplum movie, as a bright light in the civil rights struggle.

Mole Men is more interested in giving us countless scenes of Maciste kicking some lily white ass. Hey, wait a second! Maybe it is a triumph for the darker races, or at least for people with tans over people who live under the ground and adorn themselves with ridiculous headgear. Whether fighting the oppression of other races or simply fighting oppression in general, Maciste serves up more than enough action in this blend of muscleman fantasy, gladiator action, and weird science fiction. He gets to wrestle a monster, too!

By this point, Forest was quite comfortable in the role of Maciste (or whoever he was playing). Like Reeves and Reg Park before him, Mark Forest was able to expand the character of Hercules...err, I mean Maciste, and make his portrayal something unique from that of the other stars. Forest's Maciste is kind of goofy, laid back, and relaxed. Even when he's throwing rocks at pasty Mole Men, he seems to be on the verge of laughing. He's having a good time, and as a result, so am I.

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posted by Armando at 9:35 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Fire Monster vs. the Son of Hercules

There's something about Reg Lewis. Maybe it's his ultra cool (though totally out of place in ancient times) bleach blond rockabilly pompadour. Maybe it's the fact that he sort of looks like a buffed up Rick Moranis, if you can imagine such a thing. Or maybe it's simply the fact that he carries himself with such good-natured goofiness despite being a man who squash most other men like an overripe grape while still keeping one arm free to carry around some beautiful princess. He was the picture perfect Muscle Beach dude. It’s so easy to picture him with his cool guy hair and a bikini-clad beauty on each shoulder. Born in Niles, California in 1936, Lewis racked up a pile of bodybuilding awards before joining up with the infamous Mae West Revue (and in fact continued to rack up the awards well into the 1980s!), where he worked as both a member of the cast and the personal escort and bodyguard for Mae, accompanying her to all the gala events, or at least whatever gala events were inviting Mae West in the 1960s (I have a feeling they were the kind of gala events being MC'd by Paul Lynd).

Fire Monster Against the Son of Hercules sees Maciste in prehistoric times. There are a lot of cavemen capering about, and Maciste has to help a tribe of good cavemen battle a tribe of evil cavemen. He teaches the good guys how to make fire while the bad gang acts like a bunch of bikers. They holler a lot, listen to loud music, and do a lot of that stuff where the hairy main guys are all sitting around with various women lying in their laps or go-go dancing around the hang-out. With the big furs and general behavior, I swear for a minute I thought I was watching the requisite "partyin' scene" from any of two dozen 1960s/1970s biker films. When you combine the biker-esque appearance of the evil tribe with Maciste's rockabilly haircut, you half expect Maciste to challenge the evil caveman leader to a drag race at sunrise or a game of chicken in supped-up hotrods.

Maciste has to fight not just the surly cavemen, but also a hydra and a couple other dinosaur-type monsters. He also gets to woo the princess of the evil tribe, since she herself isn't evil, and as is par for the course, he gets to be tortured. At some point in most peplum films, our humongous hero will be tied up, tied down, buried in the sand up to his neck, or somehow restrained and forced to endure various forms of torture and annoyance. Audiences seemed to love watching the greased-up, stripped-down muscleman heroes bent over a table covered in spikes and whipped mercilessly by some foppish henchman. Whether it was because people enjoyed seeing a tough guy take a licking, or whether they simply enjoyed seeing someone rise above adversity and cast off the shackles of oppression is a question I cannot answer.

S&M fetishes aside, Fire Monster is as top-notch as they come in the bargain basement. Lewis is likable, the plot makes no sense, and there are many boulders hurled at cool looking monsters. And then a volcano erupts.

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posted by Armando at 9:39 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Goliath and the Dragon

Goliath and the Dragon is an interesting entry into the genre if for no other reason than it's one of the few instances in which a movie starts out with Hercules being the name of the main character only to have the name changed to Goliath in the English language dub. Usually, it was the other way around. But if that was the most interesting thing about this movie, it wouldn't be very interesting. Luckily, there's a whole lot more going for this rollicking adventure.

We start things off right as Goliath fights his way through a Cave of Horrors. A minute into the film and already we have a fire-breathing, three-headed dog (or maybe a furry lizard). Turns out that Goliath is looking for a magic gem that belongs to the God of Vengeance, which was stolen by the evil Eurito. The evil king Eurito relishes the fact that Goliath can't possibly emerge from the Cave of Horrors alive. After fighting with a stop-motion dragon, a big fuzzy man-bat, and crossing a lake of fire, Goliath proves the king wrong. Why are evil kings always picking on immortal bodybuilders? You're better off pushing around some chump who won't live forever and who can't crush your head between his pecs.

How does someone get a Cave of Horrors? What contractors do these evil rulers go to when they need such a place? My guess is they go to the same people who would later design Coney Island haunted house rides, where crude animatronic gorillas remain as active today as they were back in the days when they were chasing around the Bowery Boys and the Little Rascals. The Cave of Horrors here has a distinctly Coney Island feel to it, and the man-bat is nearly as realistic as one of those apes.

Satisfied that his quests have finally come to an end, Goliath retires to the good life with his wife and kids. On the way home, he also picks up a midget who is, thankfully, restricted to a single scene of shrieking comically. The only problem with Goliath's new life is that his scrawny brother, Illo, is in love with Eurito's concubine. The malevolent despot uses Illo's love in a scheme to kill Goliath and claim Thebes as his own.

Eventually, Goliath and Illo work everything out, but not before the big guy wrestles a man in a ratty bear suit and, in one of the more impressive feats of cinematic strength, an actual elephant! Goliath also fights a creepy looking centaur (sans his Pan flute), topples columns, and goes back for another round with that dragon in the Cave of Horrors. The dragon is a mixture of impressive stop-motion animation and a not-so-impressive mechanical puppet head.

Goliath and the Dragon is pretty much nonstop action. Goliath only takes time out from kicking tail so that he can feast. The creature effects are all pretty bad and most of the monsters get beat easily, but at least there are a lot of them. The opening sequence in the cave foreshadows Mario Bava's foray into surreal fantasy in Hercules in the Haunted World. There's also some inventive camera work, decent sets, and remarkably great music from exotica legend Les Baxter. All in all, it's a fast-paced, thoroughly enjoyable fantasy adventure with a lot of imagination.

Mark Forest, in one of his earliest outings, is somewhat stiff but not bad as Goliath. He's mostly there to throw boulders at dragons, and this he accomplishes with gusto. He also gets to indulge himself in a couple staples of the peplum film: column toppling and boulder hurling. Nary a film was made that didn't feature these activities. Goliath not only gets to topple columns; he also gets to topple an entire castle with his bare hands!

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posted by Armando at 9:35 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Sunday, December 9, 2007

Hercules and the Captive Women

The same year as Hercules in the Haunted World, Reg Park played Hercules in Hercules and the Captive Women. It was another fantastical adventure, this time pitting Herc against the evil queen of Atlantis and her army of blond clones sporting pale Abe Lincoln beards. The two films were often billed together as a double feature, and at one point someone got confused and started promoting a film called Hercules and the Haunted Women. By any name, this movie features a classic Hercules movie line, "All hail the power of Uranus!" It also features a midget sidekick for comic relief. Uranus jokes and a midget sidekick? Seriously, who could ask anything more?

This outing begins with Hercules having a meal while all his pals indulge in some good-natured bar room brawling. When Hercules grows bored with these male bonding shenanigans, he wanders off into some special effects and learns of some unspeakable horror he will no doubt have to fight against. Hercules and the King of Thebes set sail to fight this mysterious threat, bringing along the midget sidekick who Hercules picks up a lot, constantly sitting the wee guy on his lap like he was some eight-year-old little boy. Look, he’s a midget sure, but just because he's no taller than an eight-year-old boy doesn’t mean he has the mentality of an eight-year-old boy. The guy has to be in his thirties, and he’s probably getting tired of Hercules bellowing, "Come sit in my lap, li'l fella!"

Hercules finds himself fighting a lion, a ridiculous looking giant smoking lizard man, a standard non-magical buzzard, and a disturbing legion of C. Everett Coops. Amid the action, in which Hercules must battle the beehive hairdo'd queen of Atlantis and her minions of surgeon generals, the movie provides a positively supernatural number of lowbrow opportunities to laugh at the use of the word "Uranus," beginning with "Today is dedicated to Uranus!" and continuing with such hits as "Uranus has abandoned us!" "Antinea has found the missing secrets of Uranus," "I was the last high priest dedicated to Uranus," "Uranus was a just God," and the chilling talk about "the blood of Uranus." Queen Antinea's religion seems to revolve around a big pit in the ground, the hole of Uranus if you will, that has been plugged up by a rock. Upon removing the rock from the hole of Uranus, Hercules is surprised to see it unleash a whoosh of light and foul-smelling wind. Kids, I ain't making this up.

While Herc is fooling around with Uranus, his skinny sidekick Hylos and the shrieking comic relief midget get to lead the slave revolt, which goes about as well as you'd expect a revolt lead by a scrawny goofball and a screaming midget would go. Queen Antinea attempts to seduce Hercules, revealing to him her secret army of blond effeminate clones "born from the blood of Uranus." Hercules isn't interested in anything that comes from Uranus, so the fight is on! Before it is done, Hercules will get to drive a chariot around underground, push over some columns, and hurl some boulders.

Though not as fantastic as Haunted World, Hercules and the Captive Women is still a rousing adventure fantasy with lots of fighting, running around, and revolting done by skinny lepers. Reg Park handles himself well, and his impish characterization does a lot to highlight Herc's human half. Regardless of what you might think of Uranus, Hercules and the Captive Women is quite a successful adventure film that strikes just the right balance between elements of high adventure, fantasy, and comedy.

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posted by Armando at 9:34 PM | 1 Comments | Links to this post


Hercules in the Haunted World

1961's Hercules in the Haunted World was directed by acclaimed Italian horror maestro Mario Bava. Bava, bets known for Gothic tales of terror, worked as a cinematographer on both Hercules and Hercules Unchained. Given a chance to head up his own peplum film, his passion for Gothic nightmares came to the forefront. Hercules in the Haunted World is boiling over the images of the grotesque and fantastic, lending it a truly phantasmagoric atmosphere that helps set it apart from the pack. Based very loosely on Hercules' journey into Hell, and no doubt inspired by Dante's classic Inferno, the film takes the man-god and his requisite little buddy on a journey through Hades in order to rescue his imprisoned "one true love," one of several "one true loves" Hercules would have. Along the way, Herc locks it up with lava men, flying ghouls, and horror icon Christopher Lee, who plays the blood-sucking lord of Hell! Seeing someone like Christopher Lee suddenly pop up in a peplum film is only one of the many weird elements in this movie.

Right away, audiences knew this was a Hercules film of a different color. Psychedelic swirling ink blots and creepy green illustrations highlight the credits, which appear in the "eerie waving letters" effect so popular with horror films rather than the "generic classical Greek" font we’d expect. In the first scene we find ourselves in familiar territory as Hercules stands atop a waterfall rubbing himself down. His sidekick, Theseus, is having a roll in the hay with a sexy lass, no doubt wooed by his bleach blond pompadour. They are soon attacked by ne'r-do-wells. Needless to say, even these dozens of armed assailants prove scarcely a match for Hercules and Theseus. Mostly Theseus actually, as Herc stays pretty busy up on the cliff checking out his own biceps, showing up just in time to throw a cart at the few remaining brigands.

The attackers were sent by Christopher Lee adorned in a bad haircut. He has set himself up as king while Herc's babe, Dianira, has been sealed away "for her own protection." In fact, Lyco (Lee) has put a spell on her that turned her into a rambling zombie. The only cure for her affliction is down in Hades, and to get there Hercules needs a golden apple that grows on a tree in the Garden of Despair, where dwell the women condemned to live forever in darkness. Along the way to get the apple, they pick up "comic relief guy," who has an even dippier haircut than Lyco. He looks a lot like a Romulan, as opposed to looking like Romulus. Either way, it's like saying, "Hey, we’re going on a really long trip. I know! Let's bring Martin Short!"

In Hades, their first task is to defeat a naked, chained up woman who tries to tempt them. Theseus is ready to give her the ol' college try, but Hercules knows better than to believe the illusions of Hell. After that, it's a lake of fire and vines that scream and bleed when cut. Then its the big showdown with Lyco and his screeching ghouls.

Hercules in the Haunted World is fine fare. Bava went all out with the atmosphere, filling his movie with bizarre colored lights and mists. The finale in the cobweb-covered catacombs from which the dead rise from the grave is straight out of a horror film. What cheapness is evident onscreen in terms of sub-standard backgrounds and phony props is easy to overlook in light of how much wonderfully weird stuff is going on.

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posted by Armando at 8:31 PM | 1 Comments | Links to this post


Hercules Unchained

When American bodybuilder Steve Reeves was approached about the lead role in the 1957 Italian film Hercules, he took it, figuring that if nothing else it was his first big role and would look good on his resume alongside things like "Mr. Universe." Reeves, like most people, never dreamed of what the film would become. Hercules was a smash. It shattered box office records in one country after another. From Italy to Hong Kong and even to the remote rural towns of India, people went nuts for Hercules' crazy blend of gladiator action, swashbuckling adventure, and monster slaying. At the center of it all was Steve Reeves, standing atop a cliff, the sun glinting off his well-oiled barrel chest while down below lean, young, mostly naked guys wrestled each other and did the long jump in hopes of attracting the man-god's attention. Reeves' charisma elevated the middling mythical fantasy to fantastically mythical proportions. He became a household name, instantly shooting from nobody (or as nobody as "Mr. Universe" can be) to one of the biggest stars in the world, and not just in terms of physical size.

It was 1959 before Reeves reprised his role as the beefy demi-god in Hercules Unchained, and once again the film was a smash. The action begins right where it left off, with Hercules and his one true love of the moment, Iole (played again by Sylvia Koscina), en route to Thebes. They have a few encounters that clue Hercules in on the fact that all is not well. As the fates would have it, on a rainy night, Hercules, Iole, and their third wheel Ulysses, happen to take shelter in the same cave where the ghostly Oedipus is quarreling with his two sons . Yep, that's Oedipus for you.

The brothers are supposed to alternate years of being the king, and Eteocles, having reached the end of his year, is refusing to give up the throne to his brother, Polinices. Hercules bullies his way in to see Etocles and secures his agreement to abide by the pact. En route to deliver the official document to Polinices, Hercules and Ulysses stop for the night and Hercules wanders down to a nearby stream and takes a few deep swigs from its bubbling waters. He promptly forgets everything and passes out. It turns out these were the cursed Waters of Forgetfulness.

Hercules and Ulysses are spirited away to the island of Lidia, ruled by Queen Omphale. Hercules is fooled into thinking he is her husband, and he spends most of his kingship getting massages and having his way with the ladies. All in all, it sure beats satisfying a pouty ghost and his quarreling offspring. Ulysses, on the other hand, is stuck with a work detail that consists mainly of greasing up Hercules. Upset with his lot in life, Ulysses sends a carrier pigeon to Ithaca, where it is received by Laertes, who immediately gathers up the ol' Argonauts to rescue their big buddy. It takes a while for Hercules to remember who he is, but he eventually comes around just in time to topple some columns and bring Omphale's entire evil empire crashing down around him.

You'd think the movie ends there, but all of a sudden the first movie -– the one about the quarrelsome brothers -– kicks back in, making the whole Lidia excursion nothing more than a very long aside . Herc arrives just in time for a lot of fighting and pushing over of various objects until the day is eventually saved and he is reunited with Iole, choosing to leave out of his tale the bits where he was forced to have non-stop kinky sex . According to the actual ancient stories, after killing Iphitus and trashing the Oracle, Hercules was sold to Queen Omphale of Lydia. She had him dress in women's clothes and do chores usually assigned to women.

Hercules Unchained is a better-structured movie than the original. Instead of a dozen little plots, there are two main ones. The movie also has a memorable villain in Omphale, where the original lacked any particularly menacing bad guys. And of course there was more than a little ass kicking, boulder hurling, column toppling, manly laughing, and other action-packed idiocy expected from Hercules. Even though it had been two years since the original, audiences found their hunger for Hercules was still raging. As with the previous film, Hercules Unchained was a smash hit all over the world.

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posted by Armando at 8:23 PM | 1 Comments | Links to this post


Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops

With a title like Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops, you expect some serious Cyclops fightin' action. Unfortunately, this movie open with a narrative text crawl that tells us it has been some time since the mighty Atlas -- well, make that the mighty Maciste -- has bested the Cyclops. Now really, if you call your movie Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops, then Atlas should be in the land of the Cyclops, fighting the Cyclops and other nefarious beasts of ancient myth. The movie shouldn't begin with, "Atlas, having just wrapped up the thrilling feats to which the title of this film refer, did set out to help some guys lift a heavy grain cart."

Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops isn't actually as boring as all that, but if you are looking for some serious monster fighting, you're better off spending ninety minutes with Goliath and the Dragon or one of the many utterly bizarre Kirk Morris fantasies. There is a Cyclops in the movie, and I suppose technically Atlas (Maciste, or just call him Gordon Mitchell, or call him Mitchell Gordon as the credits of this movie do) is indeed in the Cyclops' land. The Cyclops is a presence in the film, but he doesn't make a notable appearance until the end, when Maciste trots out the old technique that has defeated every Cyclops in the history of the world: throw a sword or a torch at his eye. It's his fault for having one gigantic eyeball. Seriously, you get the raw end of the deal if you're a Cyclops. Hydras get to grow two heads for every one head that gets cut off, which I guess is only cool up to a point. I imagine having eight-hundred heads would eventually get a tad cumbersome. Medusa got to turn people to stone, Pegasus got to fly, sirens got to lure men to their deaths, and Cyclops? He gets to have one eye and constantly has to deal with would-be heroes thrusting things at it.

So while the Cyclops is a presence in the film before making an appearance for the finale, the bulk of the running time is occupied by the good and noble Maciste combating an evil queen. Gordon Mitchell gets to perform various feats of strength, lift heavy grain carts, and play tug of war over a pit of spikes. He spends most of his time involved in battling an evil queen and trying to protect the rightful heir to the throne. Eventually, he gets to square off against a mangy Cyclops, but all he does is the usual, which is thrust something into the creature's gigantic, bulging, single unprotected eye. Someone should have at least given the Cyclops a tough, leathery eyelid to protect against every would-be hero sticking a spear or a torch into the thing.

All in all, a pretty good adventure even if it's not as fantasy-oriented as one might hope. Mitchell makes a good Maciste, and the evil queen is delightful. Some credits list the baby heir to the throne as Fabio, as in the Fabio of romance book cover fame. I don't know if this is true or not, but it's pretty funny if it is. The only drawback to this film is that the prints are all awful, boasting washed out colors that tint the whole film sepia. Recent DVD remastering of Hercules in the Haunted World and Goliath against the Dragon demonstrate that these movies were often far less cheap looking, and far more lavish and impressive (especially given their minuscule budgets) if only we could see them in their colorful, widescreen original formats.

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posted by Armando at 7:15 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post


Sandokan, Pirate of Malaysia

Steve Reeves trades in his tunic and Hercules sandals to play the swashbuckling captain of a band of Indian or Malaysian pirates who battle the dastardly Brits in the South Seas. The presence of Reeves and an Italian crew means that this movie often gets classified as a peplum or sword and sandal film, but it isn't. Italy (and the rest of Europe) produced a huge number of cheap historical adventure films during the 1960s, mostly about pirates and cavaliers and assorted knights. While all part of the larger "spectacle" trend that seized Italy and of which peplum was a part, these aren't peplum films themselves. Sandokan definitely fits the mode of swashbuckler film, with lots of raiding parties and talk of cannons as Sandokan tries to rescue and protect an Indian princess from British forces. It's no Sea Hawk, but it's a lot of fun. Reeves looks great in his sequined jacket and turban, and there's plenty of action and grappling hooks.

The brisk pace and solid plotting comes to us courtesy of Umberto Lenzi, who would go on to direct a number of great crime films in the 70s, as well as giallo and splattery cannibal films. He's in pretty good form here, despite the fact that this is one of his four first films (all made in 1963, so I'm sure which one was actually first), delivering plenty of action and a likable lead in Steve Reeves.

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posted by Armando at 7:15 PM | 1 Comments | Links to this post