Hercules Against the Moon Men (orig. Maciste e la regina di Samar or Maciste and Queen Samar), 1964, color. Giacomo Gentilomo (dir.), Sergio Ciani (“Alan Steel”), Jany Clair, Anna Maria Polani, Nando Tamberlani. 1:30 [1:27].
The city-kingdom of Samar is ruled by an evil (if beautiful) queen and under the domination of creatures in the Mountain of Death, who require a sacrifice of many of Samar’s young men and women on each full moon—a process that requires a remarkably large army and would seem to undermine the survival of Samar. (Most of the creatures are slow-moving stiff giants made of stonelike slabs, but there’s a top man who’s clearly a human with a funny mask and Princess Selene, a beautiful woman who must be brought back to life and power by the blood of the queen’s sister so that Jupiter can align with Mars and…well, never mind, it’s even more confusing than the Age of Aquarius.)
A senior adviser says enough is enough and asks for Hercules’ help (against the wishes of the queen, who attempts to kill him on the way into town). Lots of stuff happens from then on, culminating in a pointless and lengthy sandstorm, Hercules once again winning through unlimited strength, and a happy ending of sorts.
The so-called plot is incoherent, and the revolt never seems to take any shape. What this is, is mostly HercPorn: lots of closeups of well-oiled arms, legs and chest of this person who can lift and move anything. A mediocre print, crudely panned-and-scanned from what must be a widescreen original. I double-speeded through some of it, which helped (true double-speed, sl all the dialog and the really poor music.) Mostly for fans of Alan Steel’s acting ability muscles. Maybe the dialogue made more sense in Italian (or Greek?). Notably, this is really a Maciste movie, not a Hercules flick. (The French title, Maciste Against the Men of Stone, makes considerably more sense—although the plot’s still, well…) Generously, $0.75.
The Giants of Thessaly (I giganti della Tessaglia), color, 1960. Riccardo Freda (dir.), Roland Carey, Ziva Rodann, Alberto Farnese. 1:38 (1:28)
Title or no title, this is Jason and the Argonauts and the search for the Golden Fleece. As such, it involves gods, an island full of beautiful witches and talking sheep and stones, despair at sea, treachery at home, lots of beefcake (and beautiful women modestly dressed), and a lot of plot—and yet I found myself double-timing through a lengthy dance number and Jason’s seemingly interminable climb to retrieve the fleece. There’s only one giant (Cyclops) and he’s one-eyed and nowhere near Thessaly. It’s amazing how, after wandering aimlessly and seemingly lost for months, the Argo manages to return to Thessaly so rapidly and directly once the Golden Fleece is in hand, but… This was filmed three years before Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts, for what that’s worth.
It’s wide-screen (16×9), but you’ll have to zoom to get that and the resolution isn’t all that great. Still, good color, and it’s all reasonably well done. Not a classic, but worth $1.25.
Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens (orig. Simbad contro i sette saraceni, color, 1964. Emimmo Salvi (dir. & story), Gordon Mitchell, Bruno Piergentili, Bella Cortez, Carla Calo, Franco Doria. 1:34 [1:20].
I would say this flick has continuity problems, but that assumes continuity. Some scenes seem out of order; others just betray really cheap production—e.g., “midnight” scenes that are in broad daylight and a solar eclipse that only occurs over the palace grounds, not a few hundred feet away. When Simbad or Ali Baba or whoever is rescued (momentarily) by princess/harem member Fatima, he pushes her away and, about 30 seconds later, they proclaim their eternal love for one another. The best acting may be from the little person (Doria)who scurries around in secret passages—and the worst may be the deranged harem guard.
The plot has to do with Omar, a brutal lord who wants control of eight territories and to sit on the Golden Throne, but to do that requires winning a death match with one representative from each of the other seven tribes—the Seven Saracens, I guess. Ali Baba has a knack for being captured, and much of the plot doesn’t really work. No relationship to either the Sinbad or the Ali Baba of literature, of course. But never mind…
A reasonably decent eight-way battle (accepting that these people only use swords to hack at each other: although some of them wear what seem to be modern pants, shirts and boots or shoes, nobody’s ever heard of swordsmanship). A little unusual in that the American actor is the villain (although several actors used Americanized names for the film). Apparently only released in the U.S. as an 80-minute movie for TV, and not really even up to American-International’s standards. Very generously, $0.75.
The Giant of Marathon (orig. La battaglia di Maratona), color, 1959. Jacques Tourneur (dir.), Steve Reeves, Mylène Demongeot, Sergio Fantoni, Daniele Vargas, Gianni Loti. 1:30 [1:24]
Phillipides, medalist at the Olympics, new commander of the Sacred Guard and farmer at heart, saves the day for Athens against Persia, thanks to a sudden pact with Sparta and despite the treasonous acts of Athenian aristocrat Teocrito. Steve Reeves! Lots of action and scenery! Wide-screen (you’ll have to zoom), and a good enough print that it’s quite watchable. Good continuity, very good photography, excellent battle scenes, decent acting.
The sleeve description makes it seem as though it’s all about the battles, but about half the movie is about instant love lost, regained, lost again and…well, of course there’s a happy ending. By the standards of these flicks, $1.50.