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$1 DVD Sword and Sandal Double Feature!

Started by trekgeezer, January 15, 2007, 06:08:59 PM

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trekgeezer

Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965) - This is actually the pilot for tv show that never came to be and was produced by Joseph E. Levine and Albert Band.

The city of Troy is being tormented by a sea monster and they have to make human sacrifices to the beasty to make him leave them alone.  We witness one of the sacrifices at the beginning, the Steward of the city asks if anyone will fight for the victim and brave Ortag volunteers. Alas, poor Ortag fails and is washed out to sea.

The narrator tells us that many families are breaking the law leaving Troy by ship to save their daughters from the sacrifice. On their journey they are plagued by ruthless pirates. But, they're in luck Hercules (Gordon Scott) just happens by on the way to taking Ulysses back to Thebes. Hercules dispatches the pirates and takes aboard the victims. They also pick up Ortag who tells them what's been going on back at Troy. Of course Hercules volunteers to help them with their monster problem.

Too bad there is villainy afoot and not everyone wants Hercules to succeed.


This short (50 minutes) little movie held my interest.  The story involves the usual plotting to steal the throne and Gordon Scott gets to flex his muscles a bit.

I thought the monster was quite well done, but we don't get to see all of him until the end. The creature was built by Carlo Rombaldi, the man responsible for the aliens in Close Encounters and the title character in E.T. Herc's final confrontation with the monster is sorta disappointing.

I also found it interesting that this film is not dubbed, but is in English.

Hercules Against the Mongols (1963) - Holy time warp Hercules! Hercules pits himself against the three sons on Ghengis Khan. It's the year 1227 and Ghengis Khan has died after making piece with the "white man" , but his boys think whitey must pay so they go on a terror campaign. Hercules don't play that!

Actually this is pretty run of the mill for one of these "epics". Of course there is the princess in distress and a young heir to protect.

Mark Forest plays Herc in this one. His Hercules knows he can kick ass and lets everyone know it. My favorite part is his first encounter with the Mongols led by one of the Khans. They shoot arrows at Herc which he catches with a small log and then feigns injury to get them close enough to hurl the arrows back.  He goes into the woods and returns with a 10' long tree trunk and starts playing "Swat the Mongol" with it. It's pretty hilarious watching man after man ride close enough to get swatted off their horse. He also rams some of them with the end of the log. 

Like I said it's pretty run of the mill, but if you like this kind of thing it's worth the 90 minute running time.






And you thought Trek isn't cool.

Scott

Like these films a lot, but some of the copies floating around are to faded, but at least you get to see these films and well worth a $1.


Gerry

I picked up that some $1 double feature at Wal-mart a while back, but still haven't watched them.  I believe the second one is actually a retitled Maciste movie masquerading as a Hercules movie.  Masciste travelled through time all over the place.

trekgeezer

You're correct Gerry that one is a Maciste movie. I read that Mark Forest made a living doing these to make money for opera lessons.



And you thought Trek isn't cool.

Kester Pelagius

Quote from: Scott on January 15, 2007, 09:47:31 PM
Like these films a lot, but some of the copies floating around are to faded, but at least you get to see these films and well worth a $1.

Sadly the Sword & Sandal genre gets virtually no respect.  Most "budget" R1 releases appear to be taken from PD "wink wink, nudge nudge" sources, meaning either old broadcast masters or VHS tapes.  Well presented releases are few and far between.  In fact, aside from Hercules in the Haunted World, I really can't think of many.

Something Weird Video's Hercules Against the Moon Men is supposed to be the best out there, certainly their release of Goliath and the Dragon is excellent.  But considering what you have to compare it to that's not saying much. 

Alas SWV hasn't put out any S&S titles in a while.  The only other label I know of to tackle this genre with any frequency is Retromedia.  Alas, despite their efforts, some of the titles look rather worse for the wear.  It's a shame really.
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