FILM REVIEW OF "HERCULES AND THE MASKED RIDER" (ITALIAN-1963)

"Giant of Evil Island" director Piero Pierotti's "Hercules and the Masked Rider" (** OUT OF ****) is another of those cheaply produced but entertaining Italian peplums that take place outside the standard Greek or Roman setting of the ancient world. Mind you, when American International released this 86-minute Eastman color epic, the hero was named Goliath. Impeccable Italian body-builder Sergio Ciani portrays Hercules with his usual gusto. Presumably, the studio altered the title because Anglo-Saxon audiences remember Goliath as a villain rather than a hero based on his infamous Biblical exploits. Specifically, this adventure occurs in Medieval Spain with our hero passing through town with a gang
of gypsies. The eponymous "Masked Rider" is none other than a Zorro knock-off sporting a scarlet mask! Appropriately enough, Don Juan is a frustrated suitor who joins a renegade band of gypsies to break-up an impending marriage between chief villain Don Ramiro and his bride. Of course, things are complicated because Don Juan and the bride are distant relatives. They don't let these problematical genetics befuddle their thinking. Meanwhile, Pierotti and scenarists Arpad DeRiso, Ernesto Gastaldi, and Luciano Martino knew what they were doing when they cross-bred genres to make "Hercules and the Masked Rider." Aside from the usual production values that we've come to expect from peplums, "Hercules and the Masked Rider" benefits from a charismatic orchestral soundtrack by the dynamic Angelo Francesco Lavagnino who scored the John Wayne adventure "Legend of the Lost," the Gordon Scott peplum "Goliath and the Vampires," and Sergio Leone's "The Colossus of Rhodes."

The action opens with Don Ramiro's army of soldiers on horseback pursuing farmers. They are fleeing from his land because he has been selling them off for service to the king to help fight a war in Flanders. Don Ramiro (Arturo Dominici of "Conquest of Mycene") and Captain Blasco (Ettore Manni of "Chino") are fiercely chasing a pair of newlyweds, Felipe (Piero Leri of "The Condemned of Altona") and his wife Dolores (Dina De Santis of "Romulus and the Sabines"), before they cross a river onto the Valverdate estate of Don Francisco (Renato Navarrini of "The Son of Hercules vs. Venus"), but they don't stop them in time. Moreover, Don Francisco forbids Don Ramiro to cross over and capture them. During this exodus, we see Hercules (Alan Steel) wield a mean quarter staff as he topples several of Don Ramiro's ruffians. Anyway, Don Francisco detests Don Ramiro, but he realizes that the latter has an army assembled. Don Ramiro relinquishes any claim to Felipe and Dolores when Don Francisco's beautiful daughter Dona Blanca (José Greci of "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon") rides up. Don Ramiro gives the newlyweds to Blanca as an admirer. Although they don't an adequate job of explaining this complication, Pierroti and his writers have Don Francisco promise Blanca to Don Ramiro to prevent bloodshed between their families.

When gallant Don Juan (Mimmo Palmara of "Johnny West") returns alone from fighting in the war, he is surprised to learn about his uncle's new marriage plans for Blanco. Incidentally, Blanco had promised to marry him before he left for war a year ago. Don Francisco banishes Don Juan after our hero learns Blanco didn't betray him. Gypsies ambush Juan after he leaves Don Francisco's estate. The leader of the gypsies, Estella, pits Juan in a knife fight against Hercules. The two adversaries battle to a stand-off. Estella befriends Juan, and he joins Hercules and the gypsies. Meanwhile, Ramiro arrives at Don Francisco's and skewers him in a duel. Later, Juan learns from Estrella at her gypsy camp that Don Ramiro has killed Don Francisco and is holding Dona Blanca. Juan convinces Estrella (Pilar Cansino of "Revolt of the Mercenaries"), to help Dona Blanca. Estrella helps Juan because she suspects Ramiro killed her husband. During a festive celebration, Estella, Hercules, and the gypsies enter Don Ramiro's estate to perform. Before Estella's fateful dance, Ramiro pays her to put a spell on Blanca. Estella relieves Blanca about her fears about Juan. During the dance, Estella and her gypsies nearly kill Ramiro in a ceremony when they hurl knives into the air. Blasco rescues Estella from Ramiro's torturous rack. It seems Blasco saved Ramiro's life so Ramiro spares Estella. Ramiro demands Blasco capture the "misbegotten cavalier with a mask." Ramiro warns Blasco he plans to hang Estella if he doesn't bring back the Masked Rider. Of course, Juan and Blasco team up to defeat Ramiro. Nevertheless, Juan winds up putting his head into the noose before he has a showdown on a balcony with Ramiro in a sword fight to the death!

An unusual cross-fertilization of genres, "Hercules and the Masked Rider" isn't the only example of this kind of hybrid storytelling. "The Witch's Curse" transported its peplum hero to another distant time setting. The casual negligence with which Pierotti and his scenarists treat these legendary genre characters by loosing them from the confines of their separate time periods so they can collaborate is as imaginative as it is contrived. Juan appears as Zorro three times and carves a scar in Ramiro's face during their first encounter. Meantime, DeRiso was no stranger to peplums. He wrote several other Hercules epics, including "Hercules Against the Moon Men," "Hercules Against Rome," and "Hercules and the Black Pirate." He wrote "Giant of Evil Island" for Pierotti, too. An uncredited Ernesto Gastaldi contributed to the screenplay; he specialized in Giallo murder mysteries and Spaghetti westerns like "My Name is Nobody" and "The Price of Power." Luciano wrote at least three peplums, "Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus," "Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon" and "Hercules Against the Barbarians."

Altogether, "Hercules and the Masked Rider" isn't as good as either a conventional stand-alone "Hercules" or "Zorro" movie. Pierotti keeps the action moving ahead so the film doesn't bog down in its own complications. Hercules is constantly outnumbered but triumphant. Nonetheless, a competent cast, scenic surroundings, and an energetic musical score cannot compensate for the predictable script with its shortage of surprises.

FILM REVIEW OF "HERCULES" (Italian-1958)

Anybody who enjoyed this larger-than-life mythological adventure should know that “Attila” director Pietro Francisci’s “Hercules” (***1/2 out of ****) spawned the sword and sandal genre. These films constituted a sub-genre of the Hollywood historical epic, and the stories occurred either during classical antiquity in Greece and Rome or Biblical times in other Mediterranean locales. Basically, these European produced films featured a brawny, footloose warrior as the protagonist who performs incredible feats of strength that enabled him to destroy supernatural monsters, topple evil tyrants and free enslaved peoples. Sometimes, the hero was a gladiator like the Kirk Douglas hero in “Spartacus.” Often, the hero’s name varied when these films arrived in America. The muscular champion was called Hercules, Samson, Goliath or he was a son of Hercules with an entirely different name. In Italy, however, the strongman hero was always known as Maciste.

Although “Hercules” was the first of some 300 sword and sandal sagas to follow until the Spaghetti western eclipsed the genre around 1964, the Italians had been producing sword and sandal movies long before “Hercules.” One of the first major silent films, director Giovanni Pastrone’s “Cabiria” appeared in 1914 and concerned the abduction of the eponymous little girl that pirates kidnapped during an eruption of Mount Etna during the third century B.C. A Roman spy and his mesomorphic muscle-bound slave Maciste rescued Cabiria. Aside from revitalizing a moribund genre, Francisci’s “Hercules” is notable not only for its star, bodybuilder Steve Reeves of “Mr. Universe” fame, but also for lenser Mario Bava and his splendid widescreen pictorial compositions as well as his atmospheric lightning. Bava’s photography is nothing short of brilliant. His cameras are always in the best place to capture the action. Reeves went on to star in several more pepla, and Bava later helmed “Hercules in the Haunted World.” “Hercules Unchained” with Reeves and co-star Sylva Koscina followed “Hercules.”

Aesthetically, “Hercules” qualifies as an above-average effort for the genre. Francisci and his scenarists derived their screenplay from Apollonius of Rhodes’ Greek epic poem "Argonautica" that dealt with Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. In this film, Hercules literally usurps Jason as the hero when in reality the son of Jupiter played a peripheral role in the exploit. British director Don Chaffey helmed the best cinematic version of the Golden Fleece myth in 1963 with his exciting “Jason and the Argonauts” that boasted the superb stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen. One of the problems with “Hercules” is that Jason recovers the fleece rather too easily from a giant reptile that sleeps near the tree where the fleece hangs. Reeves has a few uncomfortable moments when he goes on the rampage, literally blowing his cool, and sounds a mite unbelievable. Mind you, this was the bodybuilder’s first starring role so he can be forgiven. Francisci plays everything straight down the line, except for the campy monster guarding the Golden Fleece that Jason tries to retrieve. Of course, some of the hand-to-hand combat scenes where Hercules tangles with livestock such as a lion and a bison looks staged. Typically, the animal trainer would substitute for the star or the director would orchestrate the fights so ersatz animal heads and paws could be used. Consequently, while it is an entertaining escapism, “Hercules” isn’t as much hokum as later strong man sagas. Indeed, "Hercules" concerns murder in the palace; a princess who fears the truth about her father

"Hercules" became a blockbuster during its North American release and the success of the film in the United States can be attributed to Joseph E Levine. According to A.T. McKenna in his thesis “Joseph E. Levine: Showmanship, Reputation and Industrial Practice 1945 - 1977,” “Hercules” made Levine an “industry big shot.” After every Hollywood studio passed on Francisci's film, Levine bought the film for a modest $120,000, dubbed in English dialogue, and changed the title from "The Labors of Hercules" to simply "Hercules." Levine's folly wound up raking in a fortune from its U.S. release and sequels that followed. Levine pioneered 'saturation' booking and opened "Hercules" in 600 theaters. According to the Turner Classic Movies website, this method of opening a movie was "unheard of" in the 1950s. Levine relied on radio and television advertising to arouse the public's curiosity and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. “I had no misgivings about Hercules,” Levine explained to the media. “It had something for everybody. It had a dragon for kids, musclemen for growing boys, a shipwreck scene for waiters and clerks. Who doesn’t dream of getting stuck on an island with some broads? And the picture had Steve Reeves. He appealed to women.” Gordon Scott, Gordon Mitchell, Ed Fury, Dan Vadis, Mark Forest, Reg Park and other American bodybuilders went to Europe to star in these films. Inevitably, continental bodybuilders took umbrage because of the reliance by their own producers and directors on Americans when just as many suitable muscle-bound specimens resided in Italy, the foremost being Alan Steel.

“Hercules” unfolds with a venerable scene straight out of an old western. A beautiful woman, Princess Iole (Sylva Koscina of "Michael Strogoff"), shatters the afternoon calm when we loses control of a pair of horses hauling her chariot. She scatters a herd of goats. Francisci cuts to a close-up of tree roots being torn out of the ground and shows Hercules (Steve Reeves of “Jailbait”) hurl the tree it into the path of the runaway horses. “I thank the gods for providing me such a strong man when I needed him,” Iole says. Hercules carries her from the chariot and sets her on a rock. “I’ll admit that the sight of those runaway horses had me worried about you.” Hercules suspects Iole is royalty from the standard on her chariot. As it turns out, Iola is the daughter of King Pelias of Iolcus (Ivo Garrani of "Roland the Mighty"), and our hero is in route to train Pelias’ son Prince Iphitus (Mimmo Palmara of “Attila”) in the art of warfare. Iole furnishes Hercules with a brief history of her father’s suspicious rise to power, the death of his brother the king, and the thief of the Golden Fleece. Afterward, Hercules accompanies Iola back to the palace. An impulsive, arrogant young man, Iphitus hates Hercules. When a lion terrorizes the land, Hercules slays the beast. Iphitus interferes with Hercules, and the lion kills Iphitus before Hercules can kill it. A grief-stricken Pelias tells Hercules the only way that he can redeem himself is to kill the Cretan bull.

Hercules believes that Pelias has treated him unfairly and he goes to the temple of The Sybil (Lidia Alfonsi of “"Hercules vs. the Hydra") to demand an explanation. During the conversation, Hercules reveals that he wants to shed his immortality and be like mortal men so that he can love Iola and have a family. The gods release Hercules from his immortality and he praises them. Before he can kill the bull, Hercules spots a young man crouched over the body of a dying man. Hercules kills the bull after a brief struggle; essentially, he slams two lethal blows with his fist into the bull’s head. Later, he follows the young man to a cave and discovers his old friend Chironi (Afro Poli of “Tosca”) has been gored by the bull and lies dying. Chironi brings Hercules up to date about the disappearance of the Golden Fleece and how Jason and he left the country with it but lost it. Chironi hid the Golden Fleece in an oak tree before they sailed back home. Before Chironi dies, he explains that the mystery of the king’s death can be solved by reading an inscription written in the Golden Fleece. The dying Chironi entrusts Jason (Fabrizio Mioni of “"Roland the Mighty") to Hercules’ care. During their journey back to the palace, Hercules and Jason encounter a woman trying to cross a river with her three daughters. She doesn’t want them to get wet and she entreats our heroes to help her. While Jason is helping two daughters across the river, he loses a sandal. Hercules remembers that a man with one sandal will take Pelias’ kingdom away from him. Jason treats the loss of the sandal as no big deal.

Pelias gives Hercules three months to bring back the Golden Fleece to prove that Jason is the rightful heir to the throne. Ulysses (Gabriele Antonini of “"Head of a Tyrant") and his father Laertes (Andrea Fantasia of “War and Peace”), the shipbuilder Argos (Aldo Fiorelli of "The Barbarians"), the twins Castor (Fulvio Carrara of “"Hercules Unchained") and Pollux (Willi Colombini of "Odessa in Flames"), the lyre-strumming Orpheus (Gino Mattera of "Faust and the Devil"), the physician Aesculapius (Gian Paolo Rosmino of “Il fanciullo del West”) and others accompany Jason and Hercules on a long, rough sea voyage on the ship Argos. One of those others is the treacherous Eurysteus who is King Pelias’ spy and troublemaker. After a storm that frightens the men enough to prompt Eurysteus to lead a mutiny, our heroes land on an island of gorgeous Amazon women. Initially, the women are helpful to the starving sailors and allow them to replenish their store of supplies. Later, however, the women try to kill them with poisoned wine, but the men outsmart them. Eventually, our heroes make it to the island of Colchis and fight with a tribe of hairy ape-men. Meantime, Jason reclaims the Golden Fleece after an encounter with a dragon. Just as Chironi had told them, the answer to the mystery of the king’s death is revealed. When the Argos docks in Pelias killed his brother. Jason becomes the rightful ruler of Iolcus, Pelias’s henchman Eurysteus (Arturo Dominici of "Yvonne of the Night") snatches the Golden Fleece so that Jason has no evidence to present to the King. Pelias imprisons Hercules, but the strong man escapes after ripping the chains out of the wall meant to restrain him. Hercules wraps the chains around Eurysteus’ neck and kills him. Afterward, he stops Pelias' cavalry by looping the chains around the palace portico and bringing it down upon them like Samson did to the Philistines. The vanquished Pelias swallows poison and Jason wins the throne back. “Hercules” ends with Iole and he walking away arm in arm.