THE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY is an expansively made peplum movie, made at the peak of the genre when the films still had big enough budgets to do their subject matter justice. Certainly this is an authentic-feeling version of the Trojan War story, full of brightly armoured soldiers shining in the sunshine, attractive women at the mercy of their husbands and rulers, and the requisite amount of chariot races and battle sequences.
The narrative begins towards the end of the famous war, after the death of Hector. Troy continues to be besieged by King Agamemnon and the Greeks, including John Drew Barrymore's Ulysses and Arturo Dominici as possibly the weediest Achilles ever put on screen. The Trojans are depicted as the heroes here, managing to win victory against the Greeks time and again thanks to the efforts of the shoehorned-in Steve Reeves, playing Aeneas.
With Reeves as the protagonist there's a definite HERCULES feel to the production, with some extra strongman tasks that I don't remember from the original story. A bit where he goes up against Ajax (played by fellow strongman Mimmo Palmara) is a highlight here, but there's much to enjoy if you ignore the plodding dubbed dialogue. Incredibly enough, it doesn't end too badly for the Trojans, as a sequel (THE LAST GLORY OF TROY) was to follow.
The narrative begins towards the end of the famous war, after the death of Hector. Troy continues to be besieged by King Agamemnon and the Greeks, including John Drew Barrymore's Ulysses and Arturo Dominici as possibly the weediest Achilles ever put on screen. The Trojans are depicted as the heroes here, managing to win victory against the Greeks time and again thanks to the efforts of the shoehorned-in Steve Reeves, playing Aeneas.
With Reeves as the protagonist there's a definite HERCULES feel to the production, with some extra strongman tasks that I don't remember from the original story. A bit where he goes up against Ajax (played by fellow strongman Mimmo Palmara) is a highlight here, but there's much to enjoy if you ignore the plodding dubbed dialogue. Incredibly enough, it doesn't end too badly for the Trojans, as a sequel (THE LAST GLORY OF TROY) was to follow.