The 1950s and 60s saw the Italian film industry crawl out of the literal ashes of what it had become due to WWII. The first movies to get noticed abroad were the Neo-Realist films of directors like De Sica and Rosellini. And soon after, the films of Fellini. All these films were a bit on the artsy side and critics generally adored them...but they weren't exactly designed for the average viewer.
The next waves of Italian films which made a fortune abroad were NOT exactly arsty...in fact, they were the farthest you could get from these art films!! I am talking about the muscle-bound hero films. Some starred a hero named Maciste, some Hercules, and some others named him Samson...though they were really all the same sort of film despite the hero's name. In each, a super-muscley guy runs about the ancient world kicking baddies' butts and the plots aren't exactly deep or life-changing. No, they were strong, mean and were there to dispense justice! Interestingly, many of these heroes were not even Italians...with the likes of body builders Mickey Hargitay, Peter Lupus and Steve Reeves playing the leads.
I mention all this because "Ercole al centro della Terra" ("Hercules in the Haunted World") is one of these movies...with Hercules fighting to help his lady love to regain her senses, as evil has put a sort of spell upon her. It stars Reg Park, a Brit who came in second to Steve Reeves in the Mr. Universe competition. So, if you cannot get Reeves, get the next best thing! And, while I wouldn't consider Park to be a great actor, he was perfect in the role as he is gorgeous and looked the part in this movie.
Through much of the story, no one has any idea who the evil guy is who is responsible for the woman's insanity. Audiences today will know instantly, because King Lico is played by Christopher Lee*...a guy well known for playing monsters and villainous sorts. But can Hercules realize this in time...or will it be too late?!
Unlike many of the earlier Machiste/Hercules/Samson films, this one is shot in beautiful full color and looks really nice. Having the experienced and top director, Mario Bava, in the helm no doubt helped to make the film look great. As for the story, it's not exactly great (one of the monsters is pretty funny when seen today) but it is better and more enjoyable than most Sword and Sandal flicks I've seen. So, if you haven't seen one, this is a good place to start.
*In most of these Italian films, they needed to do a lot of dubbing. The leads often were non-Italians and the assumption in the 1960s was that non-Italians would not watch a subtitled movie. So this meant that a large dubbing industry needed to be created. The problem is that in some cases, they didn't even bother having the non-Italians do their own voices for the films to be marketed in their own countries. In this case, Christopher Lee is dubbed by some unknown guy, which must have been done to save money, as Lee was a polyglot and could have done a nice job doing both the Italian and English language versions. In fact, he did French and German language films in which he spoke in their native tongue on the original print and dubbed himself into English as well.
The next waves of Italian films which made a fortune abroad were NOT exactly arsty...in fact, they were the farthest you could get from these art films!! I am talking about the muscle-bound hero films. Some starred a hero named Maciste, some Hercules, and some others named him Samson...though they were really all the same sort of film despite the hero's name. In each, a super-muscley guy runs about the ancient world kicking baddies' butts and the plots aren't exactly deep or life-changing. No, they were strong, mean and were there to dispense justice! Interestingly, many of these heroes were not even Italians...with the likes of body builders Mickey Hargitay, Peter Lupus and Steve Reeves playing the leads.
I mention all this because "Ercole al centro della Terra" ("Hercules in the Haunted World") is one of these movies...with Hercules fighting to help his lady love to regain her senses, as evil has put a sort of spell upon her. It stars Reg Park, a Brit who came in second to Steve Reeves in the Mr. Universe competition. So, if you cannot get Reeves, get the next best thing! And, while I wouldn't consider Park to be a great actor, he was perfect in the role as he is gorgeous and looked the part in this movie.
Through much of the story, no one has any idea who the evil guy is who is responsible for the woman's insanity. Audiences today will know instantly, because King Lico is played by Christopher Lee*...a guy well known for playing monsters and villainous sorts. But can Hercules realize this in time...or will it be too late?!
Unlike many of the earlier Machiste/Hercules/Samson films, this one is shot in beautiful full color and looks really nice. Having the experienced and top director, Mario Bava, in the helm no doubt helped to make the film look great. As for the story, it's not exactly great (one of the monsters is pretty funny when seen today) but it is better and more enjoyable than most Sword and Sandal flicks I've seen. So, if you haven't seen one, this is a good place to start.
*In most of these Italian films, they needed to do a lot of dubbing. The leads often were non-Italians and the assumption in the 1960s was that non-Italians would not watch a subtitled movie. So this meant that a large dubbing industry needed to be created. The problem is that in some cases, they didn't even bother having the non-Italians do their own voices for the films to be marketed in their own countries. In this case, Christopher Lee is dubbed by some unknown guy, which must have been done to save money, as Lee was a polyglot and could have done a nice job doing both the Italian and English language versions. In fact, he did French and German language films in which he spoke in their native tongue on the original print and dubbed himself into English as well.