le fatiche di ercole
Heralding a decade of Italian-made sword-and-sandal films,
Hercules, as it's been known in the United States since its
1959 release, draws most of its plot from the legend of Jason
and the Golden Fleece.
Hercules, the half-immortal son of Jupiter (or Zeus) rescues
Iole, the daughter of Pelias, the king of Jolco, when the
horses pulling her chariot run wild.
Returning her to the court, he is engaged by Pelias to train
his vain, arrogant son in the use of arms, that he may one
day become a warrior king.
Pelias' hold on power is very uncertain, owing to the way
he became king, his brother, the previous monarch, was murdered
by persons unknown in the palace, and he looks to leave a
dynasty.
The prince is later killed through his own foolishness, however,
and the blame falls on Hercules.
In order to win back the grieving heart of Iole, Hercules
surrenders his immortality and manages to triumph in a savage
test of his strength against the Cretan Bull.
One day, a stranger arrives in Jolco claiming to be Jason,
Pelias' nephew, and son of the murdered king, and the rightful
king.
To prove his claim, he vows to sail to the ends of the Earth
and reclaim the Golden Fleece, the symbol of rightful rule
in Jolco, which was stolen on the night that his father was
murdered.
A crew is assembled that includes various legendary figures
out of Greek mythology, with Hercules at the head of the list.
They survive encounters with sea storms and a predatory race
of women, the machinations of a traitor in their ranks, and
Pelias' treachery, and Jason slays the dragon guarding the
Golden Fleece.
On their return, however, the Fleece is stolen and Hercules
is imprisoned.
Jason and his men are surrounded by Pelias' soldiers and a
battle ensues.
Iole frees Hercules, who comes to the aid of Jason and restores
him to the throne that's rightfully his.
This battle features one of the best action sequences in the
film as Hercules, his wrists still in the shackles and chains
that bound him in Pelias' dungeon, first kills the man who
murdered the old king and then, faced with mounted cavalry
charging him on the steps of the palace, pulls down the pillars
supporting the facade and wipes out the cavalry.
Pelias, unable to contain his own guilt, commits suicide and
Iole, seeing the truth about her father, goes to Hercules
and accepts him as her husband.
Ray Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts, made six years
later, told the same story with far superior effects and a
less conclusive ending, but Hercules is a fun movie in its
own right, and Steve Reeves cuts a stunning figure, even if
his voice is dubbed.
Curiously, there are two different dubbed versions of Hercules
in circulation, one of which (the one that was on television
in the early '60s, and was on the VidAmerica videocassette)
features a simpler range of English dialogue that works better.
The other version occasionally uses more florrid language
(and appeared on the Image Entertainment letterboxed laserdisc),
which doesn't really resonate well.
The giveaway comes in the scene where Hercules prays to Jupiter
at the temple, surrendering his powers.
The simpler, better track has the echoed voice come back the
Cretan Bull awaits.
Cast:
Gianna Maria Canale, Arturo Dominici, Ivo Garrani, Sylva Koscina,
Fabrizio Mioni, Steve Reeves
Director:
Pietro Francisci
ercole e la regina di lidia
Steve Reeves' second (and last) film portrayal of Hercules
is, in certain ways, better than his first.
The plot this time is drawn from the legends surrounding the
royal house of Thebes, which are most familiar to audiences
through the Theban plays of Sophocles.
The movie opens with Hercules, his new bride Iole (Sylva Koscina),
and the young Ulysses (Gabriel Antonini) travelling to Thebes
following the end of the quest for the Golden Fleece (depicted
in the previous movie, Hercules).
Their journey is interrupted when Hercules must do battle
with the giant Anteus (Primo Carnera), whose strength seems
to exceed his own until he realizes that Anteus is the son
of the earth goddess and can't be defeated on land.
On their arrival in Thebes, the trio discovers that the kingdom
is in the midst of civil war, Oedipus (esare Fantoni), the
old king, is dying, and his two sons, Polynices and Eteocles,
are contending for the throne and threatening to destroy each
other and the populace.
Hercules must leave Iole in the hands of one side in order
to try and settle the dispute between the two would-be kings.
While en route between the two armed camps, however, he is
put under the spell of Omphale (Sylvia Lopez), the Queen of
Lydia, who casts out his memory and takes him as a lover,
with Ulysses in tow pretending to be his deaf-mute servant.
Ulysses must figure out how to keep himself alive, restore
Hercules' memory, get them both out of Omphale's grasp before
she tires of Hercules and has him killed (as she has her previous
lovers), and get them both back to Thebes before the kingdom
is burned to the ground.
His solution arrives in the form of his father, Laertes, and
Hercules' companions from his voyage for the Golden Fleece.
They all escape Omphale's clutches and arrive at Thebes as
war has broken out between the two brothers and their armies.
In a spectacular denouement, Hercules brings his chariot into
the middle of the pitched battle, knocking down assault towers
and sweeping cavalry before him to halt the battle.
Peace is finally restored on a bittersweet note as the two
brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, slay each other.
Cast:
Gabriele Antonini, Sylva Koscina, Sylvia Lopez, Steve Reeves
Director:
Pietro Francisci |
