Hercules and the Captive Women (1963)

the audience applauded

That was an excellent one.

Overrated

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

After a particularly hard night on the sauce, Hercules, his son, and their dwarf sidekick are returning home when the sky turns red and someone warns them that an unknown threat from an unknown land threatens all of Greece from a place no one has ever returned from.Taking this most vague of threats very seriously, Herc and the leaders of Greece hold a conference to discuss what to do about it. Only Herc's mate Androclo offers to take his army and see what's going down, and for some reason Herc declares he isn't going and then destroys Androclo's throne for no reason whatsoever! Probably just a side effect of necking too many Aberdare tic-tacs I'd imagine.Of course Herc's own son gives Herc some drugged wine and both of them end up on Androclo's ship with their dwarf sidekick for good measure. This is the point when Androclo declares that he hasn't got an army and everyone on board the ship is a cheap pirate he picked up to work for him (and yes, they rebel and Herc leaves them on an island for their troubles).After an awful lot of fannying about the film decides to become mental for a few minutes as Herc has a square go with the shape changing God Proteus! Proteus also has the Queen of Atlantis' daughter as a sacrifice but before Herc can rescue her he's go to deal with Proteus, who changes from an old man, to a lizard monster, to some flames, then into a snake that attacks Herc, then into a lion that attacks Herc, then into a vulture that attacks Herc, then back to a lizard monster…that attacks Herc! The Queen of Atlantis shows her appreciation for having her daughter rescued by having her daughter taken away and put to death (she's rescued by Herc's son and dwarf sidekick, who gets to impale a guy with a spear). This is when things get a bit draggy as the plot splits in two, with Herc drinking more bloody drugged booze, fending off the Queen's advances, and hearing the word Uranus a lot, and Herc's son falling in love with that chick and finding a quarry full of mutants. Androclo also becomes insane by this point in a story that bored me while I watched it, so let's forget about that.That seems like an awful lot of plot and doesn't even include the clone army, the glowing Uranus rock, people saying Uranus all the time: "Uranus rules over all!", and the massive fight between the mutants and the clone army that results in the deaths of every single mutant. The pacing of this film is very erratic but the body count is through the roof as Herc manages not only to destroy the Queen, but also her clone army, her regular army, every single person living on Atlantis and the entire land of Atlantis itself. And still makes it home for dinner.Why does Hercules just drink everything he's given without question? I've seen him drugged this way in every single Herc film I've watched I think. He's drugged up twice in this film alone! One of these days someone's going to give him a cup of pish, just for a laugh.

An epic peplum adventure film. considered by many to be one of the best of its genre - it's certainly the one of the most beautifully-shot and well-made of them all, with colourful locations and crisp, gorgeous locations, plus interesting costume design and great sets. Made on an obviously bigger budget than most, this is a delightful film which is gorgeous to look at and should appeal to children and adults alike. While some of the special effects may seem cheesy to a modern crowd, they nonetheless contain an air of spectacle and magic that later, more complex special effects work couldn't hope to capture. The plot is predictable stuff involving an evil queen (as always) who rules over the lost city, but is enlivened with imaginative scenes like an army of identical men and an excellent scene where Hercules battles a shape-shifting god, Proteus.Reg Park, star of HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD, once again reprises the role of the legendary Hercules who is actually based on myth for a change, instead of just being another Italian musclemen. His Hercules is an exceptionally lazy brute who can hardly be bothered to take part in the action when it happens - a deeply flawed character who still manages to come through in the end. This gives his character an added dimension, making him more of an interesting lead. Although Park's acting skills are severely limited as always, he more than makes up for this with his impressive bulk.Initially the film is pretty slow, with lots of court intrigue following on from an excellent staged bar-room brawl with lots of props being smashed. However, when Hercules and his pals set sail to conquer an unknown foe, the fun really begins. He's accompanied by a not-too-irritating dwarf sidekick known as Timoteo, his weakling son and King Androcles, a mutual friend who is desperate for the strongman's help. When the crew of cut-throats attempt mutiny, Hercules singlehandedly pulls the boat back to shore! Just one of the many incredible feats of strength portrayed throughout the movie, which include the usual bar-bending, rock-throwing, and guard-fighting action, all well-done.Things start getting eerie when Androcles and Hercules are both swept overboard during a freak storm. Hercules wakes up floating on a raft in a sea of mist (very impressively done) and sees a vision of Androcles crying out for help. He discovers a weird red island and a girl melded into the rock face (a very weird, not 100% successful special effect). Holding her captive (hence the title) is Proteus, a shape-shifting god who assumes the form of a lizard man (cheesy but cool), burning flames, a huge snake, a lion and an eagle. Hercules must fight each incarnation in turn before ripping off the lizard man's horn, killing the God for good. He rescues a girl, an Italian stunner as usual, and discovers the lost island of Atlantis hidden behind a sea mist.Atlantis is ruled by the lovely-but-cruel Queen Antinea, who repeatedly attempts to kill her daughter due to a prophecy which says she will only die when her daughter is freed. Hercules meets Androcles but is stunned to discover the man has a whole new personality, and is convinced that he has been living in Atlantis for years! Meanwhile his shipwrecked fans hide out on the island and rescue the Queen's daughter from a certain death. Hercules is initially seduced by the Queen but breaks free from her spell and frees a pit of slaves on the island. A battle ensues which leaves the slaves massacred, and in a great pan we see the littered corpses strewn around the steps of the palace - a sudden, solemn and surprisingly affecting moment.Hercules and his son are taken prisoner in the palace and thrown into a memory-loss room but manage to escape by lifting the rapidly-lowering ceiling! Hercules battles with an army of super-strong identical soldiers (great scene) and escapes to a nearby mountain. He tears a rock from the roof, whereby a shaft of sunlight hits the evil man-changing rock of death and causes the dormant volcano to erupt. Hercules and his friends escape by ship as the city is destroyed behind them, buried under tons of rubble.I love the way they throw every cliché in the book (and a few surprises) into this film. For example the guard who has failed in his job and who is thrown into an acid pit, turning into a skeleton! Or Antinea's attempt to drug Hercules who is so obviously keeping the liquid in his mouth. There's an expected dance-sequence, a man who kills by swinging rocks, and some weird distorted computer sound effects thrown into the brew for good measure. The supporting cast is excellent, with Luciano Marin and Ettore Manni as strong supporting leads, the friends of Hercules; Fay Spain as the wicked, self-obsessed queen, and the beautiful Laura Efrikian as the queen's unlucky daughter. Mario Petri turns up in a small role as an Atlantan priest who helps Hercules on his quest.HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN is a film packed with spectacle, like the wild scene where Hercules decimates the Queen's guard by propelling a burning chariot into their midst! Or the excellent moment where he fights the magic shape-shifter. There's also the surprising plot twist where you expect an exciting battle scene to occur but the film instead cuts to the dark vision of a bloody massacre - not what you are expecting at all. Sure, the film is cheesy with copious, poorly-inserted stock footage of a volcano eruption popping up at the climax, but its all in good spirit. One of the highlights of the genre and a must-see slice of spectacular Italian exploitation.

In the late 1950s and through the 1960s, an odd sort of film became very popular--Italian strong-man tales set during the classical period. The characters were usually named Hercules, Maciste, Ursus or Samson--and often, due to HORRIBLE dubbing, the same movie might be dubbed so poorly that in one version he's Samson and in another he's Hercules. It seems that the names weren't really that important, nor was the dubbing. What was important is that, at the time, it was cheap to make films in Italy and with some less than expert dubbing, you could sell the film to many different markets...and people, surprisingly, came to see the films even though most of them are pretty terrible. If you see this particular one, you might think it's among the worst--it isn't. In fact, it's pretty typical of the crappy strong-man films.Like so many of these films, a foreign guy stars as the strong dude. However, Reg Park hails from the UK and South Africa--most of these men were Americans in these films. I assume back in those days, Italian men must have been pretty wimpy, because they didn't just use Italian leading men for these roles! Most of the leads were body builders in real life (Park had been Mr. Universe--though I doubt if other planets sent representatives to the competition).As for the plot, this one involves an insane and power-mad queen (also a pretty typical plot--it's the third film like this I've seen and I've only seen about 8 or 10 of the films). And, like the others, she had designs on taking over the entire world and serves an evil god. However, Hercules and his buddy Androcles don't know this--all they know is that they are on a rather pathetic expedition (with practically no men--just a rag-tag group that includes a midget and Herc's son who is a stowaway). The journey is prompted after some soothsayer announces that there is a threat from an army overseas. And, of course this takes our friends to the evil queen--who rules in Atlantis!! The evil queen has three goals. First, to kill her own daughter and anyone else if the mood strikes--including her own henchmen (good henchman are hard to come by--this seems very wasteful). Second, to take over the world. Third, to see if what's inside Hercules' tunic is of Olympian proportions!! It's a pretty standard cliché that the evil queens ALWAYS want a piece of the Herc-meister! Hercules' goal is to find his friend Androcles. Once he does, oddly, Andy doesn't recognize him and even tries to kill him. I'd much prefer if he'd tried to kill the midget. I am NOT anti-midget, but this guy (like the dumb satyr or 'goat boy' from the awful Hercules cartoons of the same era) was just annoying--mostly because his dubbed voice was so dreadful. Eventually, after LOTS of fighting, the city of Atlantis is destroyed by an exploding volcano--and THAT'S how the lost city apparently became lost.Overall, the dubbing was by far the worst part of the film. However, the costumes, sets and action were all pretty lame. In particular, I loved the lameness (or is it 'lamitude'?) of the reptile man who attacked Herc on the first island he came to in the movie. It's so dumb you can't help but laugh. My score of 3 is probably way too generous...but compared to many others in the genre, believe me, it could be MUCH worse (such as "Maciste Vs. the Moon Men"). Perhaps it's good for a laugh, but make sure not to watch too many of these films--your brain probably can't take THAT much!

Brave and mighty Hercules (a fine and affable performance by the brawny Reg Park) and his eager, but naive buddy Androcles (the solid Ettore Manni) journey across the ocean to the fabled city of Atlantis in order to stop evil Queen Antinea (nicely played with lip-smacking wicked aplomb by the ravishing Fay Spain) from taking over the world with her army of clone soldiers. Director Vittorio Cottafavi, who also co-wrote the eventful and imaginative script with Sandro Continenza, relates the story at a constant steady pace, maintains a serious tone throughout, and stages the exciting action scenes with rip-roaring gusto (the customary rough'n'ready swordfights are especially thrilling). Better still, this film was obviously made with a pretty substantial budget; there's a breathtaking sense of lavish spectacle to the sets and costumes which in turn makes this picture a truly sumptuous visual feast. Carlo Carlini's glorious widescreen cinematography, shot in bright eye-popping color, makes deft use of a frequently moving camera and offers a wealth of striking shots. The suitably sweeping and majestic score by Gino Marinuzzi, Jr. and Armando Trovajoli likewise hits the rousing spot. The earnest and appealing acting from a sound cast rates as another significant asset: Park portrays Hercules with winning good humor and admirable sincerity, Laura Efrikian makes for an extremely fair damsel in distress as Antinea's sweet fetching daughter Ismene, and Salvatore Furnari almost steals the whole show with his delightfully hearty turn as excitable dwarf Timoteo. The fiery mondo destructo conclusion totally rocks; ditto Hercules' battle with a lethal sorcerer who transforms into a hideous humanoid lizard beast. An immensely fun fantasy romp.