For those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s, those days when you were limited to three channels only on TV (4 of 5 if you lived near a city with independent stations) what we were able to view wasn’t much compared to now. In addition to that there were no VCRs, no DVRs and no streaming services to see your favorite movies on. It sound primitive to kids of today. In spite of that this made watching a movie more exciting and more an event than it is today. Today movies are as disposable as a tissue.
Because of our attitude at the time when a movie came on TV we waited for it to come over the airwaves for us to enjoy. And in a time when corporate conglomerates weren’t racing to capture the rights to every movie out there, we had two special time to watch genre films. The first was late nights on Friday or Saturday when the local horror host unspooled the classic monster of yesterday. The second was Saturday afternoons when we had the chance to watch the Bowery Boys, Sherlock Holmes and the ever popular sword and sandal movies that had filled drive-in screens.
It was on those Saturday afternoons when I caught my first glimpse of those sword and sandal movies. Each week Hercules or Samson or one of their many offspring faced off against tyrants and monsters. Most of these films were made in Italy and poorly dubbed but it didn’t matter. I was watching mythological heroes taking on the things I’d only read about.
So why discuss all of this? Because it gives some background into why I was not only anxious but pleased when I watched HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN just released by The Film Detective. I didn’t recall this particular movie but there is the chance I saw it in my childhood. Watching it now brought back memories of seeing these films with my uncle after having mowed his yard and how I enjoyed them.
The film opens with a catastrophic event affecting Greece. An argument among rulers leaves only Androcles with the intent to sail to the edge of the world to save them all. The only problem is no one will go with him, including his friend Hercules (British strong man Reg Park) who wants to do nothing more than settle down with his wife. So what does Androcles do? He drugs Hercules, hire an unscrupulous group of thieves and cutthroats and their boat and sets sail. In addition to that Androcles has brought along his trusted servant the dwarf Timoteo and Hercules son Hylas.
When Hercules awakes he isn’t upset. He simply naps on the ship’s deck. Just to make sure he doesn’t get angry, Androcles has Hylas hidden in the lower part of the ship. When their water supply is sabotaged the ship stops at an island to replenish their water. In reality this was a planned mutiny with the crew planning to take out their passengers. Hercules takes out the crew and he and Androcles take over the boat and set sail. It is only then that he discovers Hylas onboard.
A strange storm crashes the ship, tearing it apart and scattering those on board. Hercules wakes to find a woman encased in the rock formation near the beach of the island he lands on. Intended as a sacrifice to the monster Proteus, he defeats the monster and saves her. He learns that she is Princess Ismene, the daughter of Antinea, the queen of Atlantis.
Returning to her mother Ismene introduced her to Hercules. Palace intrigue, the imprisoning of Hercules son and friends and plans to rule the world soon come to light. Can Hercules and his friends prevent this from happening?
While watching this film I was honestly surprised at how good it was. And I’m not just talking about the quality of the production though that was impressive as well. What really surprised me was the story, dialogue and acting was far better than I remembered from these films. In the 80s these movies were popping up on video in terrible reproductions and perhaps that’s why I thought that. But this presentation not only showed me how quality a film it was but that it was entertaining and enjoyable as a film in itself. Maybe my taste in films as a child was better than I realized!
The Film Detective has done and AMAZING job with this film. The look of the film is stupendous with a clarity of image that I’d never seen before in any of these films. In addition to that they’ve included some seriously wonderful extras. Those include “Hercule and the Conquest of Cineman: A Sword and Sandals Documentary”, audio commentary by film critic Tim Lucas, “The Duel of the Titans” a full color insert booklet with an essay by C. Courtney Joyner, an introduction by MST3K writer and co-star Frank Conniff and the full feature Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) version of the film. Wow!
After watching this my first thought was how much I enjoyed it. My second was hoping that The Film Detective has the chance to go back and rescue all of those wonderful sword and sandal movies that seem to be buried in the vaults around the world or found only in cheap, sloppy version rushed to make a buck. I would love to see the Steve Reeves Hercules films or the various sons of Hercules movies this way to truly appreciate them. Who knows, with the success of this release maybe they’ll do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment