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More an Arabian Nights adventure than a "Hercules" movie, this minor entry in the Sword-and-Sandal cycle lacks the verve, polish, and tongue-in-cheek humor needed to lift it above the level of the "forgettable." While the casting of Kirk Morris might lead one to expect generous servings of "beefcake," his initial appearance is the only scene in which he appears completely bare-chested. After that he's usually seen in a bolero jacket which shows off his arms and stomach but which, unfortunately, makes him look more like a comic side-kick than a two-fisted hero. Also, despite expectations to the contrary, Morris is not subjected to one of those torturous tests-of-strength which showcases his musculature in a bondage situation replete with homoerotic imagery. Instead, he's simply thrown into a pit with an irritated rhino -- a sequence which must have seemed better on paper than it proves to be on film. While not a bad movie -- it's passably entertaining in a Saturday matinée sort of way -- fans of this genre in general and of Kirk Morris in particular are advised to look for their satisfaction elsewhere.

During a ceremony Ganor (Mario Feliciani) , the Devil of the Desert , coordinates the murder of the sultan of Baghdad, killing and enslaving the citizens of his kingdom in a plot to usurp the throne. Nearly killing his son Daikor (Manuel Gallardo) , Ganor has him thrown in a dungeon and dominates the daughter Soraya to make her his wife . As Ganor proclaims himself as the legitimate heir of the kingdom. Refusing his advances, Soraya (Michele Girardon of Hatari !) jumps from a palace window into a river. She survives and is saved by Anthar (Kirk Morris) and his mute friend while out fishing. After explaining her story, Anthar is ambushed by the soldiers of slave merchant Akrim. As Soraya is captured once again and sold as a slave girl by Akrim, the Slave Merchant (José Jaspe) . Anthar rescues her again , and learns from an envoy that her brother is still alive . Anthar sneaks into the city , but is trapped in the process. Meantime Daikor incites the mountain tribes still faithful to Soraya to attack and reclaim Baghdad . As the new king is a villain ruler who leads wars merely to expand his territory . During a fierce battle, Anthar and Ganor carry out a duel inside a magic maze of mirrors to avenge the king and free Soraya .

This desert adventure is shot in the classic Sword and Sandals style , getting an atmospheric and acceptable direction from Antonio Margheritti . This is one of the many muscle men adventures and Peplum movies who dominated Italian sword-and-sandal epics in the early 60s , including epic battles , struggles , brawls , bizarre scenarios , damsels in distress and being quite entertaining . The plot is notoriously formulaic with desert battles , freeing slaves , restoring the throne to rightful ruler , fighting evil kings and anything else . The picture was well starred by Kirk Morris as the hero who's pitted against a ruthless desert ruler . In fact this ¨Anthar l'invincibile(1964) results to be an exciting and moving Kirk Morris vehicle with exotic setting in similar style to ¨Miguel Lluch's Falcon of the desert¨. He often dyed his pompadour-styled hair blond and he had a slight , sulky resemblance to Elvis Presley. Italian Kirk Morris -born Adriano Bellini- was born in the late 1930s and plucked from the canals of Venice for his go at moviedom . A gondolier when discovered by an Italian movie producer, he was deemed a perfect speciman to showcase their spectacles and a fitting hero to help offset the silly special effects and ridiculously dubbed dialogue and he was one of the very few Italian bodybuilders to achieve stardom in the sword and sandal/mythological . This also made him one of the few leading performers who was able to speak the Italian dialog from the script. Morris eventually migrated to the United States where he went into the advertising field . Years later he returned to his local Italy . If one must try to distinguish Kirk from the rest of the mythical bodybuilders such as Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott , Alan Steel or Sergio Ciani , Richard Harrison , Dan Vadis, Reg Park , Rock Stevens , Brad Harris , among others . All of them performed mythological figures , such as : Hercules, Samson, Maciste , Rocha among others . Kirk portrayed Maciste, one of the sons of Hercules, in several other movies as Maciste contro Ercole nella valle dei guai (1961), Maciste in Hell (1962) , Maciste contro i cacciatori di teste (1963), Maciste alla corte dello zar (1964) and La valle dell'eco tonante (1964). The mythological plots, usually set in ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome, and here in Arabia and defeating life-threatening monsters , beasts , wildlife , sorcerers, witches and demons. While his hero's name often changed, Kirk's mission was almost always the same to save unfortunate people. He portrayed Samson in The knight from Pardaillan (1962); Samson Against the Pirates (1963) , Hercules himself in Hércules versus Sansón (1963); Sandar Khan in I predoni della steppa (1964), Anthar, son of Hercules in Soraya, queen of the desert, Nadir in Il dominatore del deserto (1964) , Maciste, Avenger of the Mayans(1965). Besides , being Spain/French/ Italian co-productiong appearing actors from Spain as : Manuel Gallardo , José Jaspe , French : Michele Girardon and Italians as Mario Feliciani, Tanya Lopert , Roberto Dell'Acqua and special mention for prolific player Renato Baldini as nasty tyrant.

It contains a colorful cinematography by Spanish cameraman Alejandro Ulloa who photographed the classic Horror Express , though a perfect remastering being really necessary because of the film copy is washed-out . Shot on gorgeous locations in Algeria : exteriors, desert scenes and battles and interior in Incir De Paolis, Rome, Lazio. The motion picture was professionally directed by craftsman Antonio Margheritti . Thie latter was an artisan who made all kinds of genres : Adventure , Comedy , Thriller , Drama , horror , Giallo , etc. Anthonio often was assisted by his son : Edoardo Margheriti who usually served as second unit filmmaker . Antonio often used pseudonym Anthony M Dawson, he was born in Italy 1930 and passed away in 2002 . Italian writer director of horror and exploitation films, a former university engineering student who began shooting in 1956 . Antonio directs with ordinary aplomb and being especially known for films as Yor, Virus and Horror castle. He was specialist in model-making, optical effects , FX, miniature as floods, scale models and explosions . He directed all kinds of genres such as wartime : ¨The last hunter¨, ¨Tornado¨, ¨Codename Wild Geese¨, ¨Der Commander¨, ¨Command Leopard¨ . Sci-Fi : ¨War of planets¨ , ¨Planet of the prowl¨, ¨Criminal of the galaxy¨, ¨Yor the hunter from the future¨, ¨Treasure planet¨ . Spaghetti Western as ¨Joko¨,¨Dynamite Joe¨, ¨The stranger and the gunfighter¨, ¨Take a hard ride¨, ¨Ghosts go west¨, ¨Joe implacable¨, ¨God said to Cain¨ . Terror as ¨Virgin of Nuremberg¨, ¨Cannibal Apocalypse¨, ¨Alien from deep¨, ¨Flesh for Frankenstein¨. Action : ¨Operation Goldman¨, ¨Indio¨, ¨The squeeze¨, ¨Cyberflic¨. Rating : 5/10 . Acceptable and passable , but mediocre . The yarn wiill appeal to adventure enthusiasts.

I always include a number of "Peplums" in my Easter epic viewing but, so far, I have only met with disappointment despite the credentials of those involved! The English moniker of this one muddles its pedigree by making an Arabian Nights fantasy seem like a typical mythological effort: indeed, leading man Kirk Morris is ostensibly muscle-bound and dubbed Anthar The Invincible (the film's original title) and, frankly, he could well have gone by any other name since his characterization offers nothing at all new to what he was given to do as Maciste, or any other legendary hero, for that matter!

The two villains we saw in the same director's THE GOLDEN ARROW (1962) virtually reprise their roles here, which further adds to the lack of novelty on display; even more slapdash is the fact that the protagonist is alternately identified as unfamiliar and a known threat to his adversaries! I guess I should point out that Morris battles a rhinoceros at a later stage in the proceedings, and the chief baddie has a hall of mirrors installed in a room of his castle (or, rather, that of the ruler he killed to usurp his throne). The female lead, then, is a Princess – played by French actress Michele Girardon, who had come down quite a bit from roles in films by Luis Bunuel and Howard Hawks! – who manages to escape his clutches (he being ever so clumsy in his approach to romantic persuasion) and saved from drowning by Morris and his dumb boyish sidekick (whom he simply calls "Mute"!), who naturally take up her cause at the bat of an eyelid…given that, apparently, they have no life to speak of!!

This review is of the US TV print, THE DEVIL OF THE DESERT AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, which is probably edited. For some reason, a number of the sword-and-sandal films starring Kirk Morris put him in varied settings--Scotland, Atlantis,the Steppes of Russia, a generic "Arabic" setting. This one is set in the latter and does have some nice North African location shooting in a few scenes. It's the usual story of the daughter of nobility whose father is slain by an evil tyrant and who is sold into slavery, only to be saved by an honest, strong, brave man of common origin but renowned among the common people. Morris, who doesn't enter the film for at least ten minutes as the problem is established, is not usually given a lot of pages of dialogue in his films, and that's true here too, but like any stoic hero he doesn't need to say much because his actions speak louder than words and because all the words he speaks are of significance. The director here is Anthony Dawson/Antonio Marghetti, who has done many classics in the Italian Western and Horror fields. Here, he provides many unexpected visuals and keeps the pace moving quickly. The set design is vivid and unusual throughout also. This is an above average peplum film, fortunately in color (many US TV prints of sword and sandal films are B&W versions of films originally made and shown in Europe in color). I expect that someday these films will come to DVD in unedited form, letter boxed, in sparkling transfers, with original credits, such as has been done to Mario Bava horror films and various Italian westerns. But that day isn't here yet, so until then check the internet for VHS copies. If you like the genre, this one is worth seeing for the offbeat setting and the exciting pace. PS, Morris' mute sidekick is usually called Amute, but in one scene he is called, twice, something that sounds like "mosquito." Is that an Italian diminutive term of affection or a character name? Anyone know?

Typical early 60's Italian-Spanish-French made sword-and-sandal film. Anthor, yet another son of Hercules, helps out a princess escaping the rout of her people after a desert baddie takes over her kingdom. Lots of running around and skirmishes between the good guys and the bad guys. The DVD-R I viewed was pretty good quality. Would be nice to see these peplum films re-mastered and released to DVD (not DVD-R). Recommended for fans of the genre.

In this adventure the plot moves along, it make sense, good color cinematography and music. I originally thought this was black and white because I saw the trailer on a dvd ago and it was in b&W, oddly so am surprised to find this in color. I would have liked to have monsters in here but for what it is is good. I like the monsters in Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules but this shows enough Kingdom intrigue without making it boring, but interesting. Now I do sense this is one of the very required for sword and sandal fans. The Devil of the title is just a guy with a Devilish face who invades kingdom making himself king but there's some hint of magic use about a room of 'magic glass' and he knows the 'secret of reflection' where he lures people into a hall of mirrors and the person gets lost and confused which is the real reflection until he annihilates them personally, this is a trope that's been used in other movies but interesting this movie does this first.Some parts is where did they get the rebel army to retake the kingdom, out of nowhere. Also when the hero sneaks with horse up to the kingdom gates, the horse is a decoy while he appears near the gates while guards inspect the wandering horse, how does Anthar get to the gates, I assume ehe is hiding behind the riding horse as shown he manuesavers behind, but must get off and goes up to the gates, probably this. The beginning for the first couple of minutes no one talks just action which is amusing.

Adriano BELLINI aka Kirk MORRIS was one of the few Italian bodybuilders who landed leading roles in CINECITTA's sandal films. In this peplum with oriental flair he plays Anthar(es), who helps a beautiful king's daughter (Michele GIRARDON / the Brandy from HATARI!) in her fight against various villains.

It's not really innovative in terms of content, but there are a lot of very entertaining fight scenes to see. A fight between the muscleman and a rhino is original, and at the end it goes into a mysterious hall of mirrors. Roberto DellACQUA (1946-2019), who comes from a well-known family of acrobats who appeared in several CINECITTA films, can be seen as the hero's silent helper. Roberto later became known primarily as a sauce devil fighting against Bud SPENCER.

Not an outstanding contribution to the genre, but you can certainly take a look!