Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD stars Gordon Scott as Maciste / Samson, the bipedal piledriver of the title. Set in China, those Mongols are up to mischief again.

Enter Samson, knocking over a tree, and tossing bad guys like dolls, before teaching a sedated -stuffed?- tiger a lesson. This allows him to save an abducted prince. Samson sets out to right the wrongs of Asia, finding ample opportunity to stand around shiny and shirtless in his red mini-skirt.

It's not long before Sam rescues a princess (Yoko Tani) as well! Needless to say, this involves swinging large objects, and tossing men around like packing pellets. Garak (Leonardo Severini), the Mongol leader, is not amused, and causes big trouble for Big S.

A thrilling adventure involving a hermit, death, and a dramatic resurrection unfolds, leading to the dynamite denouement, when Samson sends Mongols flying like dandelion seeds!

Entertaining throughout its running time, this movie rivals the Hercules epics!...

Ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott is the beefcake in this low-budget but exotic sword-and-sandal potboiler, set, oddly enough, in China. The set pieces are convincingly done for a mini-epic of this sort, and Scott appears to have done some amazing stuntwork in a chariot sequence. Les Baxter's recognizable GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS score has been superimposed once again by American International to good effect. One of the better retro-stud peplums for those interested.

It's Gordon Scott who dons the loin cloth here as he tries to save the young Chinese Princess (Yôko Tani) from a fate worse than death. She is the daughter of the murdered Emperor and a much prized asset for the leader of the Mongols (Leonardo Severini) to consolidate his power. Luckily for her, our intrepid hero arrives just in time to save her brother "Tai Sing" (Chu Lai Chit) from a tiger and together with her imperial feistiness they unite with her late father's allies and set off to regain a throne that was brutally usurped. Naturally, "Garak" isn't best pleased that these flies are in his ointment, and with his own scheming "Liu Tai" (Hélène Chanel) and the burly guards captain (Franco Ressel) on his team it's not going to be a cakewalk for our muscle-bound "Maciste". It's all a bit procedural, certainly, but this has had some thought put into the production and the whole thing is stitched together in a way more technically professional fashion than so many other films from this genre. The story allows for a little more depth from the characters and there's plenty of action and plotting to complement the oriental mythology and the horseplay that this provides. Scott is also not a bad actor. No, he will never win a BAFTA, but he knew what was required of him here and his own limitations - especially when it came to his seriously concrete style of dialogue delivery. He realised that he wasn't employed for his voice but because he could start an earthquake just by thumping the ground! (OK, so some of this is also a bit far-fetched, too). If you like your peplum lively and with some attention payed to the edits and the continuity, and don't mind the odd shot that has crept in from other films, then you ought to quite enjoy this.

Gordon Scott, at the peak of his physical form, proudly displays his chiseled body in nothing more than a rather fetching orange loincloth, often glistening with sweat (only Helene Chanel gives him any competition for sexiness). The film itself is far from exciting, but it's slightly more bearable than others of its ilk, with a basic "save-the-princess" story and a mini-earthquake climax. *1/2 out of 4.

Maciste or Samson in the court of the Great Khan is an amusing and entertaining muscle-men movie . This time our hero , the mightiest of them all , known as Maciste renamed Samson for Americans is in the 13th century battling a nasty emperor and Mongol warlords . The emperor of China besieged by the Tartars asks for help the chief of Mongols , but this one rules over the empire . The Mongol (Dante DiPaolo) supported by a wicked woman (Helene Chanel) and a hoodlum (Franco Ressel) kill the emperor and take care the sons . One time grown , the Mongol orders to close the daughter (Yoko Tani) in a convent and kill the son but he's saved by Samson (Gordon Scott) from a tiger . He very Earth itself shakes when our hero goes into battle . Meanwhile , Sanson or Maciste or Hercules helped by a rebel (Gabrielle Antonini) and the high priest (Valery Inkjinoff) must rescue a beautiful Chinese princess from a marauding horde of warriors .

¨Samson and the 7 miracles of the world¨ also titled ¨Goliath and the golden country¨ is an enjoyable sword and sandals movie with historical backstage , action , thrills , love , battles and spectacular scenarios. Being one of the best vehicles of its kind Italy ever produced . However , it contains a silly final in which Samson absurdly eliminates enemies by means a shaking . With the massive exterior sets, lavish interior sets and a multitude of Asian extras left over from ¨Marco Polo¨ by Piero Pirotti and Hugo Fregoneses , was realized this ¨ Maciste alla Corte del Gran Khan¨ , a good fashion sword-and-sandal/mythological Muscleman epic , placing hero Maciste in a Chinese setting . Genre specialist Riccardo Freda was brought in to direct, Gordon Scott was cast as Maciste (renamed "Samson" for the U.S. version) and Yoko Tani was kept on as the female lead . It became regarded as one of the better films of that genre . Gordon Scott is top-notch, as the historic hero who finds many dangerous situations while attempting save China and confronting several risks against the Great Khan . Strong and robust Gordon Scott was a magnificent muscle-man . He was one along with Ed Fury, Brad Harris, Kirk Morris, Reg Park, Mark Forest, among others, whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures, but anybody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . He played other epic characters : ¨Coroliano hero without country¨ , ¨Gladiator of Rome¨ , ¨Hero of Rome¨ , ¨Hercules and Princess of Troy¨ , ¨Conquest of Micene¨ , though also made some Spaghetti as ¨The tramplers¨ and ¨Buffalo Bill ¨, Spy-genre as ¨Secretissimo¨and ¨Death ray¨ and of course his famous Tarzan movies as ¨Tarzan and the trappers ¨ .

Evocative and glimmer cinematography bu Pallotini . Stirring and imaginative musical score by Carlo Inocennci and in US version composed by Lex Baxter . The motion picture finely written by an usual Spaghetti Western , Duccio Tessari , is well directed by Riccardo Freda who used a number of aliases during his career, including Robert Hampton or George Lincoln and as screenwriter Riccardo Freda . Freda along with Vittorio Cottafavi continued to realize films in the historical-spectacular style , at which he developed a considerable skill and mastery . From the mid-50s Freda's liking make for atmospheric and colorful scenes of shock began to itself apparent , especially in such musclemen epics as ¨Teodora¨ , ¨Spartacus¨ , ¨Giants of Thessaly¨ , ¨The seventh sword¨ , ¨Maciste all's inferno ¨, the latter a gripping/horror Peplum and of course ¨Maciste in the court of the Great Khan¨, one of his best films . In the early 60s , he was a pioneer in Italy of horror-fantasy films frightening audiences the world over , especially with ¨I Vampiri¨ and ¨L'Orrible Segreto del Dottor Hitchcock¨ as he combined with that wide-staring of actress , the British-born Barbara Steele . He also made adventures as ¨Black Eagle¨ , ¨The son of Black Eagle¨ , ¨White devil¨ , ¨Son of D'Artagnan¨ , and uncredited ¨Daughter of D'Artagnan¨ ¨. From there he went to melodrama and spy films as ¨¨Mexican Slayride¨and ¨Coplan FX18¨ and even made some western as ¨No killing without dollars¨ with Mark Damon and signed under pseudonym as George Lincoln . Strong on visual style, Freda's movies had popular appeal , and were usually commercial hits . Several were French/Spanish/Italian or other European co-productions . He has been called a filmmaker "who brings some style to exploitation pictures", and has something of a cult following . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable sword and sandals movie .