The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules

Another case of where the dubbing destroys a decent little movie. The subtitled version I saw under the title of Hero of Babylon is much better than the Beast of Babylon with English dubbing. For what ever reason it plays less silly. The plot is the typical muscle bound hero fights and wins the freedom of an oppressed people but its done with just enough conviction of the leads that you do care what happens. The film is a really good action film for most of its run, falling into a bit of silliness as the tries to tie up all the plot threads.

This typical peplum featuring Gordon Scott would like to be something more than what it actually is, since the star is not some muscle-bound historical figure (which he would often get to play) but rather the returning son of a deposed king; even so, an alternate title for this was THE BEAST OF BABYLON AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, adopted for commercial TV screenings! Still, before long, Scott is fighting off the villain's soldiers single-handedly, throwing the latter around as if they were puppets and flattening three of them at once with a log, and removing a series of prison shackles by a mere exertion of his muscles!

As usual, among the members of the rebellion against the tyrant in power (an appropriately sinister Piero Lulli, further distinguished by sporting an elaborate head-dress) is a girl whom the hero contrives to save against all odds and fall for, ensuring that when he eventually gains the throne for himself (since his father, thought a prisoner, is really dead) there will be a Queen ready to take her place by his side!; the villain, too, has a companion in evil i.e. genre fixture (and future circus owner!) Moira Orfei. By the way, the only credits to appear on the print I watched where those of the male lead and the film's very title!

The rightful heir (Nippur) to the throne of Babylon leads a slave revolt against an evil ruler.

In a brightly-coloured, reasonably well-concocted escapist fare, Gordon Scott takes on the Babylons in order to free the slaves thrown in the fire for sacrifice as well as seeking his father. He's excellent as always, exuding energy and the action scenes are exciting and well staged, and rather lifts this adventure. The stunts are impressive such as as the one Nipur's friend, Namar, is being chased by soldiers atop the roofs of the Babylonian city. With nowhere to go, Namar leaps from the top of one of the buildings down onto two of men waiting below. There's nothing to cushion him below.

The villainy is always good in these type of films - Moira Orfei sizzles as the evil and duplicitous Ura and the guy who plays Balthazar is a true nut job. The slave capturing scenes and throwing them in the fire can be grim.

Among other disappointments with The Beast Of Babylon was the fact that the fabled hanging gardens of Babylon were nowhere to be seen. It was one of those 7 wonders of the ancient world and I thought that at least we'd get a depiction. Probably not in the budget.

It's the last days of the Babylonian Empire though few want to talk about it. Mostly because they are ruled by a genuine nut case Balthazar played in ancient Snidely Whiplash fashion by Piero Lulli.

The hero of the piece is Gordon Scott formerly a big screen Tarzan with pecs to die for. He's been spending time at the Persian court where among other things they have adapted a monotheistic religion courtesy of Zarathustra and they've developed a toleration policy for religious and ethnic minorities.

Not so in Babylon where minorities if they're young and beautiful women are tossed into a fiery pit as sacrifice to the head Deity Ishtar. With the emperor getting appropriate jollies.

A lot of recycled material from other Peplum films gives The Beast of Babylon a rather tired look to it.

And in a film centered in Babylon I figured to see those hanging gardens.

The young Nippur (Gordon SCOTT) returns to his homeland of Babylon after a long stay at the court of the Persian King Cyrus (Mario PETRI). His cousin Balthasar (Piero LULLI), who is under the ominous influence of a beautiful priestess named Ura (Moira ORFEI), now rules there. There are bound to be conflicts in which the young Tamira (Genevieve GRAD) also plays a major role.

This time the Italian sword and sandal film takes us to the time around 539 BC, when a certain Belshazzar ruled in Babylon and got into a major conflict with the Great King Cyrus. This film by Siro MARCELLINI is certainly not one of the best examples of the peplum cinema from the Roman film factory CINECITTA. Good entertainment for fans of the genre is guaranteed. The American bodybuilder and ex-Tarzan actor Gordon SCOTT cuts a dazzling figure as a champion of good. And a year later Genevieve GRAD would become the daughter of the GENDARM OF SAINT TROPEZ, played by the unforgettable Louis De FUNES.

In Italian cinemas, the rather modestly equipped sword and sandals film grossed 195 million ITL, while in West German cinemas it grossed the equivalent of around 350,000 EURO (from 358,000 cinema visits).