Hercules Against the Mongols

Sandals film with Mark Forest as Maciste

After the death of Genghis Khan (Giuseppe Addobbati), there are fierce battles over the inheritance between his violent sons (strong cast including: Ken Clark, Howard Ross and the Italian male model Nadir Moretti). The Poles attacked by the Mongols in particular had to suffer from this. When the beautiful Bianca (Jose Greci) is kidnapped, the Italian film legend Maciste (the bodybuilder Mark Forest, born in 1933, who later performed very successfully as an opera singer) intervenes. And if the muscleman has to tear up trees to do it!

You can tell that the plot of the film shouldn't be taken too seriously. National hero Maciste was often used by film producers all over the world and in all cultural circles. The main thing was to prevent injustice and save a beautiful girl. So in this film it's the Mongols' turn. The mask doesn't look very convincing, but that's not the point. The action scenes are quite entertaining. It's also interesting to see the soon-to-be James Bond imitator Ken Clark (From the Orient with Fury) in a villainous role. It was directed by Domenico Paolella, who hasn't made a big name for himself in this genre.

Nevertheless: definitely recommended for peplum fans!

As I've said in other reviews, the sword and sandal genre isn't exactly one that I enjoy. But I think even those who do enjoy its offerings will find this particular one tough to sit through. One big reason for that is that the hero (Maciste or Hercules, depending on what version you watch) is particularly weak. Not when it comes to physical strength (though his strength does fluctuate through the movie), but when it comes to his character. We learn nothing about him, like how he got to this part of the world or what he feels or thinks about anything. In fact, he's off screen for big chunks of the running time. This might have been looked over had the movie done well in other areas, but it doesn't. While the awful dubbing does provoke a few chuckles here and there, it doesn't make up for the fact the movie is extremely dull. There's far more talk than action, and when there is action, it's staged and directed in a very feeble fashion. It didn't take long into watching the movie for me to wish that it would end much quicker than it actually did, and I suspect that you'll feel the same way as well.

Maciste (Mark Forest) comes to the rescue of Princess Bianca who is threatened by the 3 sons of Genghis Khan. Maciste uses the opportunity that the 3 sons are rivals in a fight for leadership and becomes a slave for one of them to fight the others, see Bianca and plan her escape at a tournament. Little does he know that the princess trusts a traitor instead of him...

Maciste's name is changed to 'Hercules' in some countries again, which doesn't make much sense as the legends of Hercules are set approximately 3000 years before Genghis Khan lived. Nevertheless, this is one of the better productions of the series. The idea to have several villains instead of the usual usurper of the throne makes the story slightly less predictable, and the production value with many horses and extras is above average. The typical human touch - Maciste, helper of the poor - is introduced nicely in the first scene when Maciste builds a bridge.

Annoying music, decors and costumes used in hundreds of other movies, idiot script, zero quality actors, a terrible boredom. I can not even call it a movie.

I don't think I know how many of these exist. I do know I've wached many as a kid and thought or maybe believed I could be this guy. The all powerful male, fighting for the good or at least against evil. Not sure if I watched this specific one as a kid. Probably not, but I did watch it recently, as it is part of a 16 movie collection I purchased many years ago.

So another Sword and Sandal movie. It's quite decent, with the obvious fights but also some humor in spaces. It is what it is