Hercules the Invincible

Hercules (Dan Vadis) strangles a lion to save Princess Telca (Spela Rozin). Her grateful father promises him the hand of his daughter, but only if Hercules can slay a dragon, too. Hercules falls in love with Telca's beautiful blue eyes and decides it's worth trying. He makes the acquaintance of a witch in a cave. After a few evil 'Ha! Ha!' laughs, she provides Hercules with a spear that can kill the dragon - actually a clumsy dinosaur who lives in a remote valley, doing no harm. When Hercules returns, Telca and the king have been abducted by people from the 'Land of Darkness' who always need victims for their blood rituals. Of course, Hercules follows the raiders, determined to rescue the princess. Evil queen Melissa has other plans, though...

Colourful adventure with a lot of action and just enough comic relief. Sometimes movies of this genre drag on and on with pathos and too much dialog, but this is not the case here. It was good fun watching it. I'd like to see the Italian original though, because the American version seems to be re-edited and several minutes shorter.

I suppose we must allow a certain degree of cinematic licence here as the chunky Dan Vadis - our eponymous hero - has to combat a dragon (not one of his labours, methinks) after he has rescued a beautiful princess ("Teica" - Spela Rozin) from a couple of hungry lions. He had been promised the princess's hand in marriage after this but when he returns from his quest, he discovers that the kingdom is under new management - "the Demelus" - who live deep inside a mountain. It now falls to "Hercules" to rescue his girl, free their enslaved people and not to get torn limb from limb by some elephants. If you are expecting high cinema drama here, then you will certainly be disappointed. It's just your usual sword and sandals sort of effort with plenty of fights, sloppy editing and budget special effects - but it is still quite an entertaining piece of Peplum that doesn't ever hang about. There is plenty of adventure to occupy the wooden actors, the stolid script and - of course, there are plenty of glamorous ladies upon whom one might feast the eyes... It is by no means the worst of this genre, but no - it isn't very good.

Right off the bat I have to say this is not about Hercules but about the SON OF Hercules Ercole/Argolese. Most likely "son of" refers to a follower of Hercules. Like father, like son - Argolese is like his "father" so I guess it is a Hercules movie in a way.

This one does have some light comedy in it - including the man in the bear suit scenes. Babar gives us some comical lines and looks - the real comic relief of the film.

Not only does this peplum action-adventure "Hercules" film give us some light comedy, it is a fantasy film since we have a witch and a dragon. It does feel like a Dungeons and Dragons movie in it's way. And it has all the makings for a film that I enjoy. This one might be my favorite "Hercules" film from the 60s series.

6/10

Hercules the Invincible finds Dan Vadis cast as the demigod son of Zeus who saves the life of a princess by slaying a couple of lions. Her father is ever so grateful, but asks him if he could do just one more little job for him, slay a dragon and yank out a back tooth which is said to be charmed. Hercules takes the contract and the dragon is summarily dispatched.

But while the dragon is being slain, some nasty dudes carry off the king, the daughter, and all other able bodied folks as slaves for their queen who lives inside a hollow volcanic mountain with her subjects. All they leave behind is John Simons who then becomes Hercules's companion.

Simons is about as useful to Hercules as Pancho was to the Cisco Kid. But the reason he was left behind is he's hardly a valiant types. The men of the kingdom eat the hearts of the valiant in the belief it will increase their courage. This guy will put it in the negative.

The rest of the film is concerned with the rescue with Hercules battling a bear, two elephants, and the volcano itself. He proves to be quite invincible.

Simons provides some nice comic relief for the audience. The big guy is stoic throughout Simons's cowardly goofiness.

Peplum fans should like this one.

Take all the "Hercules" movies and boil them down to a series of plot essentials and you'll come up with something close to this movie. It has the muscular hero whose hairless chest is almost constantly on display and whose favorite wardrobe items are mini-mini-skirts and lace-up boots. The hero fights a few real beasts -- a lion and a bear -- as well as a mythical one: a dragon. He acquires a chubby, timorous sidekick who provides comic relief. He falls in love with the daughter of a king whose kingdom is taken over by a wicked queen. The hero becomes this queen's captive. She orders him to be pulled apart, wishbone-style, by teams of wild animals. (Elephants, this time, instead of horses.) The hero emerges unscathed from this ordeal. The queen falls in love with him but he remains true to the deposed king's daughter. The queen's slaves rise in revolt and her city is destroyed by a wave of lava. The hero and the king's daughter walk hand-in-hand to the cheers of the liberated citizenry.

So, if you see this movie, you've seen virtually all the other "Hercules" movies!

Dan Vadis lacks Steve Reeves' looks and charisma but he's in his physical prime here, looking appropriately brawny but not muscle-bound. Particularly noteworthy are his silver-dollar-sized nipples which punctuate his chest like a pair of decorative decals.

Ken Clark lists this movie on his filmography and the credits list a "Ken Klark" but if he's in here, he's hard to spot. Possibly he plays the evil general with the Fu Manchu make-up?