Maciste, gladiador de Esparta

I found this film on TCM and was drawn to it. It really is a terrible film, but it is so bad it is laughable. This is a movie designed for MST3000, or maybe Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's attentions.

Years before Schwarzenegger decided to capitalize on his Mr. Olympia celebrity in Hollywood, other muscle-heads took a shot at the big screen. The results were mostly uneven and only suitable for drive-in movie B-film marathons.

This film is among the worst, which makes it among the best for comedy. (I saw the English-dubbed version.) The acting was amateurish. The dialogue (subtitled) was inept. Best of all was the plot. It really drove the humor.

Imagine the director and wardrobe head meeting in a costume store. The director says, "The gladiator must battle an animal in the ring. What animal costume looks the most real?" Apparently, the answer was "gorilla" and the gladiator scene wrote itself. Hilarious.

I've seen quite a number of the Italian, mythological muscle man movies, and I find this one to be pretty slow going. Mark Forest does his job as the powerful stalwart, and all the other elements are here (horses, chariots, pretty women and daring do), but the movie keeps coming to a screeching halt about every ten minutes for lengthy verbal plot points. I saw the English dubbed version, which may have contributed to this, but lengthy talking scenes are just as long in any language. These are supposed to be action films, aren't they?

I thought the Steve Reeves/Hercules movies moved along best. (BTW, why did the Italians import Americans for these roles; Forest, and Steve Reeves? Didn't they have any Italian body builders to utilize?) Even one of the action sequences here, with our hero up against a great ape, was a rather drab, ho-hum affair. A number of these movies could have been well served by some Dynamation from Ray Harryhausen.

For fans of the genre, this movie is watchable, as long as you aren't looking for anything new or particularly exciting. If you're not a fan, don't start with this one. It will put you off from watching the better efforts.

***I'm commenting on the Italian version.***

Director Mario Caiano can be relied on when it comes to pacing and effective action scenes, and he does not disappoint here: "Maciste, gladiatore di Sparta" is a reasonably entertaining and well-crafted piece of peplum kitsch. The plot takes place in 69 B.C. (one year after the assassination of Nero) during the short-termed (half a year!) reign of emperor Vitellius. No attempt is made to portray the turmoil and uncertainty of this terrible year. Instead, the script portrays Vitellius as a glutton who delights in the amenities of empire, without having a bit of interest in politics - with the exception of the extermination of the Christians, obviously a legacy from emperor Nero, which he follows blindly as if it was a whim. It is worth noting that the actor playing Vitellius actually is well chosen in that looks very much alike to the surviving busts of the emperor! The obesity of the portrays might have suggested the running gag on the emperor's everlasting appetite for food. Mark Forest, one of the most enjoyable peplum actors, plays Maciste, a star gladiator from Sparta. As far as I can see, there's no reason to make him Greek, and there's no true Spartan flavor about him. The name might have simply been chosen to evoke (a) Spartacus (who, however, was NOT from Sparta) and/or (b) the traditional toughness of the Spartans. He gets to do all kinds of fighting and gets to flex and exercise his muscles on a number of occasions. Sometimes, he uses his wit as well. The emperor's courtesan (played by brunette beauty Marilu Tolo) is in love with that gladiator, and Vitellius delights in having such a delightful source of bloody arena entertainment. However, Maciste meets a blonde Christian girl, and though he does not convert to their faith, he helps the peaceful people against their oppressors. The focus here rests on the characterization of early Christendom - their secret meetings in catacombs and their pacifist attitudes - and all too easily forgets to place that in contrast to heathen cults and religion. It is remarkable how the film avoids any references to heathen cult: The Romans come across as a race with no true beliefs at all. (Though at one time, Maciste is briefly compared to the god Mars himself.) Marcello, the name of the Christian bishop, is perhaps inspired by Pope Marcellus I. (308 A.D.) who was interred in the Priscilla catacombs. "Syphace", the weaver of intrigue at the imperial court, was perhaps named after the Numidian king Syphax (220-203 B.C.) who betrayed Rome to the Carthaginians.

Mark Forest never looked better then in this lavish gladiator story. Maciste schemes against Caesar to free a group of Christians whom the emperor plans to feed to the lions. Above average peplum with some lovely color photography, nice sets, and well staged battle scenes...this one obviously had a bigger budget then most films of it's kind. A bit overlong, but still enjoyable as Mark Forest and others put forth some fairly decent performances, marred only slightly by the annoying dubbing.

Surprisingly engaging peplum featuring one of the most popular muscle-bound heroes – Maciste, a home-bred figure who had first appeared in the Silent epic CABIRIA (1914)…which leads one to pose the question: how did he come to be the Son Of Hercules (in the English-language version of the film), even if he is in fact made to emanate from Greece in this particular outing (as per the original Italian title MACISTE, GLADIATORE DI SPARTA)?

Incidentally, this appears to have been a pretty rare item until its recent release on Italian DVD – for I could only find the ambiguous and idiotic English title above attached to it, slapped on dubbed TV prints of the film! The epithet “Terror Of Rome” may, in fact, be a reference to any of the following: the Roman Emperor (who’s actually quite genial here!), his influential but vindictive aide, and a giant ape(!) whom the hero fights and defeats in the arena (for the record, other enjoyably inventive challenges he has to overcome during the course of the film are a gladiatorial bout in which Maciste’s outnumbered four-to-one, a blindfolded swordfight between hero and villain, and also being tied to a number of horses and dragged across the field of the Circus Maximus).

Anyway, this is easily the best of the recent spate of such low-brow spectacles I’ve been watching (if somewhat overlong at 103 minutes) – which still isn’t saying much perhaps; even so, the fact that the movie was presented in Italian and Widescreen (albeit with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 rather than the official 2.35:1) certainly helped in this regard. Once again, Mark Forest is the impossibly youthful hero – with THE TRIUMPH OF HERCULES (1964)’s Marilu' Tolo as the female lead (interestingly, however, she’s a popular Roman courtesan who’s accustomed to getting her way but whom Maciste spurns after falling for a blonde, and bland, Christian: nevertheless, Tolo remains faithful to him and even goes so far as sacrifice her life for his new cause!). Speaking of which, an unintentionally funny incident occurs when Maciste (and a handful of Spartan gladiators) beats up the Roman garrison guarding the dungeon prisons and, upon freeing the aged Christian bishop, the latter naively enquires of the hero, “Have you turned Christian?”

The supporting cast is also above-par for this type of film: the villain is played by Robert Hundar (whom I first got to know via his role of the ill-fated revenge-seeking hero of the fine but notoriously nasty Spaghetti Western CUT-THROATS NINE [1972]); typically, he’s a rival to Forest for Tolo’s attentions and, of course, a fervent enemy of the Christian faith – at one point, he promises to throw Forest’s new girl to the lions completely naked but, naturally, this never comes to pass (pity, therefore, that the film wasn’t made by De Mille back in the day!). Hundar’s death, by the way – knifing himself by accident after Maciste slips from his grasp – was an unexpected but welcome ironic touch. Another important figure in the film is the corpulent Roman Emperor – depicted as jaded, volatile and, needless to say, perennially-hungry; on the side of the Christians, providing the comic relief (which, for once, is agreeable rather than intrusive), we get Ferruccio Amendola – father of popular actor Claudio and who’s better known for dubbing the performances in native editions of titles featuring such heavyweight American stars as Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro!

As for director Caiano, he was another versatile artisan of the “Euro-Cult” school: I’ve watched a number of his films over the last few years…though, ironically, I was personally let down by what is probably considered as his best-known work – NIGHTMARE CASTLE (1965), an atmospheric but derivative Gothic chiller starring iconic “Scream Queen” Barbara Steele!