Samson l'invincible

Set in the Caribbean in 1630, this has many of the earmarks of a pirate movie and yet little of it takes place at sea. Most of the action -- predictable but passably entertaining -- occurs on a place called Devil's Island which the pirates use as their headquarters. There are the usual swordfights and fistfights, there's a damsel in distress as well as a sadistic villain, but the movie's chief claim to fame is one of those "trials-of-strength" so popular in the "beefcake" school of film-making. In this trial Kirk Morris, stripped to a white peplum and standing on shore, must pull forward on two ropes attached to a rowboat filled with about a dozen men rowing in the opposite direction. Should the rowers out-pull him, Morris will be impaled on a row of projecting spears. It's a variation of the stretched-between-two-teams-of-horses ordeals which Morris underwent in "Triumph of the Son of Hercules" and "Atlas Against the Czar." It's probably the least of these scenes since it has a contrived, gimmicky quality, but there's something unique about it. For the record, the opening credits for the print under review present the title as "Samson and the Sea Beasts." (Note the plural.)