Simply Perfect

Admirable film.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The direct sequel to the worldwide box-office hit "Hercules," "Hercules Unchained" (original Italian title: "Ercole e la regina di Lidia," "Hercules and the Queen of Lydia") surpasses its predecessor in every way and gives a story credit to Sophocles (!), which alone makes it a worthy successor. The film reunites most of the original cast and is again helmed by director Pietro Francisci, but this time the story is much more focused and the new characters introduced are more compelling than those left behind in the first film. In particular, the unhinged Prince breathes some refreshing mania into the whole enterprise, and most of all Sylvia Lopez as the bewitching temptress Queen Omphale brings a smoldering glamour reminiscent of silent-era sirens. She makes a perfect counterpoint to Sylva Koscina reprising her role as Iole, who here serves a Penelope-type stalwart function in the story. Steve Reeves is every bit as effective as the square-jawed he-man Hercules as he was in the first film. This time, he seems more relaxed and gets to have some fun portraying an idle amnesiac being pampered by the Queen he doesn't realize is holding him captive. Though Iole is supposedly Hercules's true love, Reeves and Lopez have great chemistry and sell their mutual attraction very effectively. Even Gabriele Antonini as eager protégé Ulysses has a role in the story that gives some shape to his comic-relief clowning, unlike the first film where the zaniness he brought to the part didn't have any focus. The film picks up where "Hercules" leaves off, with the hero and his bride Iole, along with Ulysses, returning to Thebes to find that the situation there has deteriorated since Hercules left. More than the first film, "Hercules Unchained" employs most of the elements that would become tropes of Peplum cinema, including a dancing girls interlude, wild animals the hero must defeat, political infighting and intrigue, magic (here represented by the water of forgetfulness and by some rogue Egyptian embalmers), hand-to-hand combat with a worthy opponent (here, demigod Anteo engages our hero in a wrestling match), the destruction of some large structures by virtue of our hero's strength, and of course divine intervention of the pagan variety. There's even a song by Mitchell Parrish, "Evening Star," recorded for the U.S. release. (The Italian version features a different, equally lovely song.) The most notable omission is a lack of any type of unnatural beast or monster for our hero to vanquish, which cuts down considerably on the cheese factor, since those sequences are generally the most dated. In fact, the visual effects here, credited to none other than visual effects supervisor Mario Bava, are surprisingly restrained and effective and hold up nicely. Reeves would go on to star in numerous other Peplum films through the mid-1960s, but for better or worse he never again played Hercules -- better, in the sense that most of what follows is inferior to "Hercules Unchained" (with one notable exception, 1961's "Hercules in the Haunted World" directed by Mario Bava); worse, in the sense that no other actor has quite matched Reeves in portraying Hercules. As in the first film, the scenery is lovely and the set design and costuming is even better here -- you'd think all you need to look at are Reeves and Lopez, but you get much more. This is well worth watching and savoring.

This film begins where the previous movie "Hercules" essentially ends with "Hercules" (Steve Reeves) bringing his bride "Iole" (Sylvia Koscina) along with "Ulysses" (Gabriele Antonini) back to Thebes with him. However, when he gets to Thebes he discovers that things have changed for the worse as two brothers, "Polinices" (Mimmo Palmara) and "Eteocles" (Sergio Fantoni) are locked in a bitter dispute over who will be the new king and war is about to break out between them. To make matters worse, while trying to mediate a solution Hercules is captured and beguiled by the evil queen of Lydia named "Onfale" (Sylvia Lopez) which only exasperates the situation. Now, as far as the overall merits of this film are concerned let me just say that a person may have to make some allowances in order to fully appreciate it. First, it was initially filmed in Italian and dubbed in English which sometimes doesn't capture the equivalent emotion of the event. Also, the fact that it is over 60 years old doesn't allow for any modern special effects which would have helped this film immensely. But the fact that it is in color should count for something and viewers of this time will certainly understand this. Be that as it may, although the story is somewhat entertaining it doesn't quite measure up to the previous film and because of that I rate it just a notch below it. Average.

Only a fool would curse a fairy tale because it narrates the actions of a witch. A good man has a strong enough heart to allow differences to flourish as long as people are allowed to live their lives in a peaceable manner.That's the great lesson that underlines this film, otherwise silly and occasionally mawkish. I suppose that's why intelligent children have loved the Hercules myth ever since it could be recorded. Hercules is pretty dumb, but he's a nice guy with good intentions, the most important of which is to keep those who have let power corrupt them from bringing ruin to farmers and villagers and other peaceful working people.Here he is threatened by three evil generals and an over-self-indulgent witch. The plot is partly based on the Hercules myth itself, but borrows freely from the Odyssey and from the Oedipus plays, with just a dash of the Argonauts legend tossed in briefly at the beginning.Alright, so it's a mess. And the middle third is just outright dull as the witch grows to love her buffoonish captive.Never mind. It's well-made for its time and place, colorful, and even occasionally lyrical. And some of the fight scenes retain their excitement, after all these years.Perhaps best viewed - and understood - by children; but can provide real entertainment for intelligent adults in the right frame of mind.

The sequel to HERCULES (1958) is even less enthusing but remains, nonetheless, an adequate example of the peplum genre.Sylva Koscina's role of Iole, Hercules' love interest, is diminished here since the most prominent female figure on display emerges to be the femme fatale-ish Queen of Lidia Omphale (the film's original title, incidentally, translates to HERCULES AND THE QUEEN OF LIDIA) – the latter is played by another red-headed beauty Sylvia Lopez, who died of leukemia not long after the film's release! Needless to say, the muscle-bound hero (Steve Reeves) falls under her spell after having conveniently drunk from a spring that renders him an amnesiac (though not before he's been engaged in an irrelevant wrestling bout with ex-heavyweight champion Primo Carnera as an irascible giant!); his friend Ulysses, however, is on hand to watch over him (ostensibly in the function of Hercules' deaf-mute slave). Meanwhile, back home in Thebes, two brothers fight it out over the throne – with Iole at the mercy of a cackling maniac (an over-the-top Sergio Fantoni)... By the way, both of these Hercules films featured atmospheric cinematography by Mario Bava - who would himself direct one of the better adventures revolving around this mythical figure, HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961) starring Reg Park. As for Francisci, he worked most often in this genre: from ATTILA (1954; co-starring Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren) – which is overdue for a reappraisal and has, incidentally, just been announced as an upcoming DVD release from Lionsgate! – to the low-brow HERCULES, SAMSON AND ULYSSES (1963; with Kirk Morris now as Hercules) and SINBAD AND THE CALIPH OF BAGHDAD (1973; his last film and which I recall watching eons ago on Italian TV).