Die Höllenhunde des Dschingis Khan

I purchased a dollar DVD, with a double feature purportedly of Hercules and the Princess of Troy and Herculese Prisoner of Evil. The latter turns out not to resemble its description on the box, nor the description under that title in its IMDb listing, but is in fact this movie here, Maciste contro i Mongoli. The title and credit sequence are missing, the movie beginning with a female voice-over and the funeral pyre of Genghis Khan. The references to the WHITE MAN noted by another reviewer were also not apparent. The faded Eastmancolor print lacks all yellow tones, so everything is red or green, making "Hercules" a shiny red fellow. Since it is clearly stated in the first minute to be the thirteenth century, and "Hercules" himself claims to be a Christian, it would make as much sense to call the character Tarzan. There is an inordinate amount of carrying large objects, especially logs and battering rams, with which people are poked or knocked down. The freudian implications of that, along with the bulging bosoms of "Hercules," are disturbing. I was impressed by what elaborate sets, props and costumes, and how many extras, could be summoned for such an otherwise cheesy movie. I am not sure it was worth my fifty cents, but I am glad I didn't pay two bucks to rent it. The DVD claims to be from the Family Value Collection, but is otherwise unlabeled as to its place of origin. It does say it was Digitally Remastered though.

This particular peplum finds Hercules/Maciste going up against the sons of Genghis Khan and I have to say that these three are about as lousy a set of progeny I've seen on the screen since My Darling Clementine and those inbred Clantons.

Genghis Khan has died, but decreed that the Mongol empire would now live in peace with its Christian neighbors. But the three sons have different ideas, they want to go back to the old Mongol plundering ways. They kill the shaman giving Genghis Khan his last rites and then proclaim Christian treachery. Then they ride in and sack the Kingdom of Judela, kill the king and start looking for the boy prince, they take prisoner after awhile his sister.

Enter Mark Forest and Hercules/Maciste who performs the usual who performs his usual feats of strength like killing a lion and lifting a cement pillar. Of course the three brothers all want to be top dog and that's an apt description of them. And the Christians have one traitor in their midst.

It's all in a day's work for our hero.

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.

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!

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.