Maciste, il gladiatore più forte del mondo

I saw this movie back in the 1960s and still remember the impact it had on me. Mark Forest and Dan Vadis fighting in the water fall is a scene I will never forget. Actually, almost the entire movie takes place in the arena with gladiators fighting. There is a plot about a usurper trying to steal the throne of Maciste's country but Mark Forest swings into action and saves the Kingdom. He first has to beat a group of 7 professional fighters sent from Rome to aid in the sinister plot. After long fights and believable fights, he wins the day. The movie is none stop action from start to finish. A lot of the scenes were filmed at De Paolis Studios near Rome. I recognize the sets. A DVD copy is easy to find and is well worth the money. Dan Vadis gets killed in this movie but later went on to make string of similar movies that box office successes. Mark Forest is an operatic singer (look for him on Y/T), who later retired to Calif. and then Arizona. Great movie.

Colossus of the arena 1962 is set in the fictitious kingdom of Mersabad in Asia Minor, the duplicitous Revia (Jose Greci) , along with her conspirator lover (Erno Crisa) scheme to usurp the throne held by Queen Talima (Scilla Gabel) by replacing her . Recruiting a team of well-trained gladiators commanded by Largo . In half of them, there appears Maciste (Mark Forest) who finds himself at odds with an evil ruler who has no qualms about being a villain. As strongman Maciste discovers the plot to imprison the beautiful princess , as he learns the treason and secretly joins the motley group of warriors in an effort to protect the Queen. Traitor Oniris (Erno Crisa) to be aware of Maciste and orders Largo to kill him . However, one of the seven mercenaries is likeable to the super strenght man and pretends to kill Maciste after he has been given a drug in his wine .

This is a decent spaghetti , myth-opera with action , inn brawls , battles and atmospherc landscapes . The movie has not mythological accuracy neither expecting historical . It's a merely escapist entertainment, turning out to be one of the more strange and obscure peplum adventures. Also has comedy here and there and a brief appearance by a sympathetic African called Wambo , a midget named Goliath and a pet chimp named Cleopatra. The comedy is spread out, but occasionally lightens the mood after some of the more grim sequences, even if its insertion is a bit jarring . Stars Mark Forest , though the role doesn't show up until twenty minutes in the movie , he is perfect as the mythical hero who encounters many dangerous situations while trying to save a princess of numerous odds . While seemingly very popular, Forest, for whatever reason, did very little of the action in his films leaving the bulk of it to his stunt double . Forest who played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath , Samson or Aron for U. S. viewing . Bouncing and strong Forest shows a lot of agility in this movie and he was the second American actor bodybuilder , after Steve Reeves , to be recruited by Italian producers to star in Peplum films . The muscle-man Forest who was actually from Brooklyn left allegedly the sword and sandals genre for the Opera . He used the amount of money he made acting as hero and gladiator films in Italy to study Opera , he currently teaches in the Los Angeles zone . He was one along with Ed Fury , Dan Vadis, Brad Harris , Alan Steel , Reg Park , Gordon Scott whom to seek fortune acting absurdly as muscle mythological figures , the traveling saviors of the people, but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity .. Mark Forest did a dozen of these movies , as he starred Peplums such as : 1964 Hércules against sons of sun , 1964 Lion of Tebas , 1964 Maciste Nell'inferno Gengis Khan , 1964 Maciste, Gladiatore Sparta , 1963 Maciste Contro i Mongoli ,1963 Maciste, l'Eroe più Grande del Mondo ,Ercole Contro I Figli del Sole or Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun, 1962 Maciste, Gladiatore più forte Mondo , 1961 Maciste, the Son of Hercules , 1960 La Venganza De Ercole. It is also notable for being the first role for Dan Vadis seen here playing one of the main villains. Vadis is ferocious here and is often referred to as "The gorilla". It's a fine showcase for Dan Vadis who actually steals the movie away from Forest with his steely and intimidating role . Vadis and he was quickly picked out as another American to be cast as a lead in these movies. He had a good look about him and had a successful career after the sword and sandal movies ended. This was the only one where he played a villain.

Colorful cinematography by cameraman Mancori in stunning quality. Shot in extremely popular peplum locations as El Lacio , Rome and falls of Monte Gelato . As well as thilling and evocative musical score by prolific Francesco De Massi . This is first and one of best Peplums compellingly directed by Michele Lupo Lupo and far from the mediocrity of other Peplums . Later went on to direct his own trilogy of gladiator movies that were not related to one another, but featured roughly the same cast and crew. These were The revenge of Spartacus (1964), 7 slaves gladiators against the world (1964) and 7 Rebel Gladiators (1965). Michele Lupo directed a handful of these movies in the mid 1960's in which he often uses the plot device of seven fighters agains nasty rulers , but here, the seven warriors are all villains. While most are some are quite good such as Lupo's Revenge of Spartacus (1964) o this Colossus of the Arena (1962) , others are mediocre . Along with Sword and Sandals movies Michele Lupo made all kinds of genres . Lupo directed various Bud Spencer vehicles as ¨Bulldozer¨ , ¨The Supersheriff¨, ¨Buddy go west¨, and ¨E. T. and the Supersheriff¨ . Lupo directed Giuliano Gemma , his fetish actor , in several films as ¨Master touch¨ with Kirk Douglas , ¨Stay away¨ with Amidou , ¨Arizona Colt¨ and ¨California¨. Rating : 6/10 .Fans of gladiator movies will surely want to see it and it's a shame it isn't more widely available.

Mark Forest as Maciste discovers a plot to imprison a beautiful princess. He finds himself at odds with an evil duke who has no qualms about being a ruthless SOB.

Some pretty good combat scenes are on display, especially the final arena duel-to-the-death sequence in the Coliseum and the fight under a thundering waterfall. The opening Gladiatoral sequence is quite hardhitting and bit gory (of course not to today's standards), however the mean tone gives way to some slapstick humour. Spoils things a little with that annoying scaredy cat sidekick of the hero who is channeling Montan Moreland. Odd scene of him sword fighting with a monkey, but it's very brief though. But things get back to the juicy bits - exciting fights and a conspiracy plot - soon enough. Overall, it's a very entertaining sword and sandal which finds Mark Forest on top form. There's some good set pieces, pretty girls, one of them is a good queen and the other is the queen's sister who is in league with the villain. Quite a silly woman, too, as we all know that her request to her lover to not kill her sister won't be listened to.