Hercule contre Moloch

This peplum has to be one of the low points of the entire genre: not only does it not generate any interest or particular excitement throughout (most of the time I was merely confused by the plot overcrowded with factions, conspirators and usurpers), but the title itself is a cheat: Hercules doesn't really feature in it at all - it's merely the name under which hides muscle-bound hero Gordon Scott, actually the prince to a neighboring empire attempting to free Mycenae from the influence of paganism and the ruling corruption and sadism; Moloch, then, is nothing like the man-eating God seen in Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS (1927) but the disfigured heir - with his face hidden behind an iron mask shaped like a wolf's head! - to the throne who's kept hidden in the dungeons (with a line-up of drum-beating females as company!) and occasionally offered victims he can amuse himself with by shooting at them with arrows. Actually, the latter scenes are nicely atmospheric (director Ferroni had earlier made the fine Gothic-horror piece MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN [1960]); by the way, the minor peplum LE BACCANTI (1961) - also helmed by Ferroni - had featured a similar set of underground females, while some of the exterior scenes appear to have been lifted from the director's own - and vastly superior - THE Trojan WAR(1961)! Interestingly, the villainous female lead is played by Rosalba Neri who's undeniably attractive but not yet the favored raunchy starlet of Euro-Cult; also in the cast are Arturo Dominici (as a despicable officer in Neri's service) and Michel Lemoine (in view of his unusual looks, it's surprising to find him on the side of the righteous and carry the film's secondary love interest to boot!).

Note: according to the DVD Drive-In review for Trimark's Box Set "The Adventures Of Hercules", in which this film is included, it's written that Tim Lucas suspects that Mario Bava may have been involved in its making; apart from the lighting scheme in the dungeon scenes with Moloch, as already mentioned, it's hard to agree with this - but, then, Bava's own peplums hardly constitute his best work...

I must appreciate to Italian filmmakers and producer to keeping alive this great specific genre which was so hyped on Europe and latin America neither, this epics based on Greek mythology's characters, meanwhile those pictures were not properly to much faithful, not unusual they used to merge many times the characters on inaccurate period of time, this one they brings Gordon Scott a famous American actor to leading role due this body be bulky and brawny to portrait Hercules, it was clearly a small budge, in so many aspects, poor sets, a cheaper casting, bad makeup, the props as Hercules wearing an silly oversized helmet was too much, the battles were in slow paced, almost boring scenes, the screenplay has a lot of inconsistencies, the storyline about the Mycenaean people who really existed in the Greek's past is quite acceptable, anyway it can seems a contradiction, but despite a low rate gave by me I've really enjoy this genre, that was the very first piece of DVD bought to my huge DVD-Blu-Ray Collection, by the way, often these DVD available here in Brazil has a poor image mostly them VHS transfer onto DVD without any restoration!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2004 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 5.5

Gordon Scott stars as Glaucus, the prince of Tiryns, a powerful warrior who goes undercover in Mycenae to infiltrate the evil cult of Moloch, which is exacting tribute from neighboring kingdoms in the form of attractive young hostages, both male and female. Calling himself "Hercules," Glaucus defeats Mycenae's champions and gains the favor of the voluptuous Queen Demetra (Rosalba Neri) whose son, covered in a dog's head mask, has been raised as the living embodiment of the dark god Moloch and receives sacrifices in his sprawling underground grotto.

A well-mounted and attractive looking peplum which is a bit dreamy and atmospheric, especially where Moloch is concerned, however the villains aren't menacing enough, which mars any sense of danger. Nevertheless, it has good performances all around; Gordon Scott is solid as ever - Rosalba Neri as the wicked queen is cold as ice. The action is decent, the showdown between Hercules and Moloch is really good, quite rough and tumble, and ends satisfactory.

THE CONQUEST OF MYCENAE (aka HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH) is an Italian-French co-production (with an American star) that tells a standard "sword & sandal" tale of warring kingdoms in Ancient Greece, but beefs it up with some good plotting, epic battle scenes and a host of interesting characters played by a strong cast. Gordon Scott plays Glaucus, the prince of Tiryns, a powerful warrior who goes undercover in Mycenae to infiltrate the evil cult of Moloch, which is exacting tribute from neighboring kingdoms in the form of attractive young hostages, both male and female. Calling himself "Hercules," Glaucus defeats Mycenae's champions and gains the favor of the voluptuous Queen Demetra (Rosalba Neri) whose son, covered in a dog's head mask, has been raised as the living embodiment of the dark god Moloch and receives sacrifices in his sprawling underground grotto. Princess Medea (Alessandra Panaro), a proponent of a rival religion devoted to the Earth Goddess, makes contact with Glaucus and helps him set up an elaborate plan for opening the walled city's gates to an invasion by the army of Tiryns.

The film is very nicely shot and designed, with some elaborate sets and beautiful costumes. The massive battle scenes that dominate the film's final half-hour, however, were lifted from an earlier movie, THE TROJAN HORSE (1961), from the same director, Giorgio Ferroni. American star Gordon Scott, better known for his portrayals of Tarzan in Hollywood films and Samson and Goliath in earlier Italian adventures, cuts quite a strong and heroic figure here, although his character never quite appears to be in much danger. (He's also dubbed by another actor.) If there is any flaw to the film, it is the overall lack of suspense and the rather mild shenanigans of the Moloch cult. They don't really cause much carnage or do anything truly horrific enough to give this film the hard, brutal edge that other Italian muscleman epics boasted, most notably GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961), which also starred Gordon Scott.

The Italian supporting cast features some beautiful actresses, including Rosalba Neri and Alessandra Panaro. The always-reliable Arturo Dominici, a regular of Italian genre films, appears as the chief villain, Penthius, Mycenae's leading general, and makes a suitably formidable opponent for the hero.

While the alternate title, HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (included in parentheses as part of the onscreen title of the print reviewed) is technically accurate in that a character named Hercules fights a character named Moloch, it's somewhat misleading given that Hercules is not the mythical strongman but the undercover name adopted by the hero, who never pretends to be the actual Hercules. The title of the U.S. DVD release is given on the DVD case as HERCULES VS. THE MOLOCH.

Following in the footsteps of his pal Steve "Hercules" Reeves, Gordon Scott of the Tarzan films takes a stab at the Greek-Roman scene by playing an ungodly strong Prince who is determined to thwart an evil queen who looks like Catherine Zeta-Jones and her disfigured giant of a son Moloch, raised to be a reincarnation of a good with a wolf's head by the same name. Posing as Hercules, Scott allows himself to be taken "hostage" along with other people in a plot device clearly lifted from the stories of Theseus and the Minotaur and tries to earn the queen's trust but when he falls in love with the beautiful and good- natured Princess Medea, who favors letting the people worship the Earth Goddess and is only the step daughter of the evil queen who married her father the king (which makes her the rightful heir to throne), things get complicated.

Well done Italian epic with good production values and a decent performance by Gordon Scott as the film's hero. Of course, it's hard for me to rate his performance since his voice is dubbed over by another actor, but he appears to be in the spirit of things, along with the rest of the cast.

Scott later played Remus to Steve Reeves Romulus in "Duel of the Titans".