Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan

Gordon Scott as Maciste at the Chinese Emperor's court

Maciste was actually an invention of the Italian author Gabriele D'Annunzio. The hero from the history of Carthage, blessed with Herculean powers, first appeared on the screen in the Italian monumental silent film "Cabiria" (1914). Bartolomeo Pagano (1878-1947) became a silent film star with this role. When the Peplum craze began in Italy at the end of the 1950s after Steve Reeves' hit Hercules films, Maciste was virtually recycled as a hero. This time he was not only used in ancient Carthage, but wherever and whenever a muscle-bound hero was needed.

So it happens that in this film the American bodybuilder Gordon Scott (1927-2007) has to intervene in a dispute between the Mongolian Great Khan and the Chinese emperor. Since a size smaller is not possible, Maciste has to use his bearish strength to trigger an (all too ridiculous) earthquake. Yoko Tani, Gabriele Antonini and Helene Chanel can be seen in other roles. During those years, the Franco-Japanese actress Yoko Tani (1928-1999) was married to Roland Lesaffre, Marcel Carne's favorite actor.

Definitely not the best Italian-made sandal film, even if director Riccardo Fredda has cult status among fan circles.

Its not high art but it is highly entertaining. One of the many retitled Maciste films about a muscle man who wanders the world and helps out people in need. This time he's in China and helps a country find freedom by literally ringing the bell of freedom. It has a couple of good fights, the hero saving men buried up to their heads from having chariots with bladed wheels from running over them and of course the classic causing an earthquake as he frees himself from his burial place in a mountain. It has exotic locals and takes itself just seriously enough that you can buy whats going on. If you get the chance try it.

Bold as the fiery women of Atlanta, as explosive as Attila bursting out of the Balkans to ram his savage troops against all Europe- filmdom's greatest sword and sandal Titan- Samson(Machiste) faces and wins the cinema's most spectacular battle as he performs his 7 Miracles of the World in Colorscope and Stereophonic sound. Ancient Rome vividly comes alive as every nickle of the 4-million dollar budget is on the screen. enough of the P.R. from 1961, it's a poorly-dubbed overacted absolutely standard muscleman pic from the factory.......after failing with the original title, it was re-released often and often on triple-bills with Samson and 7 Miracles the most successful, and dishonest.

SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD stars Gordon Scott as Maciste / Samson, the bipedal piledriver of the title. Set in China, those Mongols are up to mischief again.

Enter Samson, knocking over a tree, and tossing bad guys like dolls, before teaching a sedated -stuffed?- tiger a lesson. This allows him to save an abducted prince. Samson sets out to right the wrongs of Asia, finding ample opportunity to stand around shiny and shirtless in his red mini-skirt.

It's not long before Sam rescues a princess (Yoko Tani) as well! Needless to say, this involves swinging large objects, and tossing men around like packing pellets. Garak (Leonardo Severini), the Mongol leader, is not amused, and causes big trouble for Big S.

A thrilling adventure involving a hermit, death, and a dramatic resurrection unfolds, leading to the dynamite denouement, when Samson sends Mongols flying like dandelion seeds!

Entertaining throughout its running time, this movie rivals the Hercules epics!...

Ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott is the beefcake in this low-budget but exotic sword-and-sandal potboiler, set, oddly enough, in China. The set pieces are convincingly done for a mini-epic of this sort, and Scott appears to have done some amazing stuntwork in a chariot sequence. Les Baxter's recognizable GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS score has been superimposed once again by American International to good effect. One of the better retro-stud peplums for those interested.