L'eroe di Babilonia

Another case of where the dubbing destroys a decent little movie. The subtitled version I saw under the title of Hero of Babylon is much better than the Beast of Babylon with English dubbing. For what ever reason it plays less silly. The plot is the typical muscle bound hero fights and wins the freedom of an oppressed people but its done with just enough conviction of the leads that you do care what happens. The film is a really good action film for most of its run, falling into a bit of silliness as the tries to tie up all the plot threads.

The young Nippur (Gordon SCOTT) returns to his homeland of Babylon after a long stay at the court of the Persian King Cyrus (Mario PETRI). His cousin Balthasar (Piero LULLI), who is under the ominous influence of a beautiful priestess named Ura (Moira ORFEI), now rules there. There are bound to be conflicts in which the young Tamira (Genevieve GRAD) also plays a major role.

This time the Italian sword and sandal film takes us to the time around 539 BC, when a certain Belshazzar ruled in Babylon and got into a major conflict with the Great King Cyrus. This film by Siro MARCELLINI is certainly not one of the best examples of the peplum cinema from the Roman film factory CINECITTA. Good entertainment for fans of the genre is guaranteed. The American bodybuilder and ex-Tarzan actor Gordon SCOTT cuts a dazzling figure as a champion of good. And a year later Genevieve GRAD would become the daughter of the GENDARM OF SAINT TROPEZ, played by the unforgettable Louis De FUNES.

In Italian cinemas, the rather modestly equipped sword and sandals film grossed 195 million ITL, while in West German cinemas it grossed the equivalent of around 350,000 EURO (from 358,000 cinema visits).

The tyrant Balthazar (habitual nasty Spaghetti Western , Folco Lulli), usurper of Babylone , rules the city with violence and atrocities . He organizes continuous sacrifices of maids along with the priestess (Moira Orfei , Peplum usual , along with her sister Liana Orfei) of Astarte . Nippur (Gordon Scott , here one of the few movies to show him with chest hair) , legitimate heir of throne , returns from exile with aim to retrieve the kingdom left by his father Sargon , kidnapped by Balthazar . During his journey , Nippur frees Tamira (Genevieve Grad ), a Jewish girl prepared to be sacrificed for Goddess Ishtar . Nippur is imprisoned by the usurper , but he escapes and is helped by king Persian Cyrus (Mario Petri).

This is an agreeable Sword and Sandals movie with noisy action , extraordinary adventures , usual dancing scenes and spectacular final battle . Gordon Scott is nice as the mythical hero who finds several dangerous situations while attempting save his lover and recover the throne . He acted as a bouncing hero in great number of films and was randomly assigned the identity of Hércules , Goliath , Samsom for US viewers . Scott usually playing historic characters , such as ¨Coroliano¨, ¨Mucius Scevola¨ and ¨Remo¨. He was one along with Ed Fury, Dan Vadis, Alain Steel , Mark Forest, Reg Park , among others, whom the seek fame and fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures, but nobody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity.

The film follows a similar plot to famous film ¨Intolerance¨ (1916) by D.W. Griffith , about fall of Babylone , though here appears a pretty malicious Balthazar , well played by Folco Lulli , but not the biblical history about 'prophet Daniel and the lions' . However , the movie has not mythological accuracy , neither expecting historical . Other pictures about these Babylonic events are the followings : ¨I Semiramide (1953)¨ by Primo Zeglio with Ivonne Furneaux and John Erickson ; ¨Semiramis, slave and Queen¨ by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia ; and ¨Seven thunderbolts(1962)¨ by Silvio Amadio with Jackie Lane and Howard Duff .

Among other disappointments with The Beast Of Babylon was the fact that the fabled hanging gardens of Babylon were nowhere to be seen. It was one of those 7 wonders of the ancient world and I thought that at least we'd get a depiction. Probably not in the budget.

It's the last days of the Babylonian Empire though few want to talk about it. Mostly because they are ruled by a genuine nut case Balthazar played in ancient Snidely Whiplash fashion by Piero Lulli.

The hero of the piece is Gordon Scott formerly a big screen Tarzan with pecs to die for. He's been spending time at the Persian court where among other things they have adapted a monotheistic religion courtesy of Zarathustra and they've developed a toleration policy for religious and ethnic minorities.

Not so in Babylon where minorities if they're young and beautiful women are tossed into a fiery pit as sacrifice to the head Deity Ishtar. With the emperor getting appropriate jollies.

A lot of recycled material from other Peplum films gives The Beast of Babylon a rather tired look to it.

And in a film centered in Babylon I figured to see those hanging gardens.

I first saw this movie when it was on TV in the "old days". It is still a fantastic adventure movie. Great story and excellent action filming. I now have 3 great color version that all have bits and pieces missing or misplaced. It is better than no copies at all. If you like great adventure and admire Gordon Scott, find a copy of this movie and have fun.