Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide

Here's another Reg Park Hercules movie on a par with Mario Bava's superb earlier film HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD. Director Cottafavi lacks Bava's visual flair, but serves up enough kitsch atmosphere and set pieces to keep things fun. Park's lunky presence and lunkheaded demeanor make him the perfect foil for the elegantly stiff Fay Spain, as the obligatory beautiful-but-evil empress of Atlantis. Cheesy monsters, a dwarf, bouffant hairdos and some deliberately-dumb, dubbed dialogue all combine to make this top-notch kitsch for peplum afficionados. And, let us repeat, "all hail Uranus!".

...why Atlantis disappeared! Although Hercules often calls upon his Father ,Zeus -note that his son never invokes his granddad-,this is as far from Greek mythology as it can be.

"The famous Four" best describes the plot: Hercules ,his son,Androcles (a Roman slave handed over to lions then granted an imperial pardon ,what is he doing here?) and a dwarf feel that Grece is in jeopardy.This is the beginning of an "epic" story which includes a rubber monster,a wicked queen (Antinea of course ,see one of the numerous versions of Pierre Benoit's " L'Atlantide" ),the ancestors of the clones (unless it predates Hitler's Aryan supermen),the perils of atomic radiations (?) The first scene is an interminable free-for-all in which Hercules,who is quietly enjoying his meal ,does not interfere ("help us dad!"screams his son) .Some not-so-bad scenes show a strange Androcles wandering in the queen's palace .

It's rather silly,but it's entertaining if you do not ask too much.

I always hated this movie when ever I saw it on TV. It was badly dubbed and rightly made fun of by Mystery Science 3000. Then I mistakenly picked up the film in its full Italian version with subtitles and was shocked that the film is so much better in its full form. It wasn't until the infamous Uranus line that I realized what I was watching. Granted its not Oscar material, but as far as Hercules films goes the uncut version of this film is so much better, fifteen minutes really do make the difference.

Before James Bond.

Before Indiana Jones.

There was the Hercules series.

Or at least the series starring Reg Park. These Hercules films were big, colorful, full of action and fun. They are also shockingly maligned, just by looking at the IMDb rating for HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN, which is a joke.

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN wasn't your average low-budget Sword & Sandal flick. It was shot in Technirama (expensive 70mm) and the look of it, in the widescreen version, is remarkable to say the least: big colorful sets, big cast, big action. The details, in some scenes, is stunning.

The whole production reminds me of old serials where our hero encounters one pitfall after another. HATCW is like the missing link that bridges the gap between old serials of the 1930s/1940s and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. And like James Bond films (DR NO was made a year after this), this Hercules movie is replete with vast cavernous sets which dwarf the cast and are set on the side of spectacle.

CAPTIVE WOMEN has many highlights. My favorite part is when Hercules saves Iseme, daughter of Queen Antinea, from the clutches of Proteus. Psychedelia circa 1961, or psychedelia before psychedelia was in! The surreal look is great and precedes all other films made in the 1960s, including BARBARELLA or even Fellini films, like SATYRICON. In fact, HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN looks like an action film if it had been directed by Fellini. It doesn't shy away from combining odd imagery along with comic book action.

The cast is perfect. Steve Reeves was (and still is) the definitive Hercules but beefy Reg Park fits the bill here. Park is happy just to be an action hero as opposed to Reeves who wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. Fay Spain makes a memorable evil Queen. Laura Efrikian is beautiful as Iseme. Ettore Manni, a familiar face in Peplums and a pretty good actor, lends excellent support as Hercules' best friend, Androcles.

The film itself is not perfect. The story is a tad thin and the stock footage at the end is obviously just footage of an erupting volcano, and it definitely lacks a distinctive score to give the film that extra special character but even so, these things didn't diminish the fun I had while watching it.

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN is the kind of movie I'll be watching again and again. It just rocks!

This is definitely a better movie than a lot of other Italian Hercules productions out there. Not that the quality of this movie is being exceptionally high though. It still is a movie that brings some nice entertainment, no matter how ridicules the movie often gets.

This was the first time that British Reg Park took on the Hercules role. Park was a multiple time Mr. Universe champion, just like Steve Reeves, who had played the character of Hercules in previous movie productions. His physique of course definitely helped him getting these sort of roles. His career also ended pretty soon after he started to age, like often happens to these types of 'actors'.

Like all these sort of Italian swords and sandals productions, it's a very cheap and often laughable looking movie, even though the movie is also being grand to look at with its enormous and colorful sets. The movie does use some silly early effects, though you just can not accuse this movie of not being creative. It just doesn't always works in the movie its own advantage.

I of course couldn't care less about the story of the movie and all that seemed to matter was that the movie. All that seems to matter for this movie is that it's being entertaining. The movie does really bring some silly fun, also long as you of course don't except a movie with class or of a very high quality.

A better movie than most other Italian Hercules productions and also certainly way better than its current reputation and rating.

6/10

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