Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo

The ancient days of Greece, countless villages have fallen victim to the evil mole people, who kidnap the survivors of their conquests to be slaves in their diamond mine. The famous hero Maciste hears of this crime and swears to seek justice and take the mole people down. Aided by a fellow strongman named Bangor, Maciste infiltrates the caverns of the mole men as a prisoner, intent on freeing the prisoners and ending the reign of their sadistic queen Halis Moyaab. She has other plans though, and wishes to either see Maciste dead, or reigning by her side...

Italian peplums are like Marmite, you either loathe them, finding them cheesy and kitschy, or love them, finding them well-made actioners with a strong imagination. I'm in the latter category - yes, Hercules meets the mole men is cheesy and even silly with creatures with white hair and living underground, but it's quite imaginative and intriguing to a point. Yes, mole men idea seems bizarre, but then this is a fantasy film. The Ewoks and the oompah loompahs aren't any less silly! The major problem of this film is the pace. It's slow, but there's a few action scenes to overcome this. The best character is the Queen, played by Moira Orefai, who is a bad girl, sending people to the death, but she seems to love Maciste. The most interesting aspect is the secret behind her birthright. Not a great film but it has its moments, good action and some atmosphere.

No of course not but they could be related. This is as bad as the people who make fun of the Sword and Sandal films think they are, but its also a hell of a lot more interesting than many better films. This film is very silly, we have white mole men with afros, a black actor who acts like he's a character out of a racist 1930's film, people falling off horses when Maciste just runs towards them...This film has a jaw dropping quality to make one wonder if the film makers knew what a turkey they were producing when they made it. Even if they didn't I'm kinda glad I did since it a laugh out loud gem.

One of my favorite low budget science fiction films is The Mole People with John Agar and Hugh Beaumont. This team of modern scientists discover an underground albino like people. That film must have inspired this uninspiring peplum epic, Mole Men Against The Son Of Hercules who in some countries is Maciste. Personally I think Hercules should have objected to the billing.

One thing Mark Forest might have objected to, Hercules has a friend in Paul Wynter who's actually better built than him. I can't believe the producers let that one go.

On his journeys Hercules comes upon a pretty barren countryside where a group of mysterious people make night raids, though mostly in the twilight of dawn, the better for cameras of surrounding villages, killing a few, but dragging the rest off as slaves. They can only operate above ground at night because they dry up and blow away just like The Mole People in the fire of Ishtar in that film.

The albinos doing this are ruled by a Queen who doesn't quite have the pasty complexion they do. Of course there's an obvious reason for it, but no one in this film figures out until the very end.

I will say this Paul Wynter is quite the total package, he's the best reason for watching Mole Men Against The Son Of Hercules.

Son of Hercules vs. sun-sensitive subterranean Sicilians in this anti-"Beach Blanket Bingo" bunko beneath the bowels of Italy! The most "dramatic" scene depicts a guard (punished for allowing the hero to escape) stripped, strapped to a slab, and subjected to sunlight (which causes him to disintegrate). The viewer realizes that it is NOT the words to the 1966 hit "Sunny" ("Sunny, thank you for the sunshine you gave...") the tortured titan is singing as he screams "No! No! Not the sun! Aieee!!" This flick never should have seen the light of day. I say "No! No! Not "Mole Men Vs. The Son of Hercules"! Aieee!!"

"While traveling across the land, our hero Maciste finds the survivors of an attack by some strange warriors. The murderous attackers were all albinos that Maciste tracks to a hidden underground city. Looking to avenge the victims of the attacks, Maciste heads into the city under the surface to battle these strange underground dwellers," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Dubbed "Mole Men against the Son of Hercules" for American consumption. Relatively speaking, this isn't too bad for a lower budgeted Italian "sword and sandal" epic. Bulging, muscular Mark Forest struts his Herculean form well. Queenly, voluptuous Moira Orfei will raise an eyebrow. Paul Wynter heralds some darker-skinned supporting players. And, Gianni Garko heads the clannish, white-cloaked "Mole Men", a vampire-like master race.

**** Maciste, l'uomo piu forte del mondo (10/10/61) Antonio Leonviola ~ Mark Forest, Moira Orfei, Paul Wynter, Gianni Garko