Hercules and the Princess of Troy

"Hercules and the Princess of Troy" was actually shot as a pilot for a proposed television series. This pilot wasn't picked up, probably because the sword and sandal genre was on its last legs both in Europe and in North America. It does have some interesting aspects, the main one being that for an 1965 American television production, it looks extremely lavish. Obviously, the makers of this pilot were able to recycle the sets, props, and costumes from past Italian sword and sandal movies. That's why this pilot feels exactly like one of those Italian sword and sandal movies, only shorter. The faster pace does indeed help, but for the most part this is no different than those Italian feature film productions. If you like the sword and sandal genre, you'll probably enjoy this. If you are not particularly crazy about the genre (like myself), you'll swallow it, but still be glad it's only half the usual length of the usual genre standard.

Joseph E. Levine and B movie maven Albert band get together to produce a TV pilot that never got off the ground because the tykes were beginning to bore by this time but for revisiting a campy genre this one is painless and fills the void.The plot is well...minimal so who cares? The main points here are in their highest form. It's short and sweet,beefy and is never at a loss for action. It's also mercifully done in English. The Sea Critter is a Carlo Rombaldi creation (E.T.) worthy of A.I.P. creature constructor Paul Blaisdel's envy.In short it's wacky and original if not very menacing.The major fault I would say that in comparison to many other sword and sandal epics this one is not too babe-a-licious.We only get one semi hot princess and the obligatory harem dances and snake charmers are conspicuously absent.Guess they weren't aiming the series towards the dads. At 47 minutes it's a sweaty trip to fun land.

This was pleasantly short. I thought the DVD this was on might be cut - I mean under an hour? This couldn't be true now could it? But yes it was and while I don't really have the will or time to gather more information about the backstory to do it this way, whoever likes Sword and Sandal movies and (wet) rubber monsters can watch this (wait that sounded bad - ah well you know what I mean in the end, don't you?).

So yes no historical accuracy once again, but don't expect that with those types of movies anyway ...

Not a great movie, this was (as has been pointed out) a pilot for an unsold television series (produced by Joseph E. Levine, who distributed the original Steve Reeves HERCULES) based on the adventures of Hercules. I remembering looking forward to this after seeing a magazine article featuring Carlo Rambaldi's sea monster. In truth, the monster is the only thing worth watching in the show. It's well crafted but badly used. In a few shots it looks very convincing, in others like a big mechanical puppet pointlessly waving its claws around. Still worth checking out for pre-CGI monster fans and Gordon Scott makes a solid Hercules as usual.

Gordon Scott was injured during the fight with MAX the monster. Scott threw a spear at the monster and it bounced back and hit Scott which resulted in a trip to the hospital. Shooting was delayed for a few days. MAX the monster was set up on the beach near Palinuro, Italy. The entire sea battle with the monster was shot here. As most of these Italian movies were dubbed, it is interesting to note that Gordon Scott, Gordon Mitchell and Roger Browne told me that they all spoke in their own voices. I saw this movie when it first played on TV in 1965 and it is still as great as when I first viewed it. Larry Anderson