Maciste aux enfers

Out of all the popular and long running Maciste franchise, this has always been the one that got the most attention and appreciation, even now days.

I have not seen most of the other old Maciste movies, because they are basically impossible to get or view in any way now days, so I can't really comment on how this movie fits within its long running series of Italian shorts. Seems to me that every movie is different and does not only pick a different story but also tone and environment. This time the movie is really being like an horror, from the 1920's and has a very dark and moody atmosphere.

It's a movie that really reminded me of a lot of other great horror movies from its time. It mostly reminded me of the German expressionistic "Faust", by F.W. Murnau. I'm not saying that it's a rip-off in any way though and that's not even possible, considering that this movie got released actually one year earlier than "Faust". It just breaths the same sort of atmosphere and has even a bit of a similar story and characters in it.

The movie already started off wonderfully and I liked the story but then the movie even becomes better, once Maciste enters the gates of hell. The devil (or Pluto as he is called in this movie. It's an Italian movie after all) plays around with Maciste but he of course is not a person to be fooled with and soon declares war on the devil himself.

It's a real visual movie. Especially the hell-world got wonderfully created, with large sets and impressive looking make-up and costumes. The movie also uses a lot of early effects for some of the movie its evil magic, which is all good looking and impressive really.

A real great and wonderful looking Maciste movie.

9/10

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I had not heard of this film. At my age and with all the movies I've viewed, it's surprising that it never crossed my path. I was most intrigued by how the desirability of the male form has changed over time. This guy would be considered an overweight lunk nowadays. As it is, he is admired for his strength and his morality. That's the way it should be. The filmmakers have created a real world, depicting hell in sort of a Danteesque portrayal. This man makes the ultimate sacrifice; his soul; in order to gain vengeance against Satan himself. Of course he makes some mistakes along the way, but he has a pure being and endures all that is thrown at him. The images are incredible for the time and the story is interesting. I guess this fellow was part of a canon of films that no longer exist. It's worth a shot, just to see how quickly a gifted filmmaker could begin to see the possibilities of the new technology.

Since I was going through some of the low-brow Italian peplums of the 50s and 60s over the Easter period, I decided to watch this Silent epic (also made in Italy) simultaneously. However, it turned out to not really be a peplum after all – despite the muscular title character (protagonist of a long-running series of films and, here, somewhat incongruously sporting modern attire – including a suit and tie!) and the fact that the Italians had actually pioneered the religious epic genre during the Silent era! That said, I guess I should have known since I had already watched Riccardo Freda's colorful but disappointing 1962 semi-remake (actually set against a 17th Century Puritan backdrop) but, there at least, Maciste is still somehow fitted with the traditional loincloth…

Anyway, to get to the movie itself: since I hadn't previously watched any of the Silent Italian epics, I didn't quite know how well it would have worn the passage of time but, surprisingly, I was left reasonably impressed by the visual splendor of the production which often evoked medieval paintings – particularly in its hellish sequences. In fact, as I watched the film, I was most reminded – as had been another viewer writing on the IMDb – of Benjamin Christensen's HAXAN (1922) and F.W. Murnau's FAUST (1926) which, I'm sure you'll agree, is high praise indeed for a film of this kind! Besides, the human form taken by the devil Barbariccia (literally "Curlybeard") and his minions evokes memories of Scapinelli, the Mephistophelean figure of "The Student Of Prague" (a German folk-tale filmed twice, at least, during the Silent era)…

The plot of the film proper – Maciste is apparently a do-gooder whose activities are giving Hell a bad name, so a devil is sent to Earth in order to tempt him; somehow, the former ends up in the underworld and, giving in to the affections of some devilish sirens, is himself turned into a hellish creature…until saved by a child's prayer on Christmas Eve! – is quaint yet curiously effective, especially given the myriad unconvincing-looking demons Maciste has to face; at one point, there's even a revolt (never fully explained, at least in the 66-minute print I watched) against Barbariccia's dominion in Hell – which is an interesting way of saying that petty jealousies and machinations, the cause of so much evil on Earth, are present in the afterlife as well!

I don't recall the 1962 film enough to make comparisons, except to say that it was an unintentional laugh-riot, but also that the plot of the later version is quite different – as it involves a reanimated witch who had been burned at the stake (in fact, it was called THE WITCH'S CURSE in the U.S.); I know, however, that I enjoyed the 'original' a good deal and am certainly interested now in seeking out more Silent spectacles from Italy – L'INFERNO (1911), THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1913), CABIRIA (1914), etc.

So, before Enzo Castellari, Lucio Fulci etc, we have a nutso film where muscle man Maciste is drawn to hell to be corrupted. A silent film, no less, but full of mental imagery that is worth a look.

For instance, at one point Maciste punches a guy's head clean off, only for it to land on a pitch fork, re-heal itself, then get tossed back to the headless body to be re-attached! That's good stuff right there. Also, Maciste takes a ride on a dragon at some point and meets Lucifer and other folk.

At first I thought this silent film was a bit too heavy on the text, but you've got to admire the sheer ambition in the old visionary aspects, so I've marked the film up for that. I've watched quite a few silent films recently and there's always an emphasis on spectacle that makes them worth watching. This is no exception.

Docked points for a) Not having built a time machine to get Massimo Vanni in it and b) Not having Edwige Fenech in it.

Made before the Cinecitta existed!

This is one of the most amazing films I have ever seen. The scope of it's storytelling is nothing short of biblical, and I am not referring to the plot but to the size of the film. This movie was bigger than all three of the PETER JACKSON'S JRR TOLKEIN'S THE LORD OF THE RINGS: A FILM BY PETER JACKSON DIRECTED BY PETER JACKSON movies combined, when proportions to era are taken into consideration. It dwarfs pretty much anything you can think of and the only comparison I can make would be maybe cross BIRTH OF A NATION with Hieronymous Bosch's "Garden of Earthy Delights" triptych and throw in ample amounts of that brown acid the Pigman was warning everyone about on the WOODSTOCK soundtrack.

Even then it doesn't do justice to the scale of the film: Individual humans seem puny or insignificant compared to the immense sets, brimming with contorted and writhing forms of the damned, confined to hell for all eternity as if it was some huge mosh pit at a GWAR concert. As one contributor has already stated it has little in common with the "Maciste" muscle-man films of the Italian Peplum rage of 1960 - 1964 or so. Other than our hero goes around righting wrongs, fighting for the freedom of the innocent, and making all the evil, reptilian she-hellions swoon. Here he is a modern man in a vested suit but the effect is no different once the film switches gear at about the twenty minute mark when Maciste is literally thrown into the bowels of Hades, and it is not a pretty place.

Every last cultural form that has been attributed to Lucifer, Mephistopholes, Satan or the Devil finds manifestation in this film, and certain scenes do indeed appear to have been directly inspired by the visual work of classical artists like Bosh, Blake, Goya and Titian. Out of nowhere come dragons, devil men carrying pitchforks, a giant Saturn devouring his children, horned beasts of every shape & description, and a cast of thousands undulating in a sparking, smoking, simmering vision of hell that would even scare Osama Bin Laden out of his cave. Screw dropping bombs on Afganistan, bombard the bastards with videos and DVDs of this movie. They'll surrender inside of a week after seeing what fate awaits them as Legions of the Damned.

As for videos and DVDs, sadly the most common version of this movie currently available is a VHS sourced DVD print of the 65 minute English paneled version, with an arbitrary classical music score tacked on but some genuinely compelling hand tinting to the Hades segments. It is the most frenzied, out of control silent film I have ever seen: HAXAN is dreamily sonorous compared to the brimstone and riotous clamor of this movie. Some of the beginning passages have the kind of over-dramatic acting one usually associates with silent movies -- complete with a squad of mustachioed Mephistopholes' -- but once it shifts underground every scene is depicted with a kind of visual authority that will indeed take modern day viewers by surprise. It is a staggering movie filled with some of the most outrageous visuals ever filmed, and is 81 years old. Holy Moses.

10/10, and that's just for the chopped 65 minute version. Just amazing.