The best Saturday-matinee type movies are filled with "set pieces" to make them more entertaining and memorable. This film has many of them in the form of the challenges and clever escapes: the first gate "which can be seen but isn't there", the creeping tree roots, the ring of fire, the deadly sorceress, the invisible wrestler, the faceless warriors, the flying horse, the blue rose riddle, and the blue army from the magic jewel. These scenarios and effects inspired kids to retell them to their friends, which produced a must-see aura about the movie.
In December 2019, a Blu-Ray disc was released in Germany finally in 2.35:1 ratio, a better print than seen for many years. This is the Italian version and you can choose between several language dubs, including "Englisch". It also has several scenes that were not in the American cut. They're in Italian but have English subtitles.
The original screenplay, as well as the paperback novelization, featured a scene in which Steve Reeves battles a giant crab underwater. That sequence was either never filmed, or discarded.
As of 2019, this is the only Steve Reeves film that is not available in its original aspect ratio in home video, anywhere in the world.
Although this was a Italian-French co-production, British special effects legend Tom Howard was hired to do the elaborate special effects.
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