Maciste, l'homme le plus fort du monde

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.

Sword and sandal film with Mark Forest and Moira Orfei

The recently deceased Mark Forest (1933-2022) was a sought-after actor in the peplum films of the Roman Cinecitta in the early 1960s. As in this film, he often played the mythological role of Maciste, who had become a kind of superman in Italian film history since the silent film "Cabiria" (1914).

Here he fights with his ally Bango (Paul Wynter, 1935-2019, the Mr. Universe of 1960) against strange mole people and their queen Halis Mojab (Moira Orfei, 1931-2015, the actress was with her own circus until old age and as an elephant tamer). They want to free the kidnapped king's daughter Saliurna (Raffaella Carra, 1943-2021) and bring her back together with her lover Loth (Roberto Mioli). Gianni Garko, born in 1935, plays another role.

The highlight of the rather weaker sword and sandal film is certainly the moment when Maciste is forced into a fight with Bango. In this situation, Maciste at least has a worthy and equal opponent.

The film was produced by Elio Scardamaglia (1920-2001), who was successful with his Leone Films for decades with films and television series.

Mark Forest, who died on January 7, 2022, one day after his 89th birthday, was still successful as an opera singer in the USA after his career as a muscle man in Italian cinema.

"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

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.

In the opening scene, Maciste captures a giant whale and pulls it ashore. Normal people would settle for a trout, but that's superheroes for you! Before he can have his modest breakfast, he watches some people hunted and killed by riders with white capes. These mysterious strangers are the Mole Men who disappear at the beginning of daytime, only to return at night for slave raids. They cannot stand the light, it is even a method of execution for them to expose the condemned to sunshine. Maciste lets them capture him on purpose, so he can find out where their hiding-spot is. The Mole Men have a mine underground, where slaves have to work on a mill. Maciste intends to free the slaves and put an end to the terror of the Mole Men. But they are prepared and make plans to kill Maciste in many interesting, but complicated ways...

Funny little flick with a truly bizarre story. John Garko, later a successful western movie star, appears as an ambitious young Mole Man who wants to marry the queen (Moira Orfei), while Mark Forest stars as Maciste, Son of Hercules.