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.

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.

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.

MOLE MEN AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES is another Maciste film, repackaged as one of the "Sons of Hercules" series. All for American audiences.

Enjoying a relaxing day of whale beaching, Maciste (Mark Forest), is interrupted by a horde of bleached wig-wearing, pasty-skinned interlopers! Thankfully, Maciste is basically a boulder with eyes, and his glistening body oil repels their weaponry like a shining shield of shimmering sheen! He proceeds to mow them down like crabgrass.

Enlisting the aid of his equally enormous friend, Bango (Paul Wynter), the two chuckling heroes flex their tree-like appendages, while ridding the land of Mole men. That is, until they're captured, taken to the subterranean lair, and introduced to the Mole men's queen.

Of course, there are other enslaved prisoners to be freed, and the queen wants Maciste. Bad! Let the obligatory "test of strength" begin! This time, Maciste must fight a "beast man" (aka: a guy in a go-rilla suit) in a cage match to the death! There's also a torturous, triceps-tearing, testosterone-tapping test of endurance, as a bonus!

This movie is a gift from the muscleman gods! There's even -yet another- princess to be rescued! This could very well be the Mount Olympus of entertainment!

Be sure to watch for the "human shish kabob", and "world's biggest chain" sequences!...

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.