Persée l'invincible

This movie is not a literary dramatization of classical mythology. Instead it's a melodramatic action movie. The plot takes some long divergences away from the mythological sources, and has a few bits that don't quite make sense, but it does the job of carrying the characters from one action scene to another. The introduction tells us that Perseus is an honorary Son of Hercules, for no apparent reason except maybe to link it with the many Italian Hercules movies.

The acting is only occasionally good, but it's never terrible either. The costumes are pretty basic, but set the mood well. The sets are mostly simple too, but also get the idea across. There are plenty of extras in scenes that need them. The fights are sometimes well-choreographed and performed, but sometimes look dumb.

The lighting is almost always bright sunshine; even night scenes look sunlit, just slightly underexposed. The pan-and-scan was sloppy, and sometimes shows obvious losses, like people split vertically while they're talking. The cinematography probably looks better in widescreen versions.

The worst part was the monsters. The dragon looks decent, if low-budget, but doesn't move well in scenes it shares with actors. It's also a bit on the small side, but it's big enough to threaten a warrior in leather and bronze armor. It looked like a model of some sort, rather than a person in a dragon suit. In contrast to the dragon, Medusa is terrible, even though she's the title character in some of this movie's many titles. She looks like a leafless tree walking around on exposed roots, with a single glowing eye. Myths described her as a woman with snakes for hair, and looks so hideous her gaze turned people to stone.

The music sometimes took itself too seriously, but it kept the mood going pretty well. During the Medusa scenes, the score turned squeaky, as if the musicians were laughing at what they could see were dumbest scenes in the movie. Often it sounded better-suited to a Western than an ancient myth setting.

In parts where the movie is good, it's quite entertaining. When it's bad, it's still entertaining in a "so bad it's good" sense. As long as you don't set your expectations too high, you should be satisfactorily entertained.

American actor/bodybuilder Richard Harrison stars in this peplum epic about the legend of Perseus who wins princess Andromeda and her kingdom by slaying all kinds of foes, human and monster. Since he's the illegitimate son of Zeus it's only fitting as he has the heroic lineage.

This story was remade much better with a name cast and special effects by master Ray Harryhausen in 1981 as Clash Of The Titans. Perseus is also the son of a queen who married and a real son who grew up to be as nasty a piece of work as his old man. Andromeda is princess in the next kingdom over and her bit of real estate is in the grip of the bad king and his Snidely Whiplash like son. And we always know what Snidely Whiplash villains have uppermost in their minds.

Anyway the bad guys have both the Medusa and a lake dragon, cousin of the Loch Ness monster working for them. I wonder how the dragon knows only to eat the enemies of the bad king?

It's his mission to get the bad monsters and as for Medusa there's a bit of license taken from Greek mythology.

Harrison is a bit of a sculpted Greek God himself. But the acting and the dubbing is real bad in this Italian peplum epic.

I'd see Clash Of The Titans first.

Ah yes, Richard Harrison as Perseus (aka: one of the myriad sons of Hercules) must battle all manner of men and monsters in THE MEDUSA AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES. All while wearing some very stylish power-tunics! Can Perseus defeat the eeevil meanie-pants, king Acrisio (Arturo Dominici) and his jerk-weed son, Galenore (Leo Anchoriz), before they fulfill their plan for old-world domination?

EXTRA POINTS: For the "tournament of strength" (aka: macho man contest), where the contestants get to use micro-shields that couldn't cover a baby!

EXTRA EXTRA POINTS: For the lovely Andromeda (Anna Ranalli) with her flaming red hair and fabulous earring choices!

EXTRA X3 POINTS: For the well-realized title creature, as well as the lake monster! For the time, and obviously modest budget, the animatronics are downright impressive!

Worth many late-night viewings...

Yes, this old italian peplum is probably more fun and better acted than the major blockbuster Troy. At least the story is more plausible, even with a sort of medieval tournament for the hand of the princess and a medieval siege with catapults and boiling oil. Anyway, you have a couple of stop motion creatures (Medusa and a sort of aquatic dragon) made by Carlo Rambaldi, father of Spielberg's E.T., a lot of cinematic battle scenes without computer graphics, love, heroic adventures, swords and sandals. Exactly as Troy, but 40 years before and on a very low budget.

A towering sword and sandals star in a historical exciting production with dragons , monsters and nasty rulers . Juvenile adventure-fantasy about the valiant Perseo who undergoes a perilous journey to free Andromeda from evil kidnappers and monstrous Medusa . A passable cinematic adaptation from legendary history of Greece which jointed one of the Peplum's greatest heroes playing an exciting fantasy derived from Greek mythology about a valiant and handsome he man .This is an enjoyable myth-opera with struggles,love, tortures and with meticulously battle scenes that convey us a spectacular scenario. Richard Harrison is perfect as the mythical hero who encounters pretty risked situations while trying to save his lover . It deals with Acrisio (the notorious character actor Arturo Dominici) who governs tyrannically Argos , while Cefeo (Roberto Camardiel who played several S.W.) rules over Serifo . Cefeo sends his son Alceo against forces of Galeron (the usual secondary Leo Anchoriz who performed many baddie roles) , but he is defeated and converted in stone sculpture by Medusa . The Danae's (the veteran Elisa Cegani) son named Perseo (the hunk man Richard Harrison ) who holds three birth's marks falls in love with Andromeda (Ranalli). Galeron kills his stepmother Danae and Perseo flees . Later on , Perseo does battle against the monstrous Medusa ( made by Amando De Ossorio , creator of ¨Templar blind dead¨ series ), her army of stone warriors and a giant dragon (made by Carlo Rambaldi: ET). |

This is an enjoyable sword and sandals movie with mythological backstage, action, love, battles and spectacular scenarios. The film gets breathtaking scenes of combats and stunningly cheap special effects as the shots and closeups of a giant Medusa which is a rubber-suited man struggling against Perseo . Glamorous landscapes filmed in Madrid outskirts and colorful matte painting by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio. Atmospheric musical score by Manuel Parada and glimmer cinematography by Eloy Mella , very well remastering . The picture is well starred by Richard Harrison , he is top notch as the historic hero who finds many dangerous situations while attempting save the kingdom and his true love ,Andromeda , of several risks. Strong and robust Richard Harrison was a magnificent muscle-man . He was one along with Ed Fury, Brad Harris, Kirk Morris, Reg Park, Mark Forest, among others, whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures, but anybody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity. Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos ¨ and ¨South Pacific¨ , while shooting another inferior character in ¨Master of world (1961)¨ produced by American International , he met producer James H. Nicholson's daughter and married her within six months. Frustrated at not being able to secure meatier roles in America , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe along with his greatest success ¨The seven Spartans¨. He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades. His lead role, of course, immediately typed him as another Herculean type and, to avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man, he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the red , Gringo, Reverendo Colt, Joe Dakota ¨ , Wartime genre as ¨Leopards of Churchill and 36 hours in hell¨ and spy intrigue as ¨Master stroke and 077 challenge to the killer's¨ . Once Italy closed down film production after the muscular craze had died down, he, like others, found himself unemployed. He did manage to scrape up work in Hong Kong, but a large portion of them were bottom-of-the-barrel Ninja movies.

Rating : Acceptable Peplum fodder and better than many Sword and Sandals movies , thanks to Richard Harrison and slick direction by Alberto De Martino who creates an imaginative spectacle based on mythological Greek legends being spectacularly realized , though in medium budget. Other adaptations about this known story are the following : ¨Clash of titans (1981)¨ by Desmond Davies with Harry Hamlin , Judi Bowker , Ursula Andress and Laurence Olivier and it's recently filmed a remake by Louis Leterrier with Sam Worthington , Alexa Davalos and Liam Neeson.