Maciste et les cent gladiateurs

The film deals about Maciste (Mark Forest) , gladiator of Sparta , the mythical hero who encounters pretty risked situations while trying to win over his true love , a beautiful Christian . Maciste who is nicknamed Hercules in US must use all his strength to save the girl he loves from malicious emperor (Peter White) and the Pretorians captain (Robert Hundar) making a desperate bid to rescue the Christians . The picture is a undercover version of ¨Quo Vadis¨ but with lack luster and budget , thus our hero (Mark Forest) like Marco Vinicio (Robert Taylor) must save his sweetheart Christian of the Emperor Vitelio likeness to Nero (Peter Ustinov) and his villain guards chief (Robert Hundar, an usual of Spaghetti Western) similar to wicked Tijelinus .

The film gets dramatic scenes of gladiators combats in the arena and martyrdom Christians and stunningly cheap special effects as the shots and closeups of a giant rubber gorilla which is a man suited struggling against Maciste . The robust and strong Maciste or Hercules is Mark Forest in a wooden acting , he was a muscleman who left allegedly the sword and sandals genre for the Opera , he used the amount of money he made acting as gladiator films in Italy to study Opera , he currently teaches it in the Los Angeles zone . He was one along with Ed Fury , Dan Vadis , Alan Steel , Reg Park , Gordon Scott whom to seek fortune and fame interpreting absurdly muscle mythological figures but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity . The film will appeal to Spaghetti myth-opera although is a better than most muscle opera , thanks to expert director Mario Caiano .

The bodybuilder Mark FOREST (1933-2022), who was active as an opera singer in his later years, is this time as a gladiator from Sparta. Maciste seeks to be close to those in power, even if they are very unsympathetic. At the festivals of ruler Vitellius (Franco COBIANCHI), the beautiful Olimpia (Marilu TOLO) also dances around the muscle god. This doesn't suit Sifacius (Claudio UNDARI), Vitellius' scheming and power-hungry advisor, at all. When Maciste falls in love with the blonde Christian Silvia (Elisabetta FANTI), Sifacius has the opportunity to strike back...

As Maciste, Mark FOREST has a lot of battles to overcome here. His duel with a guy in a gorilla costume is particularly funny. It's all very entertaining, but not earth-shattering either. The films with Mark FOREST are not among the best in the genre, but they generally offer acceptable average fare.

I found this film on TCM and was drawn to it. It really is a terrible film, but it is so bad it is laughable. This is a movie designed for MST3000, or maybe Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's attentions.

Years before Schwarzenegger decided to capitalize on his Mr. Olympia celebrity in Hollywood, other muscle-heads took a shot at the big screen. The results were mostly uneven and only suitable for drive-in movie B-film marathons.

This film is among the worst, which makes it among the best for comedy. (I saw the English-dubbed version.) The acting was amateurish. The dialogue (subtitled) was inept. Best of all was the plot. It really drove the humor.

Imagine the director and wardrobe head meeting in a costume store. The director says, "The gladiator must battle an animal in the ring. What animal costume looks the most real?" Apparently, the answer was "gorilla" and the gladiator scene wrote itself. Hilarious.

Poseidon must battle a gladiator quartet in ancient Rome. If he wins, the son of Hercules will have his life and anything else he wants. Sure enough, he wins and asks that the life of a Christian girl be spared. But the girl refuses her liberty until all of her fellow believers are also released.

Mark Forest fights the most unconvincing looking gorilla in an unconvincing scene, faces a sword duel blindfolded (great scene), takes on three gladiators in one go, falls in love with a Christian girl and gets dragged by three horses around the stadium in this entertaining peplum. It has a Quo Vadis type storyline but without its enormous budget and scope. The "Nero" here doesn't warble songs and play the harp tunelessly, but is hungry all the time, eats a lot, chuckles at the most unfunniest thing, even when a person dies, however he isn't any less cruel and narcissistic. The beautiful Marilu Tolo plays a courtesan who is spurned by Forest when he falls for a Christian but still helps him by giving him an alibi while he's rescuing Christians from imprisonment. Mark Forest is excellent in his role, he's a better actor than most peplum stars and he's got the charisma.

The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules is a thoughtful and action-packed peplum that moves briskly and with keen direction. Maybe it's a tad overlong, though.

***I'm commenting on the Italian version.***

Director Mario Caiano can be relied on when it comes to pacing and effective action scenes, and he does not disappoint here: "Maciste, gladiatore di Sparta" is a reasonably entertaining and well-crafted piece of peplum kitsch. The plot takes place in 69 B.C. (one year after the assassination of Nero) during the short-termed (half a year!) reign of emperor Vitellius. No attempt is made to portray the turmoil and uncertainty of this terrible year. Instead, the script portrays Vitellius as a glutton who delights in the amenities of empire, without having a bit of interest in politics - with the exception of the extermination of the Christians, obviously a legacy from emperor Nero, which he follows blindly as if it was a whim. It is worth noting that the actor playing Vitellius actually is well chosen in that looks very much alike to the surviving busts of the emperor! The obesity of the portrays might have suggested the running gag on the emperor's everlasting appetite for food. Mark Forest, one of the most enjoyable peplum actors, plays Maciste, a star gladiator from Sparta. As far as I can see, there's no reason to make him Greek, and there's no true Spartan flavor about him. The name might have simply been chosen to evoke (a) Spartacus (who, however, was NOT from Sparta) and/or (b) the traditional toughness of the Spartans. He gets to do all kinds of fighting and gets to flex and exercise his muscles on a number of occasions. Sometimes, he uses his wit as well. The emperor's courtesan (played by brunette beauty Marilu Tolo) is in love with that gladiator, and Vitellius delights in having such a delightful source of bloody arena entertainment. However, Maciste meets a blonde Christian girl, and though he does not convert to their faith, he helps the peaceful people against their oppressors. The focus here rests on the characterization of early Christendom - their secret meetings in catacombs and their pacifist attitudes - and all too easily forgets to place that in contrast to heathen cults and religion. It is remarkable how the film avoids any references to heathen cult: The Romans come across as a race with no true beliefs at all. (Though at one time, Maciste is briefly compared to the god Mars himself.) Marcello, the name of the Christian bishop, is perhaps inspired by Pope Marcellus I. (308 A.D.) who was interred in the Priscilla catacombs. "Syphace", the weaver of intrigue at the imperial court, was perhaps named after the Numidian king Syphax (220-203 B.C.) who betrayed Rome to the Carthaginians.