Clash Of The Olympians (16 Movie Set/1959 – 1964/Mill Creek DVD)

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C-     Extras: D     Films: C-

 

 

This sixteen movie collection contains both the best and the worst of the “sword and sandal” mythic action movies produced in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  The best films of the bunch includes several Steve Reeves Hercules movies.  If one goes by sheer quantity of entertainment for his buying dollar, Clash’s more than twenty-three hours of content is a good value.  However, if you remember these films fondly from your childhood, you may want to brace yourself, because most of them are just not very good.  

 

The aforementioned Reeves offers the best performances in the films in which he stars, and Gordon Scott makes a credible Hercules as well.  Many of the other performances are not as strong.  One aspect of these features that does still delight are the amazing array of excellent costumes worn by the casts.  If one watches closely, he or she can find many of these glorious garments showing up in different movies.  As these films were produced in Italy and later dubbed into English, it’s quite likely the same Italian prop company was called upon each time one of them went into production.  

 

The usually widescreen films are all color here, though the color is inconsistent and not always looking as it was originally intended, in alphabetical order:

 

Ali Baba & The Seven Saracens (1964)

The Avenger (1962)

The Giant Of Marathon (1959)

The Giants Of Rome (1964)

The Giants Of Thessaly (1960)

Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963)

Hercules & The Captive Women (1961)

Hercules Against The Moon Men (1964)

Hercules Against The Mongols (1963)

Hercules & The Masked Rider (1963)

Hercules & The Princess of Troy (1965)

Hercules & The Tyrants of Babylon (1964)

Hercules Unchained (1960)

Herod The Great (1960)

Kindar The Invulnerable (1964)

Spartacus & The Ten Gladiators (1964)

 

 

Like the content, the quality of the actual sound and images has suffered over time.  These films are presented in full-screen, and generally suffer from lack of preservation, badly dubbed dialogue, and washed out color and sound.  

 

This box is bereft of extras, and this is a real shame, since hearing the stories of how and why these films were made might have been a lot more entertaining than the movies themselves!  

 

Clash of the Olympians offers a glimpse back into a genre of films many might want to forget.  Fans of the "sword and sandal" genre should seek this one out, but others might wear out the chapter advance button on their DVD player’s remote.

 

 

-   Scott Pyle