Hercules/Hercules Unchained (VCI/Pan & Scan)

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C-     Extras: C     Films: C+

 

 

In what turned out to be a transition between the movie serial days of Buster Crabbe and current crop of action heroes, Steve Reeves became a surprise success in a series of films as Hercules.  Made on the cheap in Italy, the “Sword & Sandal” cycle divorced itself from the Biblical Epics that helped launch large-frame format films in the early 1950s, and his 1958 Hercules was a welcome sleeper for Warner Bros., who distributed at the time.

 

Reeves was a bigger guy than his movie serial predecessors, even larger than his TV Superman brother George.  It can also be argued that he was bigger than the muscular leads of the many Biblical films that preceded it, so that accounts for enough curiosity interest for audiences that he was as big as the posters indicated.  For young boys, that was a shock, women had their interest and there was always the unspoken Gay crowd.  It should be said that the films were also a hoot on top of all that.

 

Both play very loose with history (especially that which is not known) and the dubbing makes that aspect more preposterous than it would be under normal circumstances.  The Action and Fantasy genres actually got a boost, but other films would soon top this, especially the Ray Harryhausen-affiliated Jason & The Argonauts (1963).  With its amazing special effects and memorable stylings, these Hercules pictures soon looked even sillier, though they still continued to be made to capitalize on their predecessors and Jason & The Argonauts.  Jason & The Argonauts had nothing to worry about.

 

Hercules offers all the origins and the tales of the fate of The Golden Fleece, while Hercules Unchained (1959, U.S. release in 1960) getting married (so soon?), battling a war and a fantasy-variant of a “spider woman”.  For being “unchained” with the promise of more action, the film certainly has its castration anxiety.  IN that latter film, the potential for these films to become a great  movie series was lost, getting too muddled and not knowing how to capitalize (with no pun intended) on its strengths.  The latter film was the deciding factor on which direction the series should go and it stayed in B-movie territory for good, as has all revivals of the character.  At least they were entertaining widescreen films.

 

Unfortunately, both films are only presented here in old Avco Embassy TV prints, so we do not get to enjoy one of the reasons these films hit to begin with.  When originally issued, both were shot in Dyaliscope, a French variant of CinemaScope used on these French/Italian co-productions.  Future Horror maestro Mario Bava did the visual effects and cinematography on both films, which is definitely part of their distinction.  These are old, soft analog transfers of those TV prints, meaning we lose about 60% of the picture.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono comes from the same material and has compression and background noise and hiss throughout on both.  However, these films are notoriously known for their bad dubbing, so this is nominal.  The extra include bios on Reeves and Sylvia Koscina, trailers for four other VCI genre features, and a very nice gallery of many Hercules feature films set to music.  Some of them look good and should get a DVD release.  For fans who can’t wait, these copies of Hercules and Hercules Unchained will have to do until someone can get solid widescreen versions on the market.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo