So, long time, no post. Barbaric heroes! A lost city of subterranean mutants! Alas, it's no
Worms of the Earth, as we shall see.
Mole Men Vs. The Son of Hercules (1961). First off, this seems to be a print used in TV showings, with the "Sons of Hercules" theme song playing. This was added for TV syndication back in the '60s, where some of these films had their first American exposure. Our hero, Machiste (Mark Forest), who was not actually a son of Hercules, is pulling a whale out of the ocean. This is the high point of the movie, folks, it's all downhill from here.
A nearby village has been destroyed by strange albino attackers. We get treated to an awkward scene of Bangor, a guy of African descent (Paul Wynter) being tormented by some pale guys in white robes
, followed by said African guy throwing himself at the feet of his rescuer and swearing to be a loyal slave
. Machiste is a very enlightened guy, though, and accepts the help of Bangor in fighting the Mole Men. Machiste's big plan is to be captured by the Mole Men. Uh-huh.
So, the Mole Men have all their slaves turning a giant wheel. A wheel of pain, one might say. This powers an improbable machine that seems to make jewels and gold with nothing more sophisticated than a big press. Yeah. These Mole Men are a strange bunch. Even a single ray of sunlight can kill them, with melodramatic contortions and time-lapse fading into skeletons. We are informed of this fatal weakness numerous times. So it's absolutely hilarious to see them
running around in broad daylight --- with only a mild filter to vainly convince us it's the middle of the night --- with no ill effects. I'm serious. At one point, a Mole Man says the sun will be up soon, while you can plainly see they are standing around in sunlight. I swear, there's never been such a vast gulf between what the characters are saying and what the audience is seeing. There's not a single outdoor shot in this movie that looks even remotely like nighttime. Not even close. And the Mole Men's underground city is very well-lit, too.
Machiste wrestles a gorilla, who is played by one of the worst gorilla suit's I've ever seen. Please don't ask how many I've seen. You can see the stuntman's skin through the obvious eyeholes at several points. And his strength is inconsistent. Pulling a whale from the ocean = easy. Fighting off some skinny guys with bad spears = hard.
At the end, Machiste frees everyone, then runs off to wreck the wheel. Meanwhile, a whole bunch of the former slaves are slaughtered by the Mole Men. Smooth move, Machiste
. With some help, Machiste destroys the wheel. Oh, and there's a "plot twist" which manages to be more painfully moronic than anything we've seen previously.
Oh, God, that was awful. A few bright spots, though. The music is OK (not sure if it was composed for this movie, or stolen, though). The sets are fairly big, the number of extras impressive. Mark Forest is a decent Machiste, but he's given very little to do apart from some feats of strength. The first scene with the whale is decent, the intro of the wheel is good, the scene where Machiste holds up stone slabs to keep himself and Bangor from being crushed is good . . . and that's about it.
There's good peplum out there. This is not it.
Edited by Almuric, 08 November 2011 - 04:54 AM.
These Mongauls act nothing like historical Gauls, apart from their hatred of the Romans. Also, the Druids seem to function more as military leaders than priests. Such matters aside, the movie is fun and never gets a chance to be dull. The fight scenes are energetic and varied. There are some moments of surprising quality, especially one that happens at the halfway mark.
