Hercules And The Captive Women 1961 Screenplay by Vittorio Cottafavi, Sandro Continenza and Duccio Tessari, directed by Vittorio Cottafavi. Original title is Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide, in the UK it was released as Hercules Conquers Atlantis, it was also released as Hercules and The Haunted Women. It was released in the US in 1963. The film was made fun of on Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the 4th season. They have a nasty pan and scan version that I first saw in 1992, a few years later I picked up the Warriors Multi Movie set. Fifty sword and sandal action films, mostly from Italy. Today we watched the Blu-ray, wide screen and great looking. The Blu-ray also includes a copy of the MST3K episode.
Reg Park plays Hercules, the rest of the cast are unknown Italians to me. He's drugged by a friend, Androcles the King of Thebes, and taken on an adventure by ship. They wind up on an island where he saves a local princess and kills the god Proteus. The island turns out to be Atlantis and the princess turns out to be a sacrifice to the gods to protect their island. The princess is still on the chopping block unless Hercules can bust up enough stuff for them to go free.
It was a nice looking transfer but the movie is still below average to me. I don't think I'll bother with the Blu-ray, not for the number of times I might want to watch it again. I've already got a couple of copies of it on one or another of those Multi movie packs.
Ulysses 1954 Director Mario Camerini co-wrote the screenplay with Franco Brusati. Mario Bava is the cinematographer, he also directed the Polyphemus segment.
Kirk Douglas is Ulysses and he's been gone from Ithaca for ten years. He went off to fight Troy and failed to return after the battle was over. The palace is filled with suitors demanding the hand of his wife Penelope. Why she can't drive them out as Queen I don't know. We spend a lot of time with Penelope seeing what dicks the suitors are, they drink Ulysses wine and eat his food, all the while boasting who's the best suitor. Someone really needs to kick these guy's collective asses.
Princess Nausicaa finds a man washed up on the shore of her island home of Phaeacia. We know it's Ulysses but he's lost his memory after escaping the clutches of Circe. He's welcomed by the king and given a room in the castle. Nausicaa falls for him but soon as he gets his memory back he knows he has to go home. He arrives on Ithaca just in time to fight for his wife in a contest. He kills all the suitors and he's reunited with his bride.
I thought it was better than the Hercules movie but I'm not sold on getting a copy. We watched the Blu-ray and it looked very nice.
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