Touches You

The greatest movie ever made..!

one of my absolute favorites!

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

In its native Italy, this film was released to theaters as "Hercules the Invincible." But for its U.S. release, it went straight to TV as a two-parter renamed "The Sons of Hercules: The Land of Darkness." It even has an opening theme sung in English, which leads me to believe it was packaged as a weekly series with this one comprising two episodes.So our well-oiled, be-loinclothed muscleman is not Hercules, but his son Argolese (Dan Vadis, perhaps a distant relative of Quo). He's a chip off the old block when it comes to being superstrong and kicking some ass, though I have to wonder where his blond hair and beard came from. (Hercules himself was a brunette.) The film begins with Argolese fighting a lion who attacks Princess Telca, daughter of King Tedaeo. His Majesty is so grateful that he offers Telca's hand in marriage, but only if Argolese completes one more task: slaying the dragon that terrorizes his kingdom. With the help of a magic spear from the local sorceress, Argolese kills the dragon in a surprisingly brief scene. He returns to the village to find that it was raided and its people taken as slaves. Argolese sets off on a rescue mission that sees him fighting a bear looking way too much like a skinny guy in a moth-eaten costume, chained to two elephants in an ordeal designed to tear his arms off, and finally immersing the Land of Darkness (a city inside a mountain) in molten lava after he frees the prisoners and whisks them off to safety.I'd like to see the Italian print as the U.S. version is chopped all to hell. Certain scenes felt like they should have gone on longer, and they very well might have in the theatrical release. Guess I'll never know.Far too many of these sword-and-sandal films bore me, but this one held my attention for its full 80 minutes. LAND OF DARKNESS is on the low end of the Hercules spectrum (which was low to begin with), but it has a rudimentary interest factor working in its favor.

Right off the bat I have to say this is not about Hercules but about the SON OF Hercules Ercole/Argolese. Most likely "son of" refers to a follower of Hercules. Like father, like son - Argolese is like his "father" so I guess it is a Hercules movie in a way.This one does have some light comedy in it - including the man in the bear suit scenes. Babar gives us some comical lines and looks - the real comic relief of the film.Not only does this peplum action-adventure "Hercules" film give us some light comedy, it is a fantasy film since we have a witch and a dragon. It does feel like a Dungeons and Dragons movie in it's way. And it has all the makings for a film that I enjoy. This one might be my favorite "Hercules" film from the 60s series.6/10

Sword and Sandal films are perhaps the most nerve-wracking movies to try and track down. They usually have numerous different titles, versions and edits. This one is a prime example. Many of the reviews here trashing it for "stealing scenes" from other flicks (including the iconic 1958 Hercules starring Steve Reeves) are actually reviewing the more commonly available US TV Edit by Joseph E Levine which did in fact replace scenes from this flick with that previous one, which he also did US distribution for. In such a case when you are literally viewing half the movie, not just the edits but the chopping off of half of the screen to get a cinemascopic picture to fit to a 4x3 TV, one's assessment can be unfairly ravaged because you are only seeing fragments of what a movie is meant to be! I was fortunate enough to catch the original and superior Italian version which is likely to please anyone who finds a title like "Hercules The Invincible" tantalizing enough to merit a watch in the first place. Although the Italian version is missing the groovy narration added to the US Version - guaranteed to take you back to your childhood living room floor in front of the old TV set - it is an overall better viewing experience.

Son of the great man - Argolese (Vadis) - saves heiress Telca (Rozin) from the clutches of a fearsome bear and is granted her hand in marriage by her father the king (Sasso). Before they can marry, Argolese must recover the tooth from a dragon - which he duly does, but discovers on his return that the kingdom has been overrun by bandits and his wife-to-be, kidnapped and enslaved by the evil Queen Ella (Brown). Argolese must overcome not only the Queen, but her trusted right hand man (Clark) and his scheming daughter (Fiore) who has designs on the throne.Vadis is a behemoth (and looks like he's just performed a thousand hack squats before each take), although not as anatomically gifted as Steve Reeves or Reg Park, he still towers above the rest, dispatching men, horses, bears, boulders - he is apparently impervious to just about anything (except a pair of elephants trained to tear his limbs off). Rozin is innocent and sweet, whereas Fiore is the smouldering siren, but with a megalomaniacal streak that makes her both feisty and attractive. Me thinks Argolese, the great chastity-breaker, should re-consider his choice of damsel.If you're accustomed to the peplum genre, then this "Son of Hercules" tale will be no more, no less what you'd expect with another amiable muscleman, scantily-clad babes and the ubiquitous comedian covering all the bases adequately.