Just perfect...

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Mark Forest's personal favorite of his films is one of the best Italian sword & sandal films of the 1960s. Superior writing and direction, and handsome Egyptian sets and costumes, make it seem like a wonderful comic book come to life. Forest, in great shape, has never been better or been better-photographed. Furneaux capably heads a strong supporting cast.The story finds the Pharaoh Rameses in love with Helen of Troy (Furneaux), who prefers Aryan (Forest), her beefy bodyguard. A mythological mix-up, but it's one of the genre's strongest, most logical and compelling stories.A film like this, in an unfaded print with strong bright colors, makes one wonder if some of these films aren't actually better than they seem in their ludicrously-dubbed American TV versions. If this had been made by Fassbinder, David Lynch or some other fashionable director, it might be acclaimed as an avant garde masterpiece.

Mark Forest was probably the most magnificent of all the Hercules heroes, even more so than the God-like Steve Reeves. In his farewell movie, "Lion of Thebes," Forest has never looked more incredible, with his phenomenal torso on full display and his beautifully expressive face--sensuous lips, slanted eyes, chiseled features--all photographed to maximum advantage. Starting out as a physique model, Lou Degni from the Bronx, Forest went on to win Mr. America and it was only fitting that he was brought in on the coattails of the beautiful Reeves to make his share of muscle movies. No one had pecs as enormous as Forest or a ridged stomach that was justly famous. HIs whole torso was a work of wonder and thankfully, we have him on film during his peak to show the world just how phenomenal a speciman of manhood he was. Probably his best movie, "Kindar the Invincible" is included in the 50-movie package, "Warriors", that has ALL the musclemen who portrayed Hercules, Atlas, Samson and so on. But it was Mark Forest and his extraordinary torso and charisma that makes your mouth drop when he appears nearly naked except for a brief loincloth in most of his film work. He conveys a smoldering sensuality lacking in Reeves and you envy the number of actresses who had love scenes with him and were able to squeeze those powerful shoulders and arms. If Hollywood had any brains at that time, Forest would have been a Number One leading man. Male beauty, such as that enjoyed by Reeves and Forest, comes along only once in a century and in these vastly enjoyable "sword and sandal" entertainments, we can enjoy them forever. And wish we had movie heroes today who come anywhere close to Forest and Reeves.

One of the approximately 300 Italian peplum (sword and sandals) films made between 1957 and 1965, Lion of Thebes is unusual for a number of reasons: one, there is actually something like a coherent story rather than a simple collection of "strongman set pieces"; two, there is actually a fair amount of dialogue, and the acting is rather better than usual--one almost has the impression that the muscleman (Aryan) cares about what is happening; three, the film is a little more ethically ambiguous than usual: the good woman (Helen) and the "bad" woman (Naïs) actually want the same thing; the "usurper" is actually the proper heir to the throne; the wicked counselor is evil, but actually wants to save Thebes from its weak and careless leader. Peplums tend to range from laughably bad to simply agonizingly bad--this one's actually okay.

Menelao (Alberto Lupo) and Helen of Troy (Ivonne Furneaux) are going to Greece when they are shipwrecked on shores of Egypt . Menelao disappears and Helen stays under protection of superhero Aron (Mark Forest) . Our protagonist unhesitatingly goes into action and must use his strength to save the woman he loves from villain Tutmes (Massimo Serato) who is pharaoh's counselor (Pierre Cressoy as Ramses) . Then , he becomes inextricably involved in a war between rulers of High Egypt (capital is Tebas) and Under Egypt (center is Sais) . The Greek warrior under the command the Egyptian troops must fight against the enemies .This is a good spaghetti , myth-opera with action , love , battles and luxurious scenarios . The movie has not mythological accuracy neither historical prospect . The picture contains stock shots from anterior films , as some flashbacks of previous movie by Giorgo Ferroni : ¨The Trojan horse¨and battle scenes . Mark Forest , in his last film , is perfect as the mythical hero who encounters many dangerous situations while trying save his true love -the queen Helen- of numerous odds . Forest who played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hércules , Goliath , Samson or here Aron for U.S. viewing . Robust and strong Forest was a muscle-man who left allegedly the sword and sandals genre for the Opera , he used the amount of money he made acting as hero and gladiators films in Italy to study Opera , he currently teaches in the Los Angeles zone . He was one along with Ed Fury , Dan Vadis , Brad Harris ,Alan Steel , Reg Park , Gordon Scott whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures , but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity . Above average muscle-men fodder and better than most muscles operas-spaghetti , thanks to Mark Forest and by Peplum specialist like is fine director Giorgo Ferroni .