Mark Forest - Three Peplum Films

             
           
Goliath and the Sins of Babylon
Director:  Michele Lupo
Year:  1963
Rating: 7.0
Country: Italy


Aka - Maciste, l'eroe più grande del mondo

I am taking a short break from watching another Peter Bogdanovich films to watch a few from Mark Forest who just passed away. This is turning into a lousy year with Betty White, Sidney Poitier, Bogdanovich, Dobie Gillis, Bob Saget, Max Julien and Forest. And it is only the 13th of January. I can't say I am a very knowledgeable fan of Peplum films which is what Forest is most famous for but this struck me as a hell of a good one. Big scale, lots of action and Forest is a hunk of male pulchritude. This was the AIP American version which cut out about ten minutes of the film and dubbed it of course. I would guess the cuts were not the action.




Forest had a short career starring in only twelve films and when the Peplum fad faded so did he. He was born in Brooklyn (yay) and became a body builder at a young age. He went to work for Mae West at one point in her act as one of the musclemen. But after Steve Reeves and Hercules hit the screens, they came looking for other muscle men and Forest became the second American actor to join the Peplum parade. His real name was Lou Degni, of Italian descent and apparently he spoke fluent Italian but I have no idea if he ever got to speak it in his films. But he must have had some voice because after his film career he became an opera singer of all things. And then a voice teacher. He just passed away on the 7th of January 2022 at 89 years of age.




Like I said, I have only seen a handful of Peplums - and many of them strike me as pretty cheesy but this one was a straightforward adventure tale with good production values and solid action with a set piece of two ships fighting and a clash of cavalries as well as numerable basic fights. In the American version Forest is Goliath but that was a name change from Maciste - the legendary Italian hero going way back to the silent days.




After many years away he comes home to his region of Nefir, which has come under the tyranny of the Babylonian Empire. One of the tributes they have to make each year is to hand over 30 virgin girls to the King of Babylonia. Not sure exactly how they check to be sure they are virgins. If I were the parents of a virgin, I would find her a boyfriend quickly and rent them a room. A rebellion is growing against the King of Nefir and the Babylonians. They are made up of gladiators so for the price of one film you get about 10 strong men. Goliath joins them and the rebellion begins. Of note, the second main rebel is played by Giuliano Gemma who would go on to a nice career in Spaghetti Westerns. The female love interest - not of Goliath but of Gemma is José Greci who was the Virgin Mary in Ben-hur - a pretty hot Mary - and then went on to appear in many Peplums.

Hercules Against the Mongols
Director:  Domincio Paolella
Year:  1963
Rating: 5.5
Country: Italy


Aka - Maciste contro i Mongoli

Hercules (or in actuality Maciste) saves the Western world against the Mongols. Almost singlehandedly! Mark Forest is back as Maciste in this Italian Peplum. Poor Maciste gets no credit in the American versions of the Peplum films - sometimes called Hercules or Goliath or Samson. He should sue. He is pretty fabulous here as he takes on a lion, a test of strength and the Mongol army. Forest performs all of this with good cheer and shirtless of course. As a Peplum film it has all the requirements - action, heroism, villainy and a beautiful lady. At times it looks a little cheap with its obvious plywood sets but then in the finale there are a ton of extras in the big battle.




Genghis Khan has died and his last wish is for there to be peace between his Empire and the West. His three rotten sons have other ideas and conquer another city that seemed to have about ten defenders  -where were those extras then. They capture the Princess played by José Greci who played the Princess in Goliath and the Sins of Babylon. But the young son of the dead King escapes and is saved by Hercules who happens to be passing by - by picking up a very large tree and using it as a stick to knock all the Mongols off their horses. He allows himself to be captured so that he can save the Princess - and like a Bond film they don't kill him. Later on the forces of the West arrive garbed in Crusader outfits - did the Crusaders fight the Mongols? I don't think so but it is a good look. The main brother is played by Ken Clark who after a number of Peplum films became the suave secret agent Dick Malloy in a trilogy of films. This is fun enough but a little slow and a plot that makes zero sense.

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules
Director:  Hans Petter Moland
Year:  1961
Rating: 5.0
Country: Italy


Aka - Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo

The question that has to come to mind is whether the descendants of these mole men are the same ones who Superman had to deal with in the 1951 Superman and the Mole Men. It is difficult to say. They had no resemblance but hundreds of years of evolution in the darkness underground could be the explanation for that. We may never know.





These Mole Men are human like though with rather elaborately bad taste in clothes all dressed in white, with masks and long white hair to go along with their pale pasty white skin. They also melt in the sun - M&Ms they are not. They have built a large underground lair with disguised entry points inside trees and movable earth and have many devices as well as lions. Deep inside they are protected from the radiant sun that unleashes its fury on them. They have a beautiful Queen (Moira Orfei) who instead of wearing the dull garb of the others is dressed in a lovely gown that hints at her generous bosom and is surrounded by equally lovely female slaves. The Mole Men and Mole Woman hate the humans who can stand the sun and at night they leave their refuge and attack villages, killing many and taking slaves to work their Wheel. The enormous wheel makes diamonds.







The Son of Hercules actually called Maciste here comes upon the Mole Men when they are chasing after an escaped slave. He is pulling in a boat from the shore exposing his yards of muscles. Along with a black man he finds being tortured - who is a fellow body builder (Paul Wynter) - they decide to go after the Moles by allowing themselves to be captured. There are some nice scenes in the film - Maciste has to fight a man in a large gorilla suit in a cage, has to knock out a few lions with a club and pass various tests of strength. He gets an A. He also gets the attention of the Queen who wants to bear his children. This is kind of fun. The lair has some cool stuff going on like rooms that open to the sun to execute their own or periscopes to listen to what is going on above or knockout gas. Sadly no TV or delivery. In general a so-so outing with less action than I wanted but I did like the lair and when the nuclear holocaust comes they may have the last laugh.