Aka - Samson Against the Pirates
Aka - Samson and the Sea Beasts
Dubbed.
I guess this falls into the Peplum category but it takes place in 1630 and
I am not quite sure if a Peplum can take place outside of the Roman and Greek
period. But Kirk Morris spends nearly the entire film shirtless and is a
strong man who can bring down an entire building. Either way, as pretty as
he was my eyes were glued to the female co-star, Margaret Lee. Absolutely
ravishing in this film with her golden blonde tresses cascading down around
her shoulders and her smoldering gazes directed at Samson. Even though she
has to jump off a ship near the beginning of the film and survive on a raft,
she manages to have some nice changes of costume - even disguising herself
as a Princess with a crown. I am wondering where she was hiding that crown.
This is kind of hokey fun with Samson wrestling the fakest rubber alligator
since some of the early Tarzan movies. But there is a fair amount of action
and a lot of flexing of muscles. Lee always looks like she is ready to purr.
Morris who was actually Italian as opposed to an American import won the
Mr. Italia Bodybuilder contest in 1961 so he had a lot of muscles to flex.
He definitely became one of the go to guys for Peplum films with such fare
as six Maciste films and a few other Samson films. Once the Peplum craze
began to fade out, so did he. Margaret Lee is English but after graduating
from university went to Italy to appear in films and was very popular for
a few years in comedies and lots of genre films. I seem to come across her
all the time and I am not complaining.
The pirate Murad (Daniele Vargas) is scouring the seas in the Caribbean capturing
ships, stealing the valuables, kidnapping the girls to sell into slavery
and sinking the ship. A truly bad guy! He captures one ship that has
about ten women on it going to Martinique. All gorgeous of course. Amanda
(Lee) is one of them but she jumps overboard and floats on a piece of wood
until she is spotted by Samson. She tells her story and he and two friends
decide to go to Devil's Island and take out Murad. She thankfully goes with
them. And he beats up a lot of guys, brings down a building, fights an alligator,
has to endure a test of strength and wins the heart of Amanda. What more
could a ten-year old want. He was a superhero back in 1963.
