April 19, 2022

A terribly wooden Kirk Morris is "Maciste" in this very poor Peplum affair. He helps the young king "Ario" (Demeter Bitenc) lead his people from their homes - as a volcano is about to erupt - straight into the middle of a battle between two warring nations. Soon he is caught up in intrigues and has to rescue "Queen Amoa" (Laura Brown) from the clutches of her patricidal suitor - and the aptly named leader of the headhunters - "Gunk" (Nello Pazzaf… read the rest.

A terribly wooden Kirk Morris is "Maciste" in this very poor Peplum affair. He helps the young king "Ario" (Demeter Bitenc) lead his people from their homes - as a volcano is about to erupt - straight into the middle of a battle between two warring nations. Soon he is caught up in intrigues and has to rescue "Queen Amoa" (Laura Brown) from the clutches of her patricidal suitor - and the aptly named leader of the headhunters - "Gunk" (Nello Pazzafini) and, well yes, you can probably just guess the rest. It wouldn't be fair to say the writing was rotten, it's impossible to tell because there is no effort at all made by the voice-over "artistes" to characterise their roles at all. It's all seriously dull and drab, even if the film itself looks reasonably well strung together. The ending, though, typifies the whole directionless enterprise with little at all to recommend it to anyone but the most ardent genre completists. Morris (really Adriano Bellini) has the body for the role, but the face of a dog licking acid from a cactus - and here, he is really bland. Sorry - I'd just give this a miss.

show less