''Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules'' ( it, Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo/ ''Maciste, the Strongest Man in the World'') is a 1961 Italian '' peplum'' film directed by

Antonio Leonviola Antonio Leonviola, sometimes Leon Viola (1913–1995), was an Italian screenwriter and film director and co-founder of the "Libera Università del Cinema di Roma". Life and career Leonviola was born in 1913 in Montagnana as Antonio Leone Viol ...

and starring Mark Forest.

Plot summary

The young Princess Saliura has been captured by a fierce cave-dwelling people.

Maciste Maciste () is one of the oldest recurring characters of cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. He is usually depicted as a Hercu ...

and his friend Bangor, in whose care she was left, allow themselves to be also captured and imprisoned. They find themselves in a series of deep caverns, occupied by a race of mutant white-haired

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

people. They are living under an ancient

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

, by which they cannot emerge onto the surface, except by moonlight, and sunlight is deadly to them. They worship the goddess of the moon. The 'mole men', led by Halis Mosab, a tyrannical and bloodthirsty non-albino

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, are using the captured people as slaves to operate their diamond mining operations. Saliura is assisted in an escape and is taken to sanctuary with the Guardians of the Sacred Waterfall. But she is betrayed and recaptured. Maciste and Bangor are forced to fight each other and then a ferocious

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

in order to save the life of the princess, but she's condemned to be sacrificed anyway. Maciste not only survives, but escapes and saves Bangor and Saliura. Trapped in the caverns, the now-freed slaves break out onto the surface, thanks to Maciste's strength. Halis Mosab, who has become aware that she was captured as a child and somehow became queen of the 'mole men', is overjoyed when she comes to the surface and finds that she can live in the sunlight. But she accidentally falls off a cliff and into the waters of the Sacred Waterfall. The fate of her people is not revealed.

Cast

Mark Forest Lou Degni (January 6, 1933 – January 7, 2022), known professionally as Mark Forest, was an American actor, opera singer and bodybuilder — widely known as the protagonist in a series of 1960s sword and sandal or ''peplum'' movies — ...

Moira Orfei Moira Orfei (; born Miranda Orfei; 21 December 1931 – 15 November 2015) was an Italian circus performer, actress and television personality of remote Romani origins. Moira was also considered the queen of the Italian circus, one stage name bei ...

as Queen Halis Mosab *

Paul Wynter Paul Wynter was a competitive bodybuilder and sometimes film actor. He is best known for his two wins in the Mr. Universe competition. A native of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, he was reported to be 68 years old in 2003. Born on October 2 ...

as Bangor *

Raffaella Carrà Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), better known as Raffaella Carrà (), was an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model. She was well known in Europe and Latin America as a result of her many ...

as Princess Saliurà *

Enrico Glori Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from ''Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Henri ( French), ...

as Kahab *

Gianni Garko Gianni Garko (born Giovanni Garcovich; 15 July 1935), often billed as John Garko and occasionally Gary Hudson, is an Italian actor who found fame as a leading man in 1960s Spaghetti Westerns. He is perhaps best known for his lead role as Sartana, ...

as Katan *

Roberto Miali The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

as Loth *

Nando Tamberlani Nando Tamberlani (1896–1967) was an Italian film actor. A character actor in Italian cinema of the postwar era, he was the brother of actor Carlo Tamberlani. Another brother Ermete Tamberlani was also an actor. He appeared in a number of peplum ...

as King of Aran * Carla Foscari * Rosalia Gavo *

Graziella Granata Graziella Granata (born 16 March 1941) is an Italian retired film and stage actress. After graduating at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, and after some secondary roles in adventure films and comedies, thanks to a film contract with Ang ...

* Janine Hendy as Black slave girl * Cinzia Cam * Bruna Mori * Anna De Martino *

Franca Polesello Franca Polesello (7 August 1930 – 8 March 2021) was an Italian actress. Biography Franca Polesello began her career in the late fifties in the show, after becoming Miss Lombardy. She worked as a television model and model, before appearing i ...

* Gloria Hendy as Tulac * Luciana Vivaldi

Release

''Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules'' was released on 10 October 1961.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules 1961 films 1960s action adventure films 1960s fantasy adventure films Italian action adventure films Peplum films 1960s Italian-language films Italian fantasy adventure films Maciste films Sword and sandal films 1960s fantasy action films Films scored by Armando Trovajoli 1960s Italian films