''Samson and His Mighty Challenge'' is a 1964 Italian
sword-and-sandal film, released in 1965 at the very tail end of the peplum craze. Its original title was ''Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus gli invincibili'' (''
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the ...
,
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
,
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 Herc ...
, and
Ursus
Ursus is Latin for bear. It may also refer to:
Animals
* ''Ursus'' (mammal), a genus of bears
People
* Ursus of Aosta, 6th-century evangelist
* Ursus of Auxerre, 6th-century bishop
* Ursus of Solothurn, 3rd-century martyr
* Ursus (''praefectus ...
: the Invincibles''). It is also known as ''Samson and the Mighty Challenge'', ''Combate dei Gigantes'' (''Battle of the Giants''), ''Triumph of the Giants'' or ''Le Grand Defi'' (''The Great Battle'').
Synopsis
Hercules argues with his father
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
who thinks that his son should follow the road of virtue. Instead, Hercules follows the road of pleasure which leads him to the city of
Lydia. There he falls in love with the princess
Omphale
In Greek mythology, Omphale (; Ancient Greek: Ὀμφάλη) was queen of the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. Diodorus Siculus provides the first appearance of the Omphale theme in literature, though Aeschylus was aware of the episode. The Gree ...
and he asks from her mother
Nemea permission to marry her. Although Nemea is thrilled with the idea of having a
demigod
A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" ( spiritual enlightenment). A ...
as a husband for her daughter, Omphale doesn't even want to hear about it because she is in love with Inor the
barbarian prince. So the couple crafts a cunning plan.
They hide their dwarf friend under the statue of Zeus and he tells Hercules that in order to marry Omphale he must battle with the most powerful man in the world: Samson. Hercules agrees and the queen sends a messenger to tell Samson about the fight. Samson agrees, although his wife
Delilah
Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label= Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved ...
thinks that it is not a good idea because her husband has a taste for beautiful women. So Delilah cuts his hair and makes him weak. However, the messenger does not know this, and he thinks that his wife doesn't let him go. In order to return to Lydia with Samson, he hires the troublemaker Ursus who recently lost a fight to Maciste to kidnap him.
Cast
*
Alan Steel
Sergio Ciani (7 September 1931 – 5 September 2015), best known as Alan Steel, was an Italian bodybuilder and actor.
Born in Rome, Ciani started his career as a stuntman; then he became the body double for Steve Reeves in ''Hercules Unchained'' ...
as ''Hercules''
*
Howard Ross as ''Maciste''
*
Nadir Moretti (credited as Nadir Baltimore) as ''Samson''
*
Yann L'Arvor as ''Ursus ''
*
Luciano Marin
Luciano Marin (9 December 1931 – 12 November 2019) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than twenty films since 1957.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1931 births
2019 deaths
Italian male film actors
{{Italy-f ...
as ''Inor''
*
Hélène Chanel
Hélène Chanel (born Hélène Stoliaroff; 12 June 1941 in Deauville, Calvados, France) is a French actress of Russian heritage. She was active in the 1960s in a variety of European international co-productions of sword and sandal, Eurospy and ...
as ''Onphale''
*
Elisa Montés
Elisa Rosario Ruiz Penella (born 15 December 1934, in Granada), known as Elisa Montés, is a Spanish actress who took her pseudonym from the celebrated work of her grandfather, Manuel Penella, '' El gato montés''.
Montés is the sister of act ...
as ''Onfale''
*
Lia Zoppelli as ''Nemea ''
*
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 be ...
as ''Delilah''
*
Maria Luisa Ponte as ''Ursus' mother''
*
Conrado San Martín
Conrado San Martín Prieto (20 February 1921 – 24 April 2019) was a Spanish actor with a long and prolific career. He made his film debut in 1941 and was particularly popular during the 1950s.
Life
Conrado San Martín left behind a career as ...
as ''Marinero ''
*
Livio Lorenzon
Livio Lorenzon (6 May 1923 – 23 December 1971) was an Italian actor who was mainly active during the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
He played minor roles in some memorable commedia all'Italiana movies directed by the likes of Dino Risi and ...
*
Carlo Tamberlani
Reinterpretation
In 1993 this film was re-released as a comedy under the name ''
Hercules Returns
''Hercules Returns'' is a 1993 Australian comedy film directed by David Parker, starring David Argue, Michael Carman, Bruce Spence and Mary Coustas. The film has a cult following in Australia and other countries. It has been released in DVD fo ...
''. The original dialogue was overdubbed by Australian actors and a number of extra scenes were filmed.
[Hughes, p.25]
Bibliography
*
References
External links
*
''Samson and His Mighty Challenge''at
Variety Distribution
Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company.
It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward.
History
Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film p ...
* (1993 remake)
1964 films
1960s fantasy adventure films
Peplum films
Italian fantasy adventure films
1960s Italian-language films
Films directed by Giorgio Capitani
Films scored by Piero Umiliani
Italian crossover films
Maciste films
Sword and sandal films
1960s Italian films
{{fantasy-film-stub