''Hercules Against the Moon Men'' ( it, Maciste e la regina di Samar, "

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 the Queen of Samar") is a 1964 Franco-Italian

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companie ...

sword and sandal Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budge ...

film. It was directed by

Giacomo Gentilomo Giacomo Gentilomo (5 April 1909 – 16 April 2001) was an Italian film director and painter. Biography Born in Trieste, at very young age Gentilomo moved to Rome, where at 21 years old he entered the cinema industry, working as a script survivo ...

in his final film and stars

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'' ...

and

Jany Clair Jany Clair (born 2 September 1938) is a retired French actress. Early life Clair was born Jany Guillaume in Lille, France. Career Clair starred in a number of B-grade films in the 1950s and 1960s, in particular in a number of sword and sand ...

. The English version of the film runs for 90 minutes and is dubbed.

Plot

In ancient Greece, a race of evil aliens from the Moon land on Earth. For years they have terrorized the nearby city of Samar.

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 ...

(

in the original version) attempts to free the people of the kingdom of Samar from the rule of their evil queen. She is under the spell of invading Moon Men who demand children for sacrifice in hopes their spilled blood can revive their own dead queen. The Queen of Samar has made a pact with the Moon Men to conquer the world and become the most powerful woman alive. The downtrodden residents of Samar cheer the arrival of the mighty Hercules, who on their behalf faces deadly obstacles, battles the Moon monsters and eventually confronts the leader of the Moon Men, Redolphis, a metal-headed giant.

Cast

as Hercules/Maciste *

as Queen Samara * Anna Maria Polani as Agar *

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 Gladius * Jean-Pierre Honoré as Darix * Delia D'Alberti as Billis / Selene (as Delia d'Alberti) * Goffredo Unger as Mogol * Franco Morici as Timor *

Attilio Dottesio Attilio Dottesio (16 July 1909 – 12 February 1989) was an Italian film character actor and singer. He appeared in 170 films between 1940 and 1985. Born in Brescia, Dottesio began his career in France, where first he obtained some success ...

as Remar * Roberto Ceccacci as Redolphis * Stefano Carletti as Mogol * Paola Pitti as Taris (as Paola Piretti) * Giuliano Raffaelli as Tirteo - tavernkeeper * Anna Maria Dionisi as Tavernkeeper's wife *

Salvatore Borghese Sal Borgese (born 5 March 1937, in Rome) is an Italian film actor. He is sometimes credited as Salvatore Borghese or Mark Trevor. He is noted for extensive work in the Italian film industry from the 1960s to present day, and for his work as a s ...

as Aggressor of Maciste upon his arrival * Antonio Corevi as Rubio, the imperial guard officer

Production

In the original Italian-language version, the hero was not Hercules but

, originally a hero in silent Italian cinema. ''Hercules Against the Moon Men'' "blends" elements from a number of mythologies. Roman, Greek, Ancient Egyptian and Cretan elements are all thrown in.Morford and Lenardon 1999, p. 589. Filming took place in Italy, primarily at the Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and in

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, Italy. The term '' The Moon Men'' and the plot element of such beings seeking to conquer the Earth appeared earlier in the novel of that name by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, though the details of the conquest in Burroughs' book are very different from the film.

Release

''Hecules Against the Moon Men'' was released in Italy on 27 June 1964. It was released in the United States in May 1965.

Reception

The original Italian title of ''Hercules Against the Moon Men'' was ''Maciste e la regina di Samar'' (Maciste and the Queen of Samar). The French title of the film was ''Maciste contre les hommes de pierre'' (Maciste Against the Men of Stone), but the English distributors dubbed him to be Hercules, because Maciste was not well known to American audiences. For audiences who wanted to see an accurate interpretation of the Hercules story, the film "... made little or no effort to remain faithful to antiquity." Film historian Gary Allen Smith noted: "In this combination of peplum and science fiction, this silly, but diverting, entry has the indomitable Alan Steel (real name: Sergio Ciani) fight a collection of Moon monsters before the inevitable cataclysm destroys the invaders. In the film's one inventive touch, the sequences which take place in the mountain kingdom of the Moon Men are filmed in sepia tone, rather than full color ... or Cosmicolor, as stated in the American publicity material."Smith 2009, p. 117.

''MST3K''

''Hercules Against the Moon Men'' (given as ''Hercules Against the Moonmen'') was also shown on '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'', making it infamous for its "Deep Hurting" Sequence (the very long sandstorm sequence). This sequence involved many of the cast floundering around pointlessly in a sandstorm for upwards of five minutes of screen time, in which no plot movement or character development is made at all. The "Deep Hurting" concept is introduced by Dr. Forrester as a follow-up to "Rock Climbing", a pain point of the movie ''

Lost Continent Lost lands are islands or continents believed by some to have existed during pre-history, but to have since disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena. Legends of lost lands often originated as scholarly or scientific theor ...

'' that had previously been shown.Beaulieu 1996, p. 72.

DVD releases

''Hercules Against the Moon Men'' has received numerous 'bargain box' releases from various studios. The MST3K version of the film was released by

Rhino Home Video Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

as part of the 'Collection, Volume 7' box set.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * Beaulieu, Trace. ''The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide''. New York: Bantam Books, 1996. . * Morford, Mark P. O. and Robert J. Lenardon. ''Classical Mythology''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999. . * Smith, Gary Allen. ''Epic Films: Casts, Credits and Commentary on More Than 350 Historical Spectacle Movies''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hercules Vs. The Moon Men 1964 films 1960s fantasy films Italian fantasy films Peplum films French fantasy films 1960s Italian-language films Films directed by Giacomo Gentilomo Moon in film Films about ancient astronauts Films about Heracles Maciste films Sword and sandal films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films