Ancient Fantasies presents
Hercules Unchained (1959)

Director - Pietro Francisci
 

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Plot
Commentary
Facts and Fancies
Cast and Production Credits

The Plot

Hercules, his wife Iole and young Ulysses are traveling to Thebes. The three get caught in a civil war between two brothers – the selfish sons of Oedipus. Before Hercules can save the siblings from destroying each other, he and Ulysses are kidnapped and taken to the kingdom of Queen Omphale. The Queen's thing is boy-toys. When she tires of one she gets another, the old one then killed and transformed into a wax statue. Hercules, after drinking of the Waters of Forgetfulness, is her newest boy-toy. After much forgetting, nostril-flaring and chest expanding, Hercules and Ulysses get back the battles of the civil war and the healing of the wound of Ancient Greece.

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Commentary

It's all about Steve Reeves. He was the mold that every other mythological movie hero popped out of. Mr Reeves' body was what every boy dreamed of for obvious, conscious reasons, and given the times, not so obvious unconscious reasons. (Listen to Professor Edison J. Nello's introduction to the film for more psychological insight.)

Hercules Unchained, like so many swords and sandals films, provides a stew of Homer (not Simpson), Sophocles, comic books and beefcake hearty enough to satiate any fantasy fan's appetite.

It's the cinema of blood lust mixed joyously with love lust, and if you lie back and let the epic images sinuously tuck you in, you may very well have an unexpectedly pleasing experience.

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Facts and Fancies

Steve Reeves' first speaking role was as a detective in Ed Wood's Jail Bait.

Sylvia Lopez, the sexy evil queen, sadly died of leukemia not long after the release of the Hercules Unchained.

Famed Italian director Mario Bava (Black Sunday) was the cinematographer on this film and the uncredited director of some of the more mesmerizing scenes.

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Cast & Production Credits

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For information on Hercules...

Watch Ingmar Ozu-Bresson's experimental film meditation on Hercules - Herculin/Feminin (only on Alameda TV Ch. 31).