Hercules Unchained
| Hercules Unchained (Ercole e la regina di Lidia) |
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Original release poster
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| Directed by | Pietro Francisci |
| Produced by | Bruno Vailati Ferruccio De Martino |
| Written by | Ennio De Concini Pietro Francisci |
| Starring | Steve Reeves Sylvia Lopez Sylva Koscina |
| Music by | Enzo Masetti |
| Cinematography | Mario Bava |
| Edited by | Mario Serandrei |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. (USA) |
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Release dates
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Running time
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97 minutes[1] |
| Country | Italy France[2][3] |
| Language | Italian |
| Box office | $2,500,000 (US/Canada)[4] |
Hercules Unchained (Italian: Ercole e la regina di Lidia , "Hercules and the Queen of Lydia") is a 1959 Italian-French epic fantasy feature film starring Steve Reeves and Sylva Koscina in a story about two warring brothers and Hercules' tribulations in the court of Queen Omphale. The film is the sequel to the Reeves vehicle Hercules (1957) and marks Reeves' second - and last - appearance as Hercules. The film's screenplay, loosely based upon various Greek myths and dramas, was written by Ennio De Concini and Pietro Francisci with Francisci directing and Bruno Vailati and Ferruccio De Martino producing the film.
Contents
Plot
While travelling, Hercules is asked to intervene in a quarrel between two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, over who should rule Thebes. Before he can complete this task, Hercules drinks from a magic spring and is hypnotized by a harem girl who dances the "Dance of Shiva", loses his memory and becomes the captive of Queen Omphale of Lydia. The Queen keeps men until she tires of them, then has them made into statues. While young Ulysses tries to help him regain his memory, Hercules' wife, Iole, finds herself in danger from Eteocles, current ruler of Thebes, who plans on throwing her to the wild beasts in his entertainment arena. Hercules slays three tigers in succession and rescues his wife, then assists the Theban army in repelling mercenary attackers hired by Polynices. The two brothers ultimately fight one another for the throne and end up killing each other; the good high priest Creon is elected by acclaim.
Cast
- Steve Reeves as Hercules
- Sylvia Lopez as Queen Omphale of Lydia
- Sylva Koscina as Iole
- Sergio Fantoni as Eteocles
- Mimmo Palmara as Polynices
- Gabriele Antonini as Ulysses
- Fulvio Carrara and Willi Colombini as Castor and Pollux
- Gian Paolo Rosmino as Aesculapius
- Gino Mattera as Orpheus
- Primo Carnera as Antaeus
- Cesare Fantoni as King Oedipus
- Daniele Vargas as Amphiaraus
- Carlo D'Angelo as High Priest Creon
- Fulvia Franco as Anticlea
- Colleen Bennett as the prima ballerina
- Nando Cicero as Lastene
Production
The tale of Hercules and Queen Omphale is taken from the ancient Greek myth, of which there are several variations throughout history. Character names are drawn from a mixture of various Greek legends and plays, notably The Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus and Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles. Hercules' line "I wove the threads [of my memory] together" is a reference to his task of spinning thread and weaving with Omphale's attendants. The film is only very loosely based on the source material, randomly mixing events and featuring characterizations varying from those depicted in the sources.
Reception
Film critic Howard Hughes argues that due to a better script, "punchier action" and more convincing acting the film was "superior to its predecessor" Hercules. Concerning the cast he praises in particular the French actress Sylvia Lopez ("movingly effective") whose career ended prematurely when in 1958, soon after finishing this film, she died at the age of 28 of leukaemia.[5]
The film was the third most popular movie at the British box office in 1960.
Legacy
Hercules Unchained has been broadcast on American television, and is available in both VHS and DVD formats. The film's Italian title means "Hercules and the Queen of Lydia". The film was also featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
See also
Biography
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References
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- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Hercules Unchained at IMDb
- Hercules Unchained is available for free download at the Internet Archive
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
- ↑ Hughes, p.4
- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from February 2013
- 1959 films
- Italian-language films
- Film articles using image size parameter
- Articles containing Italian-language text
- Lang and lang-xx using deprecated ISO 639 codes
- Articles with Internet Archive links
- 1950s fantasy films
- 1950s historical films
- 1950s adventure films
- Italian films
- Italian adventure films
- Italian historical films
- Italian fantasy films
- French films
- French adventure films
- French historical films
- French fantasy films
- Films directed by Pietro Francisci
- Films about Heracles
- Films featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes
- Peplum films
- Warner Bros. films
