Le Fatiche di Ercole (1958) a.k.a Hercules - DVD review at Mondo Esoterica

The Sword and Sandal genre has been popular from the dawn of cinema, providing opportunities for sweeping epics and technicolour sagas that could never be mounted in a stage play - in Italy, epic films like Ultimi Giorni di Pompeii (1913) and Cabria (1914) proved very popular, being stemmed only by the Great War and subsequent economic depression. During the 1950s, the growing use of colour, and the development of widescreen technologies meant that epic sword and sandal cinema was back in big demand, and although unable to muster a project on the scale of their American counterparts, Italian filmmakers did start to work on their own productions.

A young woman is trapped on a chariot when her horses start to run wild, but she is dramatically saved by the muscle-bound immortal, Hercules (Steve Reeves) who throws a tree into the way of the creatures and stops them. The woman turns out to be Iole, the daughter of King Pelias, who has invited Hercules to visit his city and train his son to be a man - but Iole is upset by the events that took place there years earlier, when her Uncle, who was King at the time, was brutally killed, and her cousin Jason vanished along with the fabled Golden Fleece. Hercules travels to the city and begins to train Pelias' son, but when a man claiming to be Jason arrives in the city, Hercules and he are sent on an expedition to find the Fleece, and prove just who he is...

While most of the Pepla freely adapted figures from history into their stories, without reference to their own legends, Hercules is quite closely based on the historical tales (although it seems to be closer linked to the Roman version of the legend, hence Hercules refering to his father as Jupiter not Zeus in the English script). The second half of the film is a retelling of the classic tale of the Argonauts, with Hercules taking almost a back seat to the story. A couple of sequences don't quite work as well as they should - Hercules fights a lion, and then a bull rather too close together, with a real sense of repetition, while Jason is never given enough characterisation to really become a hero. Relatively slow paced throughout, but gaining from the characterisation and story-line development that this presents, the film has some exciting scenes (particularly during the Argonaut's tale) and builds up to a suitably dramatic climax. Although often quite light in tone, the script fortunately eshews the annoying comic relief of many genre films.

The film was directed by the otherwise little known Pietro Francisci (who also helmed the sequel), but the look and feel of the film is probably more creditable to the cinematographer Mario Bava, whose matt paintings and impressive lighting are clearly in evidence here. The special effects, including the monster at the end are surprisingly good considering what would come in later genre entries, and the film as a whole rises far above its limited budget. The music is a strange mix, with some nicely appropriate choral themes, and some rather standard orchestral themes but a couple of synthesised tracks that seem to have been lifted from Forbidden Planet (1956) do seem to be rather out of place.

Steve Reeves stars in the first of what would be many strong-man roles, and his first ever feature film leading role - he is certainly at his most 'buff' here, and looking rather older than usual thanks to his beard. There are a few recognisable names in the cast, and most of them would re-appear in the sequel, but best known is Sylva Koscina as Hercules' love interest Iole, and who went on to star in Mario Bava's highly regarded horror film La Casa dell'esorcismo (1973).

Enjoyably written and very well directed, Hercules was popular enough to kick start a whole genre of films and it certainly remains as enjoyable now. While not the most original film, it is sufficiently different to most of its follow-ups to stay interesting and it makes a fantastic starting place for exploring the genre. It comes generally recommended.

Anyone famous in it?	Steve Reeves - the iconic star of the Pepla, who also appeared in several adventure films and a Euro-Western.
Directed by anyone interesting?	Pietro Francisci - an otherwise unknown director who helmed a couple more Pepla, including the sequel, Hercules Unchained (1959).
Who else was involved?	Cinematography on the film was by Mario Bava, soon to become famous for his horror films.
Any violence/gore?	Nothing vivid.
Any sex?	None.
Who is it for?	An important milestone in Euro-cult cinema, and generally recommend to all cult film fans.

Visuals	Original Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colour The print is good throughout, with only mild grain and minimal print damage.
Audio	English, Italian and French audio - the tracks sound generally good, although the English has some noticable hum or hiss in a few scenes. Note: The English audio track is different to that used on the American print of the film.
Subtitles	FORCED SUBTITLE TRACK: With the English and Italian audio selected, French subtitles are automatically turned on and cannot be removed on a standard DVD player.
Extras	The disc includes: A short documentary about the Peplum, in French only (5 minutes) Brief filmography of Steve Reeves and Pietro Francisci.
Region	Region 2 (UK, Europe) - PAL
Availability	French DVD Title: Les Travaux d'Hercule Sadly this DVD is now Out-of-Print, although it can still be found in France, particularly second hand.
Other regions?	There are various budget DVD releases in the US, although these are generally fullscreen and very poor quality. The German release, in a dual-pack with Hercules Unchained comes with English and German audio, and looks reasonable, but with some noticable cropping at the sides, and more seriously, it is cut by 10 minutes as per the original German theatrical print.
Cuts?	The film is believed to be fully uncut. The print used is the English langauge print.

Hercules (1958)

The Film

In Brief

The DVD

Summary

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