Damon & Pythias (1962)/Hercules,
Samson & Ulysses (1964/Warner Archive DVDs)
Picture:
C/C+ Sound: C Extras: D/C- Films: C+
PLEASE NOTE: These DVD releases are only
available from Warner Bros. in their Warner Archive series and can be ordered
from the link below.
Warner
Archive is issuing a set of Sword & Sandals action B-movies and we have two
of them to look at from the MGM portion of their catalog. Until the late 1970s, these films and so many
others like them were in heavy syndicated rotation on TV, so odds are older
audiences have seen them before. We
believe younger audiences might be very amused too, even after all these years.
Both are
made in Italy and Curtis Bernardt’s Damon
& Pythias (1962) has Guy Williams (an enduring Zorro (for Disney on TV)
as well as the original father on Lost
In Space) carrying the role of Damon well, an up to no good hood who
intends to take from and take on Pythias (Don Burnett) until they have to team
up against the tyranny and terror of Dionysius (Arnolds Fok) in a very amusing
romp that has fake sets, bad acting, wacky costume design, cheap locations and
fight scenes you’ll never see on TapOut.
For what is essentially a B-movie, Williams and company attack it with
gusto and the screenplay is surprisingly more competent than most genre
releases we have suffered through of late.
That says
something about even mildly competent writing.
The makers knew what they were making and never tired to make it
anything more, which is why this is still entertaining in its own way and worth
looking at 50 years later. Williams’
fans will want to go out of their way to see it and it has a few interesting
moments. There are no extras.
Pietro
Francisci’s Hercules, Samson &
Ulysses (1964) brings together three even more well-known names, played by
actors we have not seen much before or since.
As in the other film, Hercules (Kirk Morris) seems to be at odds with
Samson (Iloosh Khoshabe) until they discover there is a plot against them and
join with Ulysses (Enzo Cerusico) to battle a sea monster (one we can hardly
see when it shows up) in the process.
Even more
than the previous film, you can see how fake the sets are and also how this
became its own cycle of hero films forerunning the superhero genre about to
form on its own and also where these films were going (think decline) after the
cycle (including Biblical Epics, of which Christianity (or Judaism for that
matter) is barely noted here if at all in any of these films) since the genre
peaked in 1960 with Kubrick’s Spartacus. This has more action (think Sinbad) and also
has a more coherent script than you might imagine. It has been decades since I saw either of
these films, but they are still fun and after being inundated with cheap, phony
digital video effects for so many years now, these films seem somehow less
fake, have their own atmosphere and impress in that anyone would even go so out
of their way to make these films to begin with.
Warner
has done a great service to film fans by digging into their archives and
issuing films like this that are worth seeing at least once and on the larger
sense of the genre at this point, these are two of the better films. A trailer is the only extra.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image on Damon
is a little softer than I would have liked while the anamorphically enhanced 1.85
X 1 on Hercules is a little sharper
and clearer, both prints have their print damage and detail issues. Color is sometimes surprisingly good, but Damon was actually issued in dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor prints at least in Italy,
where they only got EastmanColor prints in the U.S. from MGM, who processed both
films in MetroColor out of their own labs.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on both films is a little lower and weaker in fidelity
and dynamic range than I expected. They
have been cleaned up, but be careful of volume switching and you’ll be fine.
To order
these and other Warner Archive titles, go to this link:
http://www.wbshop.com
-
Nicholas Sheffo
