Reviews & Ratings for
Hercules and the Captive Women More at IMDbPro »Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide (original title)

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24 reviews in total

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Big, colorful and fun, 18 May 2007

Author: Bryce David

Before James Bond.

Before Indiana Jones.

There was the Hercules series.

Or at least the series starring Reg Park. These Hercules films were big, colorful, full of action and fun. They are also shockingly maligned, just by looking at the IMDb rating for HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN, which is a joke.

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN wasn't your average low-budget Sword & Sandal flick. It was shot in Technirama (expensive 70mm) and the look of it, in the widescreen version, is remarkable to say the least: big colorful sets, big cast, big action. The details, in some scenes, is stunning.

The whole production reminds me of old serials where our hero encounters one pitfall after another. HATCW is like the missing link that bridges the gap between old serials of the 1930s/1940s and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. And like James Bond films (DR NO was made a year after this), this Hercules movie is replete with vast cavernous sets which dwarf the cast and are set on the side of spectacle.

CAPTIVE WOMEN has many highlights. My favorite part is when Hercules saves Iseme, daughter of Queen Antinea, from the clutches of Proteus. Psychedelia circa 1961, or psychedelia before psychedelia was in! The surreal look is great and precedes all other films made in the 1960s, including BARBARELLA or even Fellini films, like SATYRICON. In fact, HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN looks like an action film if it had been directed by Fellini. It doesn't shy away from combining odd imagery along with comic book action.

The cast is perfect. Steve Reeves was (and still is) the definitive Hercules but beefy Reg Park fits the bill here. Park is happy just to be an action hero as opposed to Reeves who wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. Fay Spain makes a memorable evil Queen. Laura Efrikian is beautiful as Iseme. Ettore Manni, a familiar face in Peplums and a pretty good actor, lends excellent support as Hercules' best friend, Androcles.

The film itself is not perfect. The story is a tad thin and the stock footage at the end is obviously just footage of an erupting volcano, and it definitely lacks a distinctive score to give the film that extra special character but even so, these things didn't diminish the fun I had while watching it.

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN is the kind of movie I'll be watching again and again. It just rocks!

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Isn't the best starting place for the uninitiated for Sword & Sandal, but will provide some entertainment for fans, 9 January 2007

Author: TimothyFarrell from Worcester, MA

The best films of the Sword & Sandal genre are the ones that are heavy on the fantasy elements, such as "Hercules In the Haunted World", "The Conqueror of Atlantis", and "The Giant of Metropolis". Those three flicks are in my mind the best from the genre. "Hercules and the Captive Women" isn't in the same class as those three, but has enough good elements to please fans of the genre. The genre is often not looked upon fondly by those uninitiated to it, probably because unlike Spaghetti Westerns it never turned out an actual masterpiece. Also, its difficult to find a good Sword & Sandal flick among the hundreds made. Still, the genre continues to have a place in the hearts of a lot of drive-in fans.

"Hercules and the Captive Women" is one of the more amusing Sword & Sandal flicks. For one, it has some exciting set pieces and some other really bizarre and dreamlike moments. However, it drags a lot at moments at Reg Park isn't the greatest Hercules out there. He looks the part, but the character in the film is lazy and seems oblivious to the evil surrounding him. This isn't the best starting place for the uninitiated for Sword & Sandal (check out either the original "Hercules" from 1959 or "Hercules In the Haunted World"), but will provide some entertainment for fans. (4/10)

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Its SO much better in Italian, 7 February 2004

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

I always hated this movie when ever I saw it on TV. It was badly dubbed and rightly made fun of by Mystery Science 3000. Then I mistakenly picked up the film in its full Italian version with subtitles and was shocked that the film is so much better in its full form. It wasn't until the infamous Uranus line that I realized what I was watching. Granted its not Oscar material, but as far as Hercules films goes the uncut version of this film is so much better, fifteen minutes really do make the difference.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Solid Hercules entry -- beautiful to behold but a bit soul-less, 22 April 2007

Author: sos12 from Los Angeles, California

For nothing else, CAPTIVE WOMEN is worth checking out because it's the Reg Park-starring Herc film that preceded the epochal HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD directed by Mario Bava -- which still remains, hands down, the best of the Italian Herc movies ever made. CAPTIVE WOMEN is extremely well produced -- excellent production design and visual FX by Hercules standards -- and that's both its big plus and its big minus. The Retromedia DVD is very, very good -- in 2.35 Cinemascope, nice transfer -- and it's terrific to see a Hercules film given this kind of loving treatment. BUT -- it does point out some of the shortcomings of CAPTIVE WOMEN. Which are, mainly, that not a helluva lot happens. Herc goes sailing, a buddy goes overboard ... and he winds up in Atlantis, where the Evil Queen (note: Queens are almost always evil, and extremely smokin' hot, in Herc movies) gives him a magic potion designed to make him fall in love with her. Second note: magic potions figure prominently in a LOT of Hercules films, and they're almost always administered by smokin' hot Evil Queens trying to get Herc to fall in love with them. That's what we love about these films. Anyhow ... great production values but a bit, well, stiff somehow.

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Unforeseen Perils of the Mystical Unknown, 1 June 2008

Author: mstomaso from Vulcan

Vittorio Cottafavi's Hercules and the Captive Women recycles the standard Hercules plot structure. If you have seen any of its predecessors or descendants, you have seen something very much like this film. However, in this case, the entire army of evil-doers Herc must confront are immortals from Atlantis who have been secretly infiltrating Greek politics. Most of the action takes place on Atlantis after Herc, his son, and a couple of friends wash up there.

Hercules is played by Reg Park, a very beefy non-actor built like a comic book superhero. Park seems to spend the first 1/3rd of the film lounging about, and most of the second 2/3rds flexing and fighting. His occasional lines are clearly spoken, but without a great deal of enthusiasm. Most of the acting is OK. No real highlights in the cast, though.

The action sequences are fairly entertaining, but don't compare favorably to the special-effects saturated fight scenes of today. Like many Hercules films, Captive Women features lavish costumes and sets.The costumes are up to the series above-average standards and a few of the Atlantean sets are really nice. The script is on par with most of the series, which is to say that it is not very good.

Recommended for Hercules fans only.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
A nice peplum package that compares favorably with Bava's previous effort., 13 March 2003
Author: TheVid from Colorado Springs

Here's another Reg Park Hercules movie on a par with Mario Bava's superb earlier film HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD. Director Cottafavi lacks Bava's visual flair, but serves up enough kitsch atmosphere and set pieces to keep things fun. Park's lunky presence and lunkheaded demeanor make him the perfect foil for the elegantly stiff Fay Spain, as the obligatory beautiful-but-evil empress of Atlantis. Cheesy monsters, a dwarf, bouffant hairdos and some deliberately-dumb, dubbed dialogue all combine to make this top-notch kitsch for peplum afficionados. And, let us repeat, "all hail Uranus!".

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Typical Italian sword and sandal kitch classic, 19 September 1998

Author: Jonathan Farrugia (jonathan_rob@yahoo.com) from Malta

The first time I saw this movie I was about 10. Then I liked it very much. It had everything I liked: ancient scenarios, a hero, a beautiful woman and an impossible adventure. When I saw the movie some years later I realised that after all it was not that big. The plot I liked so much 10 years ago seems quite childish now and the movie has that sort of lingering sensation which takes away most of the fun. Still I cannot say that I don't like it any longer - it reminds me of an age gone by and it is still capable of giving an hour and a half's time of fun, even though the viewer will not remember it for long. Watch out for some scenes taken from "Sodoma e Gomorra"!

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Better than currently given credit for., 20 November 2009

Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

This is definitely a better movie than a lot of other Italian Hercules productions out there. Not that the quality of this movie is being exceptionally high though. It still is a movie that brings some nice entertainment, no matter how ridicules the movie often gets.

This was the first time that British Reg Park took on the Hercules role. Park was a multiple time Mr. Universe champion, just like Steve Reeves, who had played the character of Hercules in previous movie productions. His physique of course definitely helped him getting these sort of roles. His career also ended pretty soon after he started to age, like often happens to these types of 'actors'.

Like all these sort of Italian swords and sandals productions, it's a very cheap and often laughable looking movie, even though the movie is also being grand to look at with its enormous and colorful sets. The movie does use some silly early effects, though you just can not accuse this movie of not being creative. It just doesn't always works in the movie its own advantage.

I of course couldn't care less about the story of the movie and all that seemed to matter was that the movie. All that seems to matter for this movie is that it's being entertaining. The movie does really bring some silly fun, also long as you of course don't except a movie with class or of a very high quality.

A better movie than most other Italian Hercules productions and also certainly way better than its current reputation and rating.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Park Muscles His Way Into the Miniskirt, 28 February 2010

Author: wes-connors from Earth

"Hercules returns just in time to save a gorgeous damsel in distress from the clutches of a wicked monster. The grateful beauty takes him to her home in Atlantis. Hercules must intervene again to save her from her murderous mother and some unfriendly inhabitants. Hercules, his son, and the maiden escape before the city and its population are destroyed," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Dubbed "Hercules and the Captive Women" from the original Italian, this one features Reg Park's debut as one of the exported "sword and sandal" strongmen. Don't watch for the numerous scenes involving Hercules rescuing "Captive Women" because there are none. Instead, you get to see him save one captive, or rather, less than half of her. There are some nicely dressed scenes, though.

*** Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide (8/19/61) Vittorio Cottafavi ~ Reg Park, Fay Spain, Ettore Manni, Luciano Marin

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Now we know...., 7 November 2009
Author: dbdumonteil

...why Atlantis disappeared! Although Hercules often calls upon his Father ,Zeus -note that his son never invokes his granddad-,this is as far from Greek mythology as it can be.

"The famous Four" best describes the plot: Hercules ,his son,Androcles (a Roman slave handed over to lions then granted an imperial pardon ,what does he do here?) and a dwarf feel that Grece is in jeopardy.This is the beginning of an "epic" story which includes a rubber monster,a wicked queen (Antinea of course ,see one of the numerous versions of Pierre Benoit's " L'Atlantide" ),the ancestors of the clones (unless it predates Hitler's Aryan supermen),the perils of atomic radiations (?) The first scene is an interminable free-for-all in which Hercules,who is quietly enjoying his meal ,does not interfere ("help us dad!"screams his son) .Some not-so-bad scenes show a strange Androcles wandering in the queen's palace .

It's rather silly,but it's entertaining if you do not ask too much.

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