Atlas Against the Cyclops (1961)
"Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi" (original title)

Strongman Maciste must battle the one-eyed Cyclops monster that is ravaging the land of Sadok, while at the same time fending off the advances of the evil Queen Capys, who wants to do a little ravaging of her own.

Director:

Antonio Leonviola

Writers:

Oreste Biancoli (screenplay), Oreste Biancoli (story),

Stars:

Gordon Mitchell, Chelo Alonso, Vira Silenti

Cast

Credited cast:
Gordon Mitchell	...	Maciste (as Mitchell Gordon)
Chelo Alonso	...	Capys
Vira Silenti	...	Penope
Dante DiPaolo	...	Ifito
Aldo Bufi Landi	...	Sirone
Giotto Tempestini	...	Aronio
Raffaella Carrà	...	Eber (as Raffaella Pelloni)
Paul Wynter	...	Mumba
Massimo Righi	...	Efros
Tullio Altamura	...	Un ufficiale
Antonio Meschini	...	Un soldato
Germano Longo	...	Re Agisandro
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pietro Ceccarelli	...	Warden
Moira Orfei
Aldo Pedinotti	...	Ciclope (as Aldo Padinotti)

Storyline

Capys, la crudele regina di Sadok, erede di Circe, ha deciso di sacrificare all'ultimo dei ciclopi il piccolo figlio di Re Agisandro, ultimo erede di Ulisse. I guerrieri di Capys distruggono Coos, il villaggio di Agisandro, uccidendo quest'ultimo. Ma il ragazzo viene salvato ed affidato a Maciste. Il mitico eroe, benchè catturato, riesce a liberarsi ed a salvare dal feroce attacco degli uomini della perfida regina il piccolo e la madre di quest'ultimo.

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Plot Keywords:

cyclops | monster | chain | blindfold | dungeon | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

14 April 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 2,607,002 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Panda Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie provided Gordon Mitchell with his first starring role (billed as "Mitchell Gordon"). He remains bare-chested throughout.

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Goofs

When Maciste saves the small child from the lion, the shots of the real lion (with Gordon Mitchell's stand-in for the sequence) show that the claws are not out and the paws are not being used to strike but rather happily returning the hug it's receiving.

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Quotes

Capys: [to Maciste] I'm not really as evil as you think.

User Reviews

ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS (Antonio Leonviola, 1961) BOMB

This is undoubtedly one of the worst peplums I've ever watched: a hopelessly wooden and constantly grinning Gordon Mitchell is the he-man in this outing (which, despite the English title, is called Maciste even in the dubbed version)! The plot, dealing with the revenge perpetrated on Ulysses' family by the ancestors of Circe and the Cyclops, showed promise but the latter, besides being a disappointing creature, only appears in the opening and closing sequences! The laughably bad dialogue, amateurish fight scenes and many unintentionally funny moments certainly don't help in winning this film any champions - but it's the tenth-generation copy (with the color reduced to a brownish hue) via which I viewed the film that serves it the death blow.