Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi (1961)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Antonio Leonviola

Writers:

Oreste Biancoli (screenplay)
Oreste Biancoli (story)

Release Date:

14 April 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Cyclops | Peplum | Sheep | Lions

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
Fabio	...	Prince Agisander II (baby)
Germano Longo	...	Re Agisandro
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pietro Ceccarelli	...	Warden
Moira Orfei
Aldo Pedinotti	...	Ciclope (as Aldo Padinotti)

Also Known As:

Atlas Against the Cyclops (USA)
Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops (USA) (TV title)
Maciste in the Land of the Cyclops
Maciste vs. the Cyclops
Monster from the Unknown World (UK)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Panda Film

Trivia:

The symbolic design on the large rayed solar disk which can be seen on a wall in the queen's palace imitates the font and spiral design found on the mysterious Phaistos disc (~1700 B.C.), which remains yet to be deciphered.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In many shots during Maciste's fight with the lion, the lion can be heard roaring, even though it is clearly not roaring in the footage.

Quotes:

Ifito: [having captured Maciste] Now we'll have some entertainment. Take him to the pit!

One of the more entertaining spear and sandal epics.

This film was retitled to ATLAS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS when it was released in the United States, but our hero is still called "Maciste" in the film. In this one Maciste battles an assortment of bad guys and monsters including the cyclops of the title. Maciste rescues an infant from the cyclops before he dispatches with the one eyed menace.

As far these spear and sandal epics go, this one isn't too bad. It has enough action to hold one interest. It isn't as "talky" as many of the other bigger budgeted entries in the genre. Flashback scenes from this film turned in up in the later Maciste adventure, THE WITCHES CURSE which started Kirk Morris. I would like to see this film in colour, but for some reason all video versions that I have found are in B&W.