Heavy and slow-moving as its beefy star Reg Park, "Maciste nelle miniere di re Salomone" is one of the least attractive pepla I have seen. The bad impression is worsened by the prejudice contained in the narration and in the depiction of the African tribes. If British Park, who looks like a mammoth version of Terry-Thomas, is not appealing as a mythological hero, Italian director Piero Rognoli thinks otherwise, setting his camera in the weirdest places to show the bodybuilder's neck, back muscles or nipples, or making him repeat scenes from other films that do not improve a bit from the original: fighting a lion (already seen in a dozen of films, done by Victor Mature, Steve Reeves, Mark Forest, Ed Fury and others), or having horses hitched to his wrists, as the animals pull in opposite directions. And what is worst is that the film editor seems to have no idea of how to cut parallel actions in tension-filled sequences, as when Abucar, the young co-lead (Bruno Piergentili, billed as Dan Harrison) is about to be killed, while Maciste takes an eternity to reach the city and try to save him; or when the evil queen Fazira (Wandisa Guida, wearing a towering black wig) and throne usurper Riad (Elio Jotta, billed as Leonard G. Smith) decide to bath maid Samara (Eleonora Bianchi) in liquid gold "a la Goldfinger", as it takes ages to free Maciste from the gold anklet that has made him forget his identity. Add Francesco de Masi's pastiche score and start counting the minutes. If you are a peplum completist or share Arnold Schwarzenegger's admiration for Park, watch "Maciste nelle miniere di re Salomone". Otherwise, go to the beach.
Review of Maciste in King Solomon's Mines
