Samson and the Slave Queen (1963)

The king of Nogara dies, leaving behind a will naming one of his nieces as his successor. Will it be blonde and virtuous Isabella or evil, dark-haired Malva? Each woman relies on a hero to ... See full summary »

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Gabriele D'Annunzio (character Maciste), Umberto Lenzi

Stars:

Pierre Brice, Sergio Ciani, Moira Orfei

Cast

Credited cast:
Pierre Brice	...	Zorro / Ramon (in U.S. version)
Sergio Ciani	...	Samson (in U.S. version) / Maciste (as Alan Steel)
Moira Orfei	...	Malva
Maria Grazia Spina	...	Isabella de Alazon
Andrea Aureli	...	Rabek
Massimo Serato	...	Garcia de Higuera
Andrea Scotti	...	Pedro
Aldo Bufi Landi	...	Deikor
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gianni Baghino	...	Paco
Ignazio Balsamo	...	Joaquim
Antonio Corevi	...	Don Manuel
Rosy De Leo	...	Carmencita (as Rosy di Leo)
Franco De Simone
Attilio Dottesio	...	General Saveria
Loris Gizzi	...	Don Alvarez

Storyline

The king of Nogara dies, leaving behind a will naming one of his nieces as his successor. Will it be blonde and virtuous Isabella or evil, dark-haired Malva? Each woman relies on a hero to locate the will. Malva hires the bare-chested strongman Samson while Isabella relies on the masked El Toro (a.k.a. Zorro) even though her heart belongs to the mild-mannered poet, Ramon. Malva's ruthless desire for the throne soon alienates Samson and he and El Toro then team up to bring about a proper resolution to the Nogara succession. Meanwhile, Isabella learns El Toto's true identity, an identity which both surprises and pleases her.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | exploitation | superhero | will | strongman | 

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Taglines:

He was the STRONGEST MAN on earth...she was the TIGRESS of an EMPIRE!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Italian censorship visa # 41021 delivered on 20-8-1963.

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Quotes

Isabella de Alazon: You're a snake, not a man, Garcia.

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Alternate Versions

In the U.S., the hero's name was changed from Maciste to Samson.

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Connections

Referenced in The Killer Eye (1999)

User Reviews

Entertaining and passable Zorro/Maciste crossover starred by two Euro-stars, Pierre Brice and Sergio Ciani , both of whom died in 2015

Enjoyable crossover with adventures , emotion , intrigue and spectacular fencing . ¨Zorro versus Maciste¨ by Umberto Lenzi stars the good-looking Pierre Brice , the bouncing Alan Steel , the ruthless and selfish Moira Orfei , the blonde and virtuous Maria Grazia Spina and the nasty Massimo Serato . The King Felipe IV of Nogara (it is actually a town from province of Verona) , Spain , leaving behind a testament naming one of his two nieces , the good girl , Isabel (Maria Grazia Spina) and the bad girl , Malva (Moira Orfei) as his successor , both of them desire eagerly for the throne and there , then , takes place the subsequent dispute . Meanwhile , general Saavedra carries the document that exposes the last will , walking through the Guadarrama jungles , but soon after he is attacked and killed . To bring the valuable document is assigned by one hand , El Zorro (Brice) , and the other hand Maciste (Steel). Meanwhile , Isabella to be aware El Zorro's true identity , an identity which both surprises and pleases her . Along the way the giant starring showing some hunk skills , such as : Samson (in U.S. version) or Maciste throwing a stone over a Croc , lifting prison bars and a bridge , and , ultimately , fighting against multiple enemies .

This Spaghetti Zorro/Musclemen in middle budget is filled with noisy action , thrills , spectacular fights , horse pursuits by Zorro and sword-play . This Zorro is decently starred by Pierre Brice , he took a chance and jumped from modern action and Western genre to costumed Italian adventure . That same year , 1963 , German producer Horst Wendlandt searched for an actor who should play the Native American chief Winnetou on a Western movie titled ¨Apache Fury¨ adapted from novels by Karl May and got to know Brice at the Berlin Film Festival . Pierre got the role and portrayed "Winnetou" in ten more movies with his co-star Lex Barker as "Old Shatterhand". Here Brice steals the show as a mild-mannered poet , Ramon , and as the brave Zorro . Soon after Zorro/Pierre Brice team up with Maciste to bring about a proper resolution to the crown succession , this is Alan Steel . Sergio Ciani made lots of roman-epic-Italian films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ or ¨Sword and sandals¨ as well as costumer sword-fight and a few adventures , and Spaghetti Western . Steel's luck changed when Italian director Gianfranco Parolini persuaded him to star ¨Sansone¨ (1961) along with Brad Harris and later on , he continued to play several others . On numerous occasions Steel was asked to play the legendary Greek hero , as well as the equally well-built demigods , even though the film titles often fused (or confused) them in their titles . Steel played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath , Samson or Aron for U.S. viewing . As he played a great number of Peplums , such as : 1962 Ursus, Il Rebel Gladiatore , 1962 Rocha , son of Sanson , 1964 Sansone e Il Tesoro Degli Incas , 1964 Maciste against ghosts , 1964 Ercole Contro Roma , 1964 Sansone Contro Il Corsario , 1963 Golia e Il Cavaliere Mascherato , 1964 Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus , and 1964 Three avengers .

The first Spanish/Italian Zorros were ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Frank Latimore , Paul Piaget and Robert Hundar . Other Zorro filmed by that time were ¨Zorro I Tres Moschietheri (1962) by Luigi Capuano with Gordon Scott ; ¨Zorro all Corte di Spaña¨ (1963) by Luigi Capuano with Giorgo Ardisson ; ¨Zorro all Corte Di Inghiterra¨ by Francisco Montemurro with Franco Ressel ; ¨Three swords of Zorro¨ by Ricardo Blasco with Guy Stockwell and Mikaela ;¨ El Jiuramento Di Zorro¨ by Blasco with Tony Russell ; ¨Zorro Il Ribelle¨ by Piero Pirotti with Howard Ross ; ¨Zorro Marquis De Navarre¨ (69) by Franco Montemurro with Moretti ; Il Figlio Di Zorro¨ (1973) by Gianfranco Baldanello , ¨Adventures of Zorro¨ with George Hilton and two directed by Jose Luis Merino with Charles Quiney and Maria Pia Conte as ¨Zorro the rider of vendetta¨ and ¨Zorro of Monterrey ¨ .

The motion picture was poor but professionally directed by Umberto Lenzi who made his directorial debut with an adventure movie : ¨Queen of the Seas¨ (1961) . Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with ¨Pirates of Malaysia¨ (1964) starred by Steeve Reeves, which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic or legendary characters including Robin Hood , Catherine the Great , Zorro , Sandokan and Maciste . He subsequently directed a ¨Fumetti¨ titled The mask of Kriminal (1966) . After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns" , Lenzi turned to the Giallo genre with ¨Orgasmo¨ (1969). During the 1970s, Lenz filmed a number of Giallo and thrillers , among them : ¨So Sweet, So Perverse¨, ¨Seven Blood-Stained Orchids¨ and ¨Eyeball¨ . Lenzi turned to the police thrillers called ¨Polizieschi¨, which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity . Titles like ¨Almost Human¨ , ¨Free Hand For a Tough Cop¨ and ¨Brothers Till We Die¨ were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers . Lenzi is an expert on wartime genre as he proved in ¨Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨ , ¨From hell to victory¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨Bridge to hell¨. Prior to the Polizieschi , Lenzi directed ¨Man from Deep River¨ , which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre . Later on , he directed two very gory jungle cannibal features , ¨Eaten Alive¨ and ¨Make Them Die Slowly ¨which was banned in 31 countries , made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre . This attractive adventure ¨Zorro versus Maciste¨ is rated 5.5/10

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

18 December 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Samson and the Slave Queen

Filming Locations:

Castello Ruspoli, Vignanello, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Romana Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1