THE LOVES OF HERCULES

Jayne Mansfield

THE LOVES OF HERCULES (aka Hercules vs. the Hydra/aka Gli amori di Ercole/1960). Director: Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.

Hercules (Mickey Hargitay of Bloody Pit of Horror) learns that his wife and child were murdered by the King of Ecalia. What he doesn't know is that the actual murderer was Licos (Massimo Serato of The Killer Nun), who goes so far as to murder the king to cover up the crime. Hercules goes to Ecalia to confront the king's daughter, Queen Delanira (Jayne Mansfield of The Burglar), who goes through a strange, violent ceremony to prove she had no part in the death of Hercules' family. For his part, Hercules seems to forget all about his slain wife and falls in love with Delanira in a trice. When the queen's fiance is found murdered, Hercules is blamed and is forced to go on the run, where he encounters the Amazons, whose Queen Hippolyta is fond of turning her lovers into trees and develops a dangerous hankering for the son of Jupiter. Will Hercules and his new beloved Delanira manage to triumph over the evil schemes of both Licos and Hippolyta and finally be reunited?

The three-headed hydra

Hungarian body-builder Hargitay and his wife Mansfield were two years into their six-year marriage (resulting in three chidren, including the very gifted Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) when they went to Italy to make this "spectacle," which does feature a few impressive settings as well as the out-sized physiques of the briefly-married couple. As their voices are dubbed it's hard to judge their performances, but one can safely say there were no Oscar contenders in the cast, at least not in this production. The film is briefly and minimally enlivened by the appearances of a huge bull that Mickey wrestles to the ground, an 8-foot-tall caveman, and a full-scale Hydra which is like a funhouse prop, but is very well-designed, has three fire-breathing heads, and looks good despite its limited movement. In the second half of the film Hippolyta transforms herself into Delanira, so Mansfield is given a dual role. The men-turned-into-trees business is a macabre touch.

Verdict: Hardly anything spectacular here but more watchable than you might imagine. **1/2. 

AUTOPSY

Mimsy Farmer and Barry Primus

AUTOPSY (aka Macchie solari/1975). Director/co-writer: Armando Crispino.

A doctor named Simona (Mimsy Farmer of Four Flies on Grey Velvet) works in a morgue in Rome. She encounters a woman named Betty (Gaby Wagner), who is apparently involved with Simona's playboy father, Gianni (Massimo Serato of Constantine and the Cross). When Betty is found murdered -- with the unknown killer trying to make it look like a suicide -- Betty's brother, Paul (Barry Primus), a former race car driver who is now a priest, shows up and winds up investigating this and other murders with Simona. Neither the priest nor Simona seem too tightly wrapped, however, with the former given to sudden rages and the latter developing a hankering for the priest (!) even though she has a sexy boyfriend named Riccardo (Ray Lovelock). Despite its title, Autopsy is not as bloody as other Italian horror-mysteries of the period, but it could be considered a nominal giallo film. The movie is absorbing and fast-paced for the most part but it bogs down in the final quarter, with a dragged-out finale, although there is an exciting rooftop confrontation at the very end. Crispino also directed the equally weird The Dead Are Alive, but Autopsy is somewhat better.

Verdict: At least there's the Roman scenery. **1/2.

THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW

Craig Hill and Lino Capolicchio

THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW (aka Solamente nero/1978). Director: Antonio Bido.

Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) comes to Venice to visit his brother, the priest Don Paolo (Craig Hill), who lives in a small town on an island near the city. Haunted by an incident where a young woman was murdered years ago, Stefamo's memories are awakened by a series of new murders. Stefano begins an relationship with Sandra (Stefania Casini of Suspiria), whose own stepmother (Laura Nucci) becomes one of the victims of a fiendish killer. The Bloodstained Shadow is a reasonably intriguing Italian thriller/giallo film whose murders are not quite as gory as in similar films, but we do have the sequence when a woman's head is thrust into a fireplace and is engulfed in flames. Other characters, suspects, and victims include a midwife, Signora Nardi (Juliette Maynial); Count Pedrazzi (Massimo Serato), a music teacher whom Don Paolo accuses of fiddling with his young male students (a sequence which given recent events in the Catholic church may raise some eyebrows); and  Dr. Aloisi (Sergio Mioni), among others. After a few red herrings and twists, a satisfying conclusion unmasks the killer and also provides a mostly believable motivation. The film's production is greatly enhanced by location filming and the brooding shots of mysterious Venice and environs. Craig Hill [Detective Story] was a B movie leading man and TV performer in the fifties and sixties who later did much work in Italy. Juliette Maynial was most famous for Eyes Without a Face. 

Verdict: Has its flaws, and it's not especially stylish, but it's one of the better giallo films. ***. 

THE KILLER NUN

Joe Dallesandro and Anita Ekberg

THE KILLER NUN (aka Suor Omicidi/1979). Director: Giulio Berruti.

Sister Gertrude (Anita Ekberg) is the head nurse in a hospital that also seems to function as a convalescent home. Gertrude is convinced that she is dying, even though there is no medical evidence to suggest this, and she seems to be unraveling in other ways. She causes the head doctor, Poirret (Massimo Serato) to lose his job, and Dr. Roland (Joe Dallesandro) takes his place. Periodically Gertrude ditches her habit, goes into town, and picks up a man for hot sex, but of more concern is that she seems to be murdering the patients at the hospital. Is she losing her mind, or is someone else responsible for the deaths? The Killer Nun has a good idea but its execution is poor, as the film is saddled with weak direction, slovenly editing, a poor musical score, and a lack of basic coherency. As for the cast, any film that boasts both Anita Ekberg [Back from Eternity] and Joe Dallesandro [Wiseguy] in the same picture has to have its interesting moments, and it does. And the Mother Superior, whom Gertrude calls a bitch at one point, is played by no less than Alida Valli of Hitchcock's The Paradine Case! The Killer Nun might have been a superior horror picture but it has absolutely no style, and the murder sequences have no suspense or panache. Ekberg is okay, and still looks great, if a little more zoftig, at 48; she did a few more films after this one. The film introduced Paola Morra, who plays Sister Mathieu, a nun who is in love with Gertrude but has sex with Dr. Roland when he discovers she's stolen some morphine. Gertrude tells Mathieu that she prefers men, but will sleep with women if they wear silk stockings! If Dario Argento had directed this picture, it might have amounted to something.

Verdict: Anita Ekberg as a nun! Not since Frank Sinatra as a priest in Miracle of the Bells (which also starred Alida Valli) has their been such delightfully absurd casting. If only the movie were better! **.

CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS

CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS (aka Costantino il grande/1961). Director: Lionello De Felice.

Cornel Wilde [The Naked Prey] is cast as Emperor Constantine, who as a general beat back the barbarian hordes, in this fictionalized story of his trials and tribulations and his relationship to his Christian mother Elena (Elisa Cegani); wife Fausta (Belinda Lee of Footsteps in the Fog); and her evil brother, Maxentius (Massimo Serato), who accuses Constantine of murdering his own father, among other melodramatic elements. Then there is the secondary romantic couple, also Christians, Livia (Christine Kaufmann) and the centurion, Hadrian (Fausto Tozzi). The multi-national cast in this Italian epic isn't bad, and there is some excellent widescreen photography (Massimo Dallamano) of sweeping battles and the like. Wilde has his usual commanding presence.

Verdict: Not bad historical epic with an interesting cast. ***.