MACISTE NELLA TERRA DEI CICLOPI - Carlo Innocenzi - "Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops" (1961)

Welcome to the Wednesday Sword and Sandal Spectacular! Tonight's feature is titled "Maciste Nella Terra Dei Ciclopi" or in some kind of English translation, "Atlas Against The Cyclops," or also known as "Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops!"

Now to the best of my limited understanding, "Maciste" translates from Italian into English as "Strongman," so I guess that's why in movie titles, sometimes Maciste is Samson, sometimes he's Hercules, or in this case, he's Atlas!! I guess it's just whatever mythical strongman the producer's decided to go with!

That's pretty much the whole story in a nutshell! Everything else is just gravy on the turkey and potatoes!

Plunder and pillage! Pillage and plunder! Pillage the village! Plunder like thunder!

A knife to the back just shows you what kind of people we're dealing with here!

I'm telling you one thing for sure, you couldn't pay me enough money, and there is no way in Hell I would walk out on a bridge like this, movie or no movie!

These are the two main protagonists in the film, Gordon Mitchell as Maciste (Credited as Mitchell Gordon), and Chelo Alonso as Capys! Muscle Beach flex monster, Gordon was always great in roles as guys with names like Pluto, Achilles, or Obro! Chelo was always cast as females like Erica, Landa, or Queen Smedes! Gordon Mitchell has 146 acting credits, Chelo Alonso has 19, so I guess it's not going to be difficult to figure who is going to come out on top in this battle!

I don't care if it's made out of styrofoam or papier-mâché, I still wouldn't be able to pick up a giant urn like that!

Gordon Mitchell demonstrates perfectly what is commonly referred to in wrasslin' terms as 'The Double Noggin Knocker!"

Time to bring out the dancing girls!! Yeehaw!! The soundtrack for "Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops" was composed by Carlo Innocenzi who also wrote the music for "Mill Of The Stone Women," "Terror Of Oklahoma," "Goliath Against The Giants" and 130 more films. Ironically, Carlo died in 1962 at the age of 62!

Atlas has a few different encounters with various characters, despite some stiff competition, he wins his bout with the black Adonis in the third round!

This movie runs approximately 100 minutes, and just about the time you're ready to give up, they finally produce a cyclops in about the last ten minutes of the film, but you gotta admit, it's a good one!!

Almost anybody can act, but it takes a lot of hard work to get a set of big muscles like this!

The cyclops was played by Aldo Pedinotti in one of only six roles he had in his career. Aldo was also in "Hercules In The Haunted World," and "The Loves Of Hercules!!"

Well where else would you think a cyclop's weak spot would be?

One more shot of Gordon's flexcicles!

And in the end, all of the spoils go to the victor!

THE SHE-CREATURE / Golden State Productions - 1956

It's Classic Fifties Rubber Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. This is a redo of an older post from 2008, time to hit the old reset button on this one! Paul Blaisdell created and played the creature, when coming out of the surf the monster suit was extremely heavy and hard to maneuver in because it absorbed so much water! It's a good thing Paul was a strong dude. And, the budget was $100,000 which was 2-3 times the budget of a typical low budget film! I used to own the insert poster...

Eegah!! sent over a musical soundclip from the party scene, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over there by the cat, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... THE SHE-CREATURE!

It starts suspiciously with Dr. Lombardi, a local carnival mystic and hypnotist, inspecting a beach home just after a double homicide. Filmed at Malibu beach. Lombardi's played by Chester Morris, who was popular as crime buster Boston Blackie and played many a bad-boy cow punchers.

Back at the ranch, Dr. Lombardi has another annoying conversation with Johnny, his nosey carny neighbor. Johnny wants to know why Lombardi keeps his subject, Andrea, in a trance most of the time. Paul Dubov plays Johnny, Paul was in some cool flicks.. ABBOTT And COSTELLO MEET THE KEYSTONE KOPS, DAY THE WORLD ENDED, VOODOO WOMAN and THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE!

Marla English is Andrea, she cannot get away from Lombardi's influence even when she's awake. VOODOO WOMAN was Marla's last role a year later.

Businessman Timothy Chappel shows up at Lombardi's to swing a business deal... And, to get a special private peep show for a few extra clams!

Lombardi has had it with Johnny's curiousity, so, summons the She-Creature from the sea to take care of him for good!

Mission freakin' accomplished!!..

Here's a great shot of Ron Randell as Police Lt. Ed James, Tom Conway as business guy Timothy Chappel and Lance Fuller as skeptic Dr. Ted Erickson. Ron was THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE, Tom was The Falcon and Lance was married for a short time to blonde bombshell Joi Lansing. The gaudy gold leaf on the wall and door really annoys me..

Andrea changes into the monster and almost pile-drives Dr. Erickson with her prehistoric limbs, then stops, realizing who it is and goes back into the ocean.

Then, the cops find these weird foot prints on the beach!

Everything goes bonkers at the end, Andrea, as the creature, turns on Chappel and Lombardi. Free of Lombardi's influence, the spirit of the creature leaves Andrea's body forever...

As I look at this beautiful model head of The She-Creature, I see love, admiration and homage for it's creator!

I MARZIANI HANNO DODICI MANI - Ennio Morricone - "The 12 Handed Men Of Mars" (1964)

Our pledge to you, no weird film left behind, no matter what! That being said, tonight's feature is "I Marziani Hanno 12 Mani" or in English, "The 12 Handed Men Of Mars!" Once again, while everyone takes big-time liberties with their posters, and I might have dozed off, but I never saw anything close to resembling Robby The Robot in this movie!

Still working it hard today, the soundtrack  for "I Marziani Hanno 12 Mani" was composed by none other than El Fabuloso,  Ennio (THE GOOD BAD AND THE UGLY) Morricone! Ennio has always been known as kind of a slacker, he only has 513 composing credits to his name!!

Flying Saucers are real...............

............And they've been landing on Earth each and every day, mostly unnoticed for centuries!!

Here they are, those wacky guys from Mars: Paolo (Zum Zum Zum) Panelli as X1, Carlo (MY FRIEND, DR. JEKYLL) Croccolo as X2, Enzo (HOWLERS OF THE DOCK) Garinei as X3, and Alfredo (WHISKEY AND VODKA) Landa as X4!!!!

To blend in on Earth, the first thing you need to learn is the goose step, otherwise you're going to stand out like a sore thumb!!

These Martians are a bunch of geeks, and might just be the first foursome of guys with mop top haircuts that don't look anything close to cool!

Looking to cool down with some local liquid beverage, this crazy cat takes a big chug off of a gas nozzle!

The Martians are totally in tune with music and really dig it when the jukebox plays "Amore Twist" by Rita Pavone!

Back in the day, a group of guys like this would be referred to as gleeps or dorks!

But one thing is certain, they do have an immense appreciation for members of the opposite sex!!

Well, there is a bit of confusion when this Martian chooses the jukebox over one of the hot chicks!

The Martians are in full control of their own personal gravity!

Goobers and girls! That's what pretty much defines this film!

At a party, one of the Martians shows the musicians providing the music how to riff on one of their outer space tunes, and that leads to..............

.........This crazy dance number where one of the Martians accidently steps on his partner's dress which rips it off to the waist, and in turn, all the guys in the room think it's a cool idea, and do the same thing to their various dance partners, leading to.............

.................a wild and weird space dance reminiscent of the dance scene in "Ikarie XB 1" aka "Voyage To The End Of The Universe" and/or..............

............The dance scene in the German Space Patrol TV series "Raumpatrouille!" The odd space music in this scene that you will hear in the sound clip, is also vaguely familiar, but I haven't been able to place my finger on it quite yet! All I really know is that it's really spacey!

In the end, the Martians must pack it up, and go back to where they came from, or are they still around?