Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Maciste in the Valley of the Thundering Echoes (La valle dell'eco tonante, 1964)
(The above title seems to have been added to the copy I watched on YouTube by a fan of this kind of sword-and-sandal epic. The more familiar English title is Hercules of the Desert, because it's assumed folks wouldn't be familiar with ubiquitous strongman Maciste. The version I saw also had French credits, but was dubbed in English. Everybody calls Maciste "Hercules," to add to the confusion.)
The setting is vaguely Middle Eastern. There's mention of Allah in the dialogue, but also "the gods," so don't try to pin things down. Somewhere beyond the title valley is a fabulous green land; everything else is desert. The problem is that folks can't pass through the valley because the constant loud roaring noise causes big rocks to fall on them. Our movie's beautiful but wicked princess gets together with four sheiks to seize the place by force. Meanwhile, there's a wandering tribe of folks to whom the place was promised in prophecy. The princess schemes to slaughter them, despite promising the sheiks that they'll get some of the land. Her grand vizier plans to marry her, but he's really in love with a woman pretending to be a sorceress.
The good folks enact a ritual that makes Maciste appear out of nowhere, establishing him as some kind of supernatural being instead of just a strong guy. He fends off the invaders through the strategy of throwing a gigantic boulder at them. Later, however, when he's off doing something else, they attack again and carry off the young women as slaves. Maciste goes off to rescue them and gets captured. The princess lets the slave girls go, intent on drugging Maciste so she can control his mind. The grand vizier tries to kill him instead, and the four sheiks have their own plans. (There's a ton of palace intrigue in this thing, most of which goes nowhere.) At the end, Maciste enters the valley and finds out that the roaring noise is caused by cave-dwelling folks banging on big hanging sheets of metal, and battles the Neanderthal-like beings, bringing the film to a goofy conclusion.
The usual feats of strength, fabulous sets and costumes, dancing girls, etc. It's a reasonbly entertaining example of the genre, made a little odder than most with Maciste's supernatural appearance and the weird cavemen.
(The above title seems to have been added to the copy I watched on YouTube by a fan of this kind of sword-and-sandal epic. The more familiar English title is Hercules of the Desert, because it's assumed folks wouldn't be familiar with ubiquitous strongman Maciste. The version I saw also had French credits, but was dubbed in English. Everybody calls Maciste "Hercules," to add to the confusion.)
The setting is vaguely Middle Eastern. There's mention of Allah in the dialogue, but also "the gods," so don't try to pin things down. Somewhere beyond the title valley is a fabulous green land; everything else is desert. The problem is that folks can't pass through the valley because the constant loud roaring noise causes big rocks to fall on them. Our movie's beautiful but wicked princess gets together with four sheiks to seize the place by force. Meanwhile, there's a wandering tribe of folks to whom the place was promised in prophecy. The princess schemes to slaughter them, despite promising the sheiks that they'll get some of the land. Her grand vizier plans to marry her, but he's really in love with a woman pretending to be a sorceress.
The good folks enact a ritual that makes Maciste appear out of nowhere, establishing him as some kind of supernatural being instead of just a strong guy. He fends off the invaders through the strategy of throwing a gigantic boulder at them. Later, however, when he's off doing something else, they attack again and carry off the young women as slaves. Maciste goes off to rescue them and gets captured. The princess lets the slave girls go, intent on drugging Maciste so she can control his mind. The grand vizier tries to kill him instead, and the four sheiks have their own plans. (There's a ton of palace intrigue in this thing, most of which goes nowhere.) At the end, Maciste enters the valley and finds out that the roaring noise is caused by cave-dwelling folks banging on big hanging sheets of metal, and battles the Neanderthal-like beings, bringing the film to a goofy conclusion.
The usual feats of strength, fabulous sets and costumes, dancing girls, etc. It's a reasonbly entertaining example of the genre, made a little odder than most with Maciste's supernatural appearance and the weird cavemen.
