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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema.

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Speaker 3: This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And

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Speaker 3: today on Weird House Cinema, we are going to be

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Speaker 3: talking about the nineteen sixty one Italian sword and sandal

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Speaker 3: movie Hercules in the Haunted World, directed by show favorite

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Speaker 3: Mario Bava, starring English bodybuilder redg Park as Hercules and

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Speaker 3: also starring show favorite Christopher Lee as the evil King

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Speaker 3: Leco in what I must say is one of the

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Speaker 3: most underwhelming Christopher Lee performances of all time, but otherwise

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Speaker 3: really really fun, great if low budget fantasy movie.

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Speaker 2: That's right, I mean with a Mario Bava film as well,

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Speaker 2: no doubt be discussing most of this episode. There are

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Speaker 2: certain expectations in place, and this film meets those expectations.

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Speaker 2: You know that it is going to look glorious. You

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Speaker 2: know that you are going to be entering a phantasmagorical

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Speaker 2: whirl of color and smoke and strange, surreal landscapes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, whatever the genre, whatever the budget, you pretty much

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Speaker 3: always know a Mario Bava movie is going to look

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Speaker 3: fascinating and you will feel the mood with your eyes.

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Speaker 3: They tend to be have very well composed shots. Each

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Speaker 3: shot is kind of like a painting in some way.

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Speaker 3: It's always kind of interestingly staged or framed. And he's

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Speaker 3: a big fan of things like mist and fog and

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Speaker 3: colored lights. So in scenes that in other movies might

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Speaker 3: just be lit with what comes off as realistic lighting

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Speaker 3: to the audience, in Abava movie, yeah, you'll have red

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Speaker 3: lights coming from one side of the room, green and

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Speaker 3: blue coming from the other, and pink lights on the subject,

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Speaker 3: and it just infuses everything even more realistic scenes with

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Speaker 3: a sense of magic.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And they're almost always going to be sequences

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Speaker 2: that feel kind of hypnotic, and this film is no exception.

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Speaker 2: There are some there are some sequences that have a

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Speaker 2: hypnotic vibe to them.

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Speaker 3: So Hercules in the Haunted World has been known by

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Speaker 3: other names, as many Italian movies have lots of names.

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Speaker 3: It's been known as Hercules at the Center of the

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Speaker 3: Earth and also some variations on Hercules versus the Vampires.

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Speaker 3: I don't think that really describes the movie at all.

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Speaker 2: I was reading about the various titles for this film

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Speaker 2: in Robert A. Rushing's descended from Hercules, a book that

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Speaker 2: I'll refer back to, and he mentions that, like the

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Speaker 2: literal translation of the original Italian title is essentially Hercules

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Speaker 2: in the Center of the Earth. But yeahs, mostly it's

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Speaker 2: known as Hercules in the Haunted World, which I think

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Speaker 2: is a pretty great title. There's at least one title

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Speaker 2: for the film that is with Hercules to the Center

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Speaker 2: of the Earth, which is a little more confusing, but

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Speaker 2: fair enough if you get the basic idea Hercules is

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Speaker 2: going inside the planet.

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Speaker 3: As you might guess from some of the titles for

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Speaker 3: this film, such as Hercules versus the Vampires, even though

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Speaker 3: there aren't really any vampires in it. This is a

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Speaker 3: somewhat rare genre crossover that might be called peplam horror.

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Speaker 3: Peplam is of course an originally derisive I think, term

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Speaker 3: for the sword and sandal genre, So that's your standard

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Speaker 3: genre of movies about figures like Hercules. These you know,

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Speaker 3: like strong figures from ancient Greece or Rome that run

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Speaker 3: around doing heroic deeds, So that's peplam, and Hercules in

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Speaker 3: the Haunted World is one of a small number of

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Speaker 3: films that have been said to be an attempt to

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Speaker 3: cross that stream with the trappings of gothic or supernatural horror.

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Speaker 3: So your prototype example might be a story set in

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Speaker 3: an archaic time period about an immense gentleman of beef

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Speaker 3: who wields a magic saber to defeat an army of

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Speaker 3: the blood drinking undead.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and in the case of this film, like obviously,

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Speaker 2: they're bringing in Christopher Lee, who as a major player

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Speaker 2: in a gothic horror of the time period, So you know,

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Speaker 2: it's it's it's rather obvious what they're doing here.

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Speaker 3: That said, I was kind of expecting there to be

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Speaker 3: more horror in this movie. There are definitely scenes that

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Speaker 3: are horror, and the final showdown involves hercules fighting in

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Speaker 3: an army of zombies, so I think that definitely gets

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Speaker 3: you there. But for a lot of the film, it's

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Speaker 3: much more like a traditional sword and sandal movie where

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Speaker 3: there aren't really any monsters. I don't think anything really

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Speaker 3: counts as a vampire. Probably the closest you get is

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Speaker 3: that Christopher Lee is in it, and he plays a

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Speaker 3: vampire in other movies.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he kind of wants to become a vampire. But

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Speaker 2: that's about it, really. Yeah, you know that that there

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Speaker 2: maybe we're going to cash in on some of that

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Speaker 2: that that vampire fame. Yeah, there's there are whole sections

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Speaker 2: of the movie that you might not even recognize as Bava,

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Speaker 2: that you basically before they enter the surreal world beneath

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Speaker 2: the earth. Uh. And and to your point, yeah, there's

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Speaker 2: there's not much in a film that you might identify

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Speaker 2: as horror outside of like the visual trappings of Bava's style.

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Speaker 3: Right right. I mean, I think I would identify this

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Speaker 3: as Bava throughout because of the way it looks, but

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Speaker 3: maybe not so much because of plot elements earlier on.

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Speaker 3: So I was trying to think if I had ever

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Speaker 3: before seen a movie that would be considered peplam horror.

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Speaker 3: And while I don't think I've seen any of the

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Speaker 3: ones that usually get highlighted from like the late fifties

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Speaker 3: early sixties, we have seen on weird house cinema Luccio

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Speaker 3: Fulci's Conquest, which certainly has a sword chopping muscle man.

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Speaker 3: It's set in an archaic time period, and it has

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Speaker 3: zombies and were wolves and other straight supernatural horror elements.

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Speaker 3: But I was wondering, does this count is Conquest peplam

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Speaker 3: or is it too post Conan to count as peplam, Like,

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Speaker 3: I don't really know what film historians would usually consider

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Speaker 3: the cutoff there. Does peplam only refer to these earlier

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Speaker 3: movies about ancient Greece and Rome and stuff, or does

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Speaker 3: it also include the more often gory, somewhat sleazy, r

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Speaker 3: rated Barbarian fantasy films that came after, like Millius's adaptation

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Speaker 3: of Conan.

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Speaker 2: Well, I turned to Rushing for this because this is

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Speaker 2: the book to find the answer, and Rushing does identify

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Speaker 2: Barbarian films as the third wave of peplam, so he

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Speaker 2: breaks everything down into five waves. So the first wave

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Speaker 2: consists pretty much entirely of the Michiste cycle, the Machiste

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Speaker 2: films from nineteen fourteen through nineteen twenty six, all starring

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Speaker 2: Bartolomeo Pagano as the titular Roman strongman Machiste. And I

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Speaker 2: believe you were actually looking at one of these the

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Speaker 2: other day. You were in the mood for a sword

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Speaker 2: and Sandals film and you were looking at a silent film.

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Speaker 2: I believe this is one of the Pagano films.

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, that's right. And in fact, I came across

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Speaker 3: a movie from this era that has the same one

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Speaker 3: line plot summary as the movie we're covering today. So

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Speaker 3: Hercules in the Haunted World, you know, the elevator pitch

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Speaker 3: is Hercules goes to Hell. And fun fact, there is

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Speaker 3: actually a word in Greek for stories in which the

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Speaker 3: hero goes to the underworld. It's called katabasis. This is

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Speaker 3: a common enough type of story, and there are of

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Speaker 3: course scenes from the big Greek and Roman epics where

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Speaker 3: characters go into the underworld. Happens in the Odyssey. There's

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Speaker 3: a katabasis where Odysseus goes to the underworld and talks

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Speaker 3: to talks to dead people. There's a passage in the

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Speaker 3: Aeneid where I think the heroes go to the underworld,

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Speaker 3: which just talked about recently on the show. Actually, so

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Speaker 3: there's a long tradition of stories in which the epic

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Speaker 3: hero takes a journey to Hell for some reason. But

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Speaker 3: this Bava movie from sixty one that we're talking about

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Speaker 3: today is not even the first Hercules goes to Hell

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Speaker 3: film in the twentieth century. I came across a nineteen

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Speaker 3: twenty five Italian silent film called Meshista in Hell, which

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Speaker 3: looks awesome. Rob I've attached the poster for you to

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Speaker 3: look at here. It has some kind of I don't

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Speaker 3: some like bride of Hell kind of figure on it

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Speaker 3: who's wearing like a dress with a golden calf theme.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, very art deco.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, but she looks like she will indeed invite

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Speaker 3: you straight into Hell. And I think the basic premise

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Speaker 3: of Mashista in Hell is that you know, he's not

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Speaker 3: only strong, he's the most virtuous man on earth, and

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Speaker 3: the demons of Hell are like, okay, we got to

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Speaker 3: trick him into sinning so that he'll come to Hell,

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Speaker 3: and I think they have a difficult time trying to

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Speaker 3: get him to sin. I haven't seen this movie in full,

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Speaker 3: but it looks like it would be worth a watch

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Speaker 3: if you want to sit through a full length silent film.

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Speaker 2: All right, so first wave nineteen fourteenth through the nineteen

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Speaker 2: twenty six then, according to Rushing, interestingly, there's kind of

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Speaker 2: a break here. So Peplham popularity dies out during the

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Speaker 2: fascist and post war period in Italy, which initially I

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Speaker 2: was kind of confused by. And I'm still very interested

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Speaker 2: in how this occurs, because you think of what a

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Speaker 2: Hercules movie, or know Peplam movie is and it centers

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Speaker 2: around a literal strong man. Yeah, and then what is fascism?

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Speaker 2: It is It is just, in very simple terms, someone

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Speaker 2: at least putting on the act of being a strong man,

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Speaker 2: you know, that is going to you know, lead you

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Speaker 2: and solve all your problems for you. And on one level,

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Speaker 2: I would think, well, wouldn't they just go hand in hand?

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Speaker 2: But I'm not going to get into all the points

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Speaker 2: that are that are the explorers in the book. But

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Speaker 2: he basically highlights that there's kind of some back and

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Speaker 2: forth here, Like, on one hand, yes, there is there

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Speaker 2: are some fascist elements to the idea of a Hercules

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Speaker 2: or Samson or any of these other figures that are

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Speaker 2: explored in these films. But on the other hand too,

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Speaker 2: there are certain anti fascism elements to it, like, for example, Hercules.

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Speaker 2: Even in this film, Hercules is not saying put the

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Speaker 2: crown on me. Hercules doesn't want rewards. He's in it

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Speaker 2: out of the goodness of his heart.

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Speaker 3: Yes, he explicitly is not power seeking in the film.

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Speaker 3: And when I think at certain points has sort of

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Speaker 3: given the chance to assume power and he sort of

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Speaker 3: shies away from it.

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Speaker 2: All right, the next wave we have of Peplam, according

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Speaker 2: to Rushing, is the mid century Peplam, that's nineteen fifty

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Speaker 2: eight through nineteen sixty five, and this period stars almost

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Speaker 2: exclusively bodybuilders such as Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, and Rech Park. This,

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Speaker 2: of course is the period that we're discussing here with

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Speaker 2: Hercules in the Haunted World. And according to the extras

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Speaker 2: on the Kinoclassics disc which I'll mention again here in

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Speaker 2: a bit, this film and Mario Bava in particular, had

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Speaker 2: had a very important role in the resurgence of peplam

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Speaker 2: during this period, and also the cementing of Hercules's place

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Speaker 2: at the center of it instead of Mitchieste or the

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Speaker 2: biblical Samson or any other character. So like this is

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Speaker 2: where things become more like Hercules movies as opposed to

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Speaker 2: various figures that fit the mold.

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Speaker 3: Okay, now, I think the grimier peplam comes in the eighties, right,

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Speaker 3: sort of in the wake of Conan, which was what

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Speaker 3: like nineteen eighty one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. He highlights the third wave as eighties Barbarian movies,

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Speaker 2: a broad category that includes everything from Conan the Barbarian itself,

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Speaker 2: to the Attor films to Fulg's Conquest, which he discusses

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Speaker 2: in this wave, is also notable for featuring more sex,

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Speaker 2: more violence, at least compared to everything that he had

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Speaker 2: come before. Now, the fourth wave that he highlights is

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Speaker 2: the nineteen nineties TV wave, typified by Hercules, the Legendary Journeys,

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Speaker 2: and various other shows of that sort. I guess this

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Speaker 2: leads into Zena. If you watched any TV in the nineties,

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Speaker 2: you know exactly this whole realm of shows we're talking about.

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Speaker 3: You know, I haven't really gone back and revisited these,

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Speaker 3: but I do remember watching both Hercules and Zena on

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Speaker 3: TV when I was a kid, and they had a

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Speaker 3: great feeling. There was such a pleasing corniness about them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what you mean. I never I never

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Speaker 2: really religiously watched them, but I would catch them on

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Speaker 2: and you know sometimes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, I'd have to go back and

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Speaker 3: check them out as an adult. But I think these

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Speaker 3: shows did have a pretty strong sense of irony about them,

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Speaker 3: Like they didn't. They have like Bruce Campbell as a

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Speaker 3: recurring guest character, and he was hamming it up real good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You had a number of either talented

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Speaker 2: actors of the time or actors that would go on

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Speaker 2: to become more prominent on those shows. All right, then finally,

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Speaker 2: fifth wave peplam according to Rushing here, contemporary peplam concerning

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Speaker 2: pretty much everything that comes in the wake of Ridley

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Speaker 2: Scott's two thousand film Gladiator. So that includes the two

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Speaker 2: thousand and six film three hundred, it includes the Spartacus

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Speaker 2: TV show. And I do want to note that the

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Speaker 2: book in question here came out in twenty sixteen, so

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure where Rushing would consider us now like

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Speaker 2: our We have Gladiator two coming out this year for

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Speaker 2: Middley Scott, so I don't know if that is going

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Speaker 2: to cap off this period of peplam, or is it

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Speaker 2: going to birth a new period, or how we might

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Speaker 2: figure out where we are in this legacy of sword

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Speaker 2: and sandals cinema.

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Speaker 3: I'm having a hard time believing that they're actually making

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Speaker 3: a Gladiator two.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the first one made all the money

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Speaker 2: in the world, so I mean that's also a really

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Speaker 2: Scott film. But anyway, you catch my.

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Speaker 3: Money, what we do in life franchise is in eternity.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's a quick overview if you want to

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Speaker 2: a deeper look at Peplam. Do pick up that book.

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Speaker 3: It sounds interesting, and I'm sure there is a lot

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Speaker 3: to excavate in terms of the sort of the historical

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Speaker 3: context and the social and psychological connotations that are flowing

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Speaker 3: through this oiled up genre. Now, to situate the movie

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Speaker 3: we're looking at today within the history, we're saying it's

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Speaker 3: in that middle period during sort of a pep revival,

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Speaker 3: Like there had been a Peplam low tide for several decades,

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Speaker 3: and now this is early sixties, late fifties, early sixties.

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Speaker 3: Peplam's coming back, and it's coming back by mixing with

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Speaker 3: other genres like horror.

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Speaker 2: That's right, And eventually there're gonna be some sci fi

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Speaker 2: Peplams as well, Yeah, which we might come back to

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Speaker 2: on the show.

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Speaker 3: So, from what I've read, Hercules and the Haunted World

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Speaker 3: was a relatively low budget picture, but like most Mario

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Speaker 3: Bob movies, it, you know, it looks a lot better

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Speaker 3: than what it cost. Apparently. I do want to single

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Speaker 3: out a genuine crime in the creative choices of this movie,

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Speaker 3: which is that they cast Christopher Lee as the villain

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Speaker 3: and then, as best I can tell, did not use

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Speaker 3: his actual voice at all, like he is dubbed by

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Speaker 3: another actor. I don't. I couldn't confirm this, Rob. Maybe

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Speaker 3: you have more insight into whether that's the case for sure,

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Speaker 3: But it does not sound like him on the Italian

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Speaker 3: track I heard, and from what I understand, it's not

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Speaker 3: his voice in English either.

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Speaker 2: That's my understanding. I think there Christopher Lee did some

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Speaker 2: international pictures in which his voice was dubbed, and I

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Speaker 2: think there's maybe one German production where he did his

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Speaker 2: own voice acting for the German language version. I'm not

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Speaker 2: one hundred percent on that, but I think it's the

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Speaker 2: case as far as I can tell. There's just no

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Speaker 2: audio of at least surviving of Lee's lines here. In

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Speaker 2: all likelihood he did his lines in English, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: they're dubbed by an Italian speaking actor for the Italian version,

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Speaker 2: dubbed by a non Christopher Lee actor for the English dub,

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Speaker 2: and on from there. It was common practice in a

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Speaker 2: lot of these lower budget European films that they wouldn't

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Speaker 2: even have live sound. Everything would be dubbed anyway, and

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Speaker 2: that sometimes meant international cast members just doing their lines

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Speaker 2: and their own language, and they'd just work it all

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Speaker 2: out in the dub later on. I think I've mentioned

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Speaker 2: before that Spanish be cinema legend. Paul Nashy almost never

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Speaker 2: did his own vocal performance. Even for the Spanish, it

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Speaker 2: would be somebody else. But I agree, it's a shame

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Speaker 2: we don't get to hear Christopher Lee here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it seems like it's probably not a you know,

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Speaker 3: a particular choice of this movie, but it's just how

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Speaker 3: movies in this time and place were done. You just

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Speaker 3: didn't have live sound, and a lot of times it

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Speaker 3: was not the original actor recording the audio.

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Speaker 2: But it's a shame that they had decades to write

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Speaker 2: this wrong. And Christopher Lee lived a long time and

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Speaker 2: was active for the rest of his life. Even if

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Speaker 2: you'd gone in and gotten a much older Christopher Lee

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Speaker 2: to come in and do a little voice work for this,

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Speaker 2: it would have been I think it would have been

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Speaker 2: worth it. I don't know if it was actually worth

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Speaker 2: it to anyone who's gonna put the money down for it,

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Speaker 2: but there you go.

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Speaker 3: I'm just saying, if you're going to hire Christopher Lee,

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Speaker 3: you better go out of your way to get his

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Speaker 3: voice on tape.

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Speaker 2: Agreed.

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Speaker 3: Another thing I want to address before we actually get

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Speaker 3: into the cast in the plot, which is did you

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Speaker 3: notice that hercules solution to nearly every puzzle and problem

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Speaker 3: in this film was to lift a large object over

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Speaker 3: his head and throw it. Yes, most often the large

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Speaker 3: object is a rock. At least like four or five

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Speaker 3: major problems in the movie are solved by throwing a rock.

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Speaker 3: But sometimes it is a wooden cart, or sometimes it

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Speaker 3: is a monster made out of rocks. So it's like

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Speaker 3: the moral of Hercules in the Haunted world is that

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Speaker 3: there's almost no problem which cannot be solved by guerrilla

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Speaker 3: pressing and throwing an object of sufficient mass.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this film is one chunking objects at his problems.

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Speaker 2: And yet I have to say that these scenes are

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Speaker 2: also well crafted, the lighting, the physical acting, the props

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Speaker 2: and effects that I buy it in ways that I

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Speaker 2: rarely buy a boulder eating scene in a motion picture.

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Speaker 3: I never wanted to stop. I was like, yeah, throw

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Speaker 3: rocks at that too, throw some more.

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Speaker 2: I mean, if we were gonna get picky, we might say, well,

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Speaker 2: in the actual you know Tales of Hercules, he's he's

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Speaker 2: not only using rocks to solve problems, He's not only

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Speaker 2: throwing things. He gets he can be rather devious at

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Speaker 2: times in the way that he overcomes his various challenges,

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Speaker 2: but in this it's mostly throwing stuff.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's supposed to be the character that Hercules is

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Speaker 3: not only strong, but he is clever. He comes up

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Speaker 3: with ingenious solutions to unsolvable problems. You know, how does

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Speaker 3: he How does he clean the stables that have accumulated

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Speaker 3: the filth from all the years? Like he he can't

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Speaker 3: even with all his strength, He can't do it with

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Speaker 3: a shovel, but he diverts a river, so you know,

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Speaker 3: so he comes up with clever solutions like that, and

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Speaker 3: I think the movie is trying to show him doing

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Speaker 3: that at times. He like faces a problem and he

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Speaker 3: has to come up with some outside the box solution,

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Speaker 3: but it's always throwing a rock.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. He's like, all right, I need another

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Speaker 2: another approach to this problem. Should I throw a rock

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Speaker 2: at it?

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Speaker 3: Yes?

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Speaker 2: I should rock at it?

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Speaker 3: Okay, the elevator pitch. I've already given one version, which

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Speaker 3: is Hercules goes to hell. You could shorten that even

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Speaker 3: to just Helcules nice, but I guess the longer version

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Speaker 3: is that the only way the noble Hercules can save

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Speaker 3: his beloved Danira is to retrieve a magic stone from

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Speaker 3: the underworld of the dead, but a dubbed Christopher Lee

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Speaker 3: with a Prince valiant haircut has other plans.

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Speaker 2: All right, So where can you watch Hercules in the

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Speaker 2: Haunted World? Well, it's out there. And this is another

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Speaker 2: one of those films where I feel like you got

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Speaker 2: to be a little picky about where you get it.

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Speaker 2: I initially did the lazy thing and I was like, Okay,

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Speaker 2: I don't really want to get up. I'm just gonna

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Speaker 2: rent this on Prime. And then I rented it and

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Speaker 2: the quality was not optimal. It even featured a watermark.

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Speaker 2: So I did what I should have done to begin with.

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Speaker 2: I drove over to Atlanta's own Videodrome video rental store

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Speaker 2: and I rented the two disc Kinoclassics Blu Ray release.

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Speaker 2: It is excellent. It feature there's multiple cuts of the film,

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Speaker 2: you know, the UK cut, Italian cut, US cut, as

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Speaker 2: well as some extras, and so you know, we generally

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Speaker 2: encourage everyone to watch these films and the best quality available,

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Speaker 2: and this is especially true of Mario Bava. I don't

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Speaker 2: think my wife really understood why I was leaving the

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Speaker 2: house to go rent a movie that I just rented.

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Speaker 2: But it's like, you just can't watch a Mario Bava

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Speaker 2: film unless it is in just as high of quality

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Speaker 2: as is possibly available.

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Speaker 3: I agree, and specifically because some of the streaming options

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Speaker 3: I came across it seemed to me that they were

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Speaker 3: not only like lower resolution, kind of grainy, but also

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Speaker 3: they were desaturated in terms of color, and I want

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Speaker 3: all the color. Yeah, so yeah, so you want to

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Speaker 3: get the good version of this one. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So I'm not saying don't use Prime, but I'm just saying,

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Speaker 2: be choosy about where you get this film, because I

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Speaker 2: don't think all the streams are equal here. All right,

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Speaker 2: let's get into the folks involved in the making of film. Oh,

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Speaker 2: we've been talking about him already, but Mario Bava is

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Speaker 2: credited as the director, one of the writers, the cinematographer

393
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Speaker 2: of course, and also has sound effects credit. Sound effects,

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Speaker 2: we should also mention, are often a real hallmark of

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Speaker 2: Mariobava films as well, especially with the film like Planet

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Speaker 2: of the Vampires.

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Speaker 3: I wonder have we done more Mario Bava movies than

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Speaker 3: any other director on Weird House, because we did Planet

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Speaker 3: of the Vampires we did Danger Diabolic, We did Black Sabbath.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think it was Sabbath. I put Sunday

401
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Speaker 2: in the notes, but yeah, it would be that the

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Speaker 2: color when not the black and white one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and maybe another one or I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I think that's all the Bava we've directly done on

405
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Speaker 2: the show thus far, but we'll probably come back. I

406
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Speaker 2: know there are a couple other Bava films that are

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Speaker 2: on my radar, all.

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Speaker 3: Of them incredibly strong. I think today's movie might be

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Speaker 3: the one out of all the Bava movies we've done

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Speaker 3: that I liked the least, but I loved all of them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean unmistakable obsessive emphasis on visual composition nineteen

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Speaker 2: fourteen through nineteen eighty. You mentioned the films we've We've

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Speaker 2: already mentioned the films we've covered already. But so far

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Speaker 2: we've covered a Bava Gothic horror, a space ar, a

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Speaker 2: sixty super criminal movie, and it feels right that we're

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Speaker 2: dealing with the Peplam film.

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Speaker 3: Now, did he do every genre? Did he do Westerns?

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Speaker 3: I think he did.

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Speaker 2: I think he did. Interestingly, this wasn't his only outing

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Speaker 2: with Hercules. He had served as cinematographer and special effects

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Speaker 2: artist on the previous nineteen fifty eight Hercules movie, as

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Speaker 2: well as the nineteen fifty nine sequel to that film,

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Speaker 2: Hercules Unchained. All Right, the writing credits on this First

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Speaker 2: of all, we have Sandro Continenza, who lived nineteen twenty

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Speaker 2: through nineteen ninety six, Italian screenwriter, best known for such

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Speaker 2: films as sixty one's Valley of the Lions, seventy eight's

427
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,800
Speaker 2: The Inglorious Bastards and really just a long list of thrillers,

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00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 2: action movies, horror movies, comedies and more. We previously mentioned

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Speaker 2: this writer on the show because they were one of

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Speaker 2: the screenwriters on Let Sleeping corpses Lie Kaya the Living

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Speaker 2: Dead at Manchester morg Oh.

432
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was fun. I don't think this. I don't

433
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,840
Speaker 3: think the screenplay is the strongest suit of this movie.

434
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 3: It's a. It's a it's partially by numbers, but it

435
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 3: gets the job done.

436
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, the other two. In addition to Baba as well,

437
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,240
Speaker 2: we have Francesco Prosperi, who lived nineteen twenty six through

438
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,159
Speaker 2: two thousand and four Italian film director and screenwriter, active

439
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,960
Speaker 2: between between the mid nineteen sixties and the early nineteen eighties,

440
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 2: perhaps best known for nineteen sixty six is The Hired Killer,

441
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,480
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty three is The Evil Eye. And then

442
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 2: we have Duccio Tassari nineteen twenty six through nineteen ninety four,

443
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,480
Speaker 2: Italian director and writer who work on a number of

444
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 2: sixties peplam films, and as a director he directed such

445
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 2: movies as eighty five's Texts and The Lord of the Deep.

446
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 2: That's a Western of some sort, and nineteen seventy one's

447
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,040
Speaker 2: The blood Stained Butterfly.

448
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 3: Texts and The Lord of the Deep.

449
00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe it was based on an Italian comic. Okay,

450
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:02,960
Speaker 2: now getting into the actors here, we have to start

451
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,119
Speaker 2: at the top, of course, with Hercules himself. Reg Park,

452
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 2: who lived nineteen twenty eight through two thousand and seven

453
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,360
Speaker 2: aka Read the Ledge.

454
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,639
Speaker 3: Spelled like Reg the leg but it's Reg the Ledge,

455
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 3: so incredibly confusing. Yeah.

456
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,520
Speaker 2: Anyway, He was a Leeds born British football player turned

457
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 2: professional bodybuilder, one time Mister Britain in forty six and

458
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 2: three time Mister Universe So fifty one to fifty eight

459
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,640
Speaker 2: and sixty five, among many other titles. At this point

460
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 2: in his life, he I believe he'd already moved to

461
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,040
Speaker 2: South Africa with his wife, but he received this offer

462
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:41,360
Speaker 2: to temporarily move to Rome to start in at least

463
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 2: a couple of Hercules movies. He accepted, and that gave

464
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 2: us this film and Hercules and the Captive Women, both

465
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 2: released in sixty one. In sixty four, he returned for

466
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 2: Hercules Prisoner of Evil, and he also fit in a

467
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,680
Speaker 2: mitcheste movie mitches ste In King Solomon's Minds, and then

468
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five would mark his final film and his

469
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 2: final appearance as Hercules. Hercules the Avenger.

470
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 3: Now he is huge in this movie. His muscles are massive.

471
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 3: And one thing I noticed. I don't know if you'd

472
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,199
Speaker 3: agree here, but it seemed to me that his physique

473
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 3: was almost identical to the other big twentieth century movie muscleman,

474
00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,159
Speaker 3: Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's like you could swap their heads and

475
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,919
Speaker 3: you wouldn't realize there was a difference there. I don't know,

476
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 3: their bodies just look incredibly similar.

477
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know much about the specifics of bodybuilding,

478
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 2: but apparently reg was one of Arnold's heroes and they

479
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 2: knew each other to some extent, and Arnold really admired him.

480
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't know if you can like really

481
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:45,560
Speaker 2: sculpt your body to look like someone else's body, but certainly,

482
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,119
Speaker 2: certainly there is a physical resemblance in it, like the

483
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 2: way that they're built.

484
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,240
Speaker 3: But you know what, I like this muscleman. Reg does not.

485
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 3: He does not portray a very complicated Hercules. He portrays

486
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 3: Hercules as a quite simple and surface level man. But

487
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:04,360
Speaker 3: I think it.

488
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,919
Speaker 2: Works absolutely five out of five stars for this Hercules

489
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 2: from me, I do not want an overly charismatic actor

490
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 2: in these roles. I don't want to see the wheels turning.

491
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 2: I think I think a Hercules role befits a greener actor,

492
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,120
Speaker 2: which typically lines up with the fact that filmmakers are

493
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 2: casting bodybuilders in these roles, thus greatly narrowing the talent field.

494
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 2: But yeah, in this film, I can't speak to the others,

495
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,119
Speaker 2: but I feel like Reg feels a little stiff, but

496
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 2: never too stiff. He's outwitted by a cerebral villain at times, sure,

497
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 2: but not to a agree that it tarnishes his hero status.

498
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 2: Like he doesn't. He doesn't seem you know, like a

499
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 2: like a dufiss out there, and and he just kind

500
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,560
Speaker 2: of has like a he feels comfortable in the scenes.

501
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, he's charming, but not in a way

502
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 3: that could possibly imply any kind of scheming or machiavellianism.

503
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 3: Like he is just so he comes off as so

504
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:07,040
Speaker 3: simple and straightforward, and his likability you just don't suspect

505
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:08,280
Speaker 3: there's anything under it.

506
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 2: Right In the extras on that Keno Classics disc, there's

507
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,439
Speaker 2: an older interview with an actor I'll get into here

508
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:19,919
Speaker 2: in just a second, George Artisan. He remarks that while

509
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 2: Reg wasn't as handsome as Steve Reeves, I mean, I

510
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 2: don't know, it seems like he's as handsome, or at

511
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 2: least in the same like handsomeness orbit as as Steve Reeves.

512
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,880
Speaker 2: I don't know. He says that Reg was really laid

513
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 2: back and easy to work with. He also stresses that

514
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 2: he didn't just look strong, he was strong. There's a

515
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 2: there's a scene that we'll get to where they have

516
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 2: to traverse this rope hanging over a lava pit in Hell,

517
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:51,440
Speaker 2: and of course they're not you know, they didn't actually

518
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 2: film it over lava, but they really did have to

519
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 2: hang from a rope, and Artisan is like, I only

520
00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 2: lasted like a minute, my arms were killing me. But

521
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 2: Reg was hanging from that thing for like eight to

522
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 2: ten minutes at a time and didn't seem particularly phased.

523
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 3: Wow.

524
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 2: But then again, in this interview, an elderly artisan also

525
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,359
Speaker 2: insisted that Reg was picking up and throwing real rocks,

526
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 2: a real bombers.

527
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 3: No, so I don't know.

528
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,920
Speaker 2: I mean, this film makes me feel like real boulders,

529
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,199
Speaker 2: but truly not. No, I can't. I can't accept that.

530
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 3: No, those are props, obviously. So I was digging up

531
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 3: old muscle magazine covers that have redg Park on them,

532
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 3: and I found some really fun, funny ones. My favorite

533
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,640
Speaker 3: was the one It's called It's from a magazine called

534
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 3: Muscle Builder, and it's got a picture of him standing there, flexing,

535
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 3: pushing his chest out, and the article title that it's

536
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 3: promoting is get big husky muscles fast. I've never heard

537
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 3: muscles described as husky before. That's good.

538
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 2: But he's weird seeing him on these covers because he

539
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 2: doesn't have the beard like in the movie he has

540
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 2: the Hercules beard. Here he is clean shaved, and in

541
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 2: one of the images looks kind of like Don Draper.

542
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,719
Speaker 3: Oh, I can see that. Yeah, Also, how fast are

543
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 3: you going? To get him. You can get big husky

544
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 3: muscles like I don't know.

545
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,720
Speaker 2: You don't want to get him too fast, all right,

546
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 2: Moving on to the rest of the cast, we have

547
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 2: already mentioned Christopher Lee, who with nineteen twenty two through

548
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen plays the villain King Leco. This film was

549
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 2: made during his Hammer years, one of five films of

550
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 2: his release in sixty one, and one of numerous mainland

551
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 2: European films that he did over the years, which also

552
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:35,360
Speaker 2: encompassed Germans, Spanish and Italian productions and co productions. To

553
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,600
Speaker 2: position this film between his better known works, consider that

554
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 2: Hammers the Mummy had come out earlier in fifty nine,

555
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 2: and he'd go on to act in sixty six's Dracula

556
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 2: Prince of Darkness. Though to be clear, he was working

557
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 2: quite a bit during this period, so there are no

558
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,000
Speaker 2: real breaks here for him. He's just doing picture after picture.

559
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 3: He plays the Mummy in Hammers the Mummy.

560
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So this is prime pier for Lee for sure.

561
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 2: Now it's worth highlighting that this was the first off

562
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:07,240
Speaker 2: I believe to Mario Baba films that he did, the

563
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 2: other being the sixty three Gothic horror film The Whip

564
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 2: and the Body, But in neither film do we actually

565
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 2: get to hear Lee's voice. I believe both of those

566
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 2: are the same, and that the English dub makes use

567
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 2: of a different actor.

568
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 3: That is really inexplicable. And I do stand by I

569
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 3: think I said this earlier, but this may be the

570
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 3: most underused Christopher Lee has ever felt in a film.

571
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,240
Speaker 2: To me, yeah, I would agree.

572
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 3: I mean, he's not bad, he's fine, but you could

573
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 3: have imagined doing so much more with him as this

574
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 3: sort of evil wizard king.

575
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, let's get into the sidekicks. We have

576
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 2: not one, but two of them.

577
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, multiple sidekicks. We got the handsome guy and we

578
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 3: got the the I don't know, scaredy cat guy.

579
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 2: Yeah we have Yeah. The first of all, we have theseus.

580
00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,040
Speaker 2: I think he's also at Tessio. It depends on what

581
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 2: what credits you're looking at.

582
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 3: In the Italian hercules is Ercole and theseus is they

583
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 3: say you or something?

584
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is the character played by George Artisan.

585
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 2: He's also Georgio Artisan, Italian actor who lived nineteen thirty

586
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 2: one through twenty fourteen. So this character is Hirt's lady

587
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,720
Speaker 2: chasing blonde sidekick, classically handsome and by all reasonable measures

588
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 2: in really good shape. But you know, good luck to

589
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 2: anyone who has to stand opposite Redge in these scenes, right.

590
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 3: Theseus is a fan of dating.

591
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, he likes the ladies. The ladies like him. I

592
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 2: would say that artisan definitely. He gets in in on

593
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,200
Speaker 2: a lot of the action. He has stunts and action

594
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 2: sequences throughout, but as the obviously more seasoned actor, he

595
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 2: gets to do all of the heroic emotional heavy lifting,

596
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 2: while Redge gets to actually lift stones and throw them

597
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 2: at villains.

598
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:05,280
Speaker 3: That's right. So basically all of the emotional conflict that

599
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 3: it might usually fall on a hero to have in

600
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 3: a story like this goes to Theseus. He gets to

601
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 3: be He gets to be the one who's like conflicted

602
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 3: over you know, his relationship and all that. And you know,

603
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 3: Hercules just stands there and says, you should you should

604
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 3: do good?

605
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:25,240
Speaker 2: Yes. So Artisan was a mainstay in various Italian sword

606
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 2: and sandals and adventure films, including Mario Boba's nineteen sixty

607
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 2: one Swashbuckler. You know, throw another genre on the barbie there,

608
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 2: Eric the Conqueror alongside Cameron Mitchell. So I was reading

609
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,480
Speaker 2: a little bit about about this this movie in particular,

610
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 2: but also like in general Hercules movies in that Robert A.

611
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 2: Rushing book descended from Hercules, and the author points out

612
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 2: that a lot of Peppelin movies in general give the

613
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 2: central muscle character a quote moody, morose or lethargic sid

614
00:32:55,240 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 2: sidekick in order to emphasize the strong man's optimism and energy.

615
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 2: H and and that's we do see that with this character.

616
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I guess he doesn't come off as moody

617
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 3: or morose early on. That's only when he has his

618
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,120
Speaker 3: his love conflict later in the movie. Earlier, I was thinking, like,

619
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,760
Speaker 3: is there enough distinction between these two guys. It's just

620
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 3: like two handsome, muscly guys who are good friends, and

621
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 3: they you know, they like hanging out.

622
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 2: But they work it in. You know. It's like, you know,

623
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 2: when we get into the details of their love life,

624
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 2: you'll see this division's and and it apparently just follows

625
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 2: like some traditional tropes of peplam. Rushing points out that

626
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,480
Speaker 2: in mid century peplam movies like this, when the sidekick

627
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 2: usually has an impossible love that Hercules either helps him

628
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 2: obtain or dissuades him from and he also stresses that

629
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 2: sometimes the sidekick is purely for comic relief and that

630
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 2: his physique may serve to contrast hercules muscular perfection.

631
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 3: Okay, so this movie took that took that sidekick character

632
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 3: and broke him into two different parts. So we get

633
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,960
Speaker 3: the muscly happy sidekick here, but we also are going

634
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,760
Speaker 3: to get a weak, cowardly comic relief sidekick.

635
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,799
Speaker 2: That's right, and that's where Telemachus comes in, played by

636
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:16,400
Speaker 2: Franco Giocabini who lived nineteen twenty six through twenty fifteen.

637
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 2: So this is just a straight comic relief character and

638
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 2: his guy ultimately a sidekick to both Herk and Theseus

639
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 2: and also gives us like a baseline human body in

640
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:32,880
Speaker 2: there alongside these other two. So this actor often played

641
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 2: comedic roles for Italian TV and film had but he

642
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:39,280
Speaker 2: had a long career on stage, apparently in both comedic

643
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 2: and dramatic roles. This was his second time working in

644
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,520
Speaker 2: a film with Christopher Lee, though I don't think they

645
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 2: have any scenes together in this, but he had been

646
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,080
Speaker 2: in the nineteen fifty nine movie Uncle Was a Vampire,

647
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 2: and he also pops up in Bava's Eric the Conqueror.

648
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:56,480
Speaker 2: He'd work in a Lee film again for nineteen sixty

649
00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 2: two Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace that was an

650
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 2: Internet co production directed by Terrence Fisher. Oh and the

651
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 2: actor here also was in nineteen sixty seven's Ok Connery

652
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:12,760
Speaker 2: aka Operation Kid Brother. That was the Bond knockoff film

653
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 2: starring Neil Connery.

654
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 3: Subject of a Mystery Science Theater episode.

655
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 2: I believe, yeah, okay, we have to mention the ladies

656
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 2: the love interests here as well. There's the Princess Vianira

657
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 2: played by Leonara Rufo. She lived nineteen thirty six through

658
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:31,799
Speaker 2: two thousand and seven. Again hurts love interest, but she

659
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 2: has some issues with her blood and or her mortality.

660
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 2: Rufo was an Italian leading lady of the fifties and sixties.

661
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 2: Her films include nineteen sixty one's Goliath and the Vampires

662
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 2: and the stylish sci fi film Star Pilot from nineteen

663
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,400
Speaker 2: sixty six. I was actually looking at this one just

664
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago when I was eyeing some various

665
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 2: like euro sci fi films. This one is supposed to

666
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 2: be rather stylish and sort of like a post two

667
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 2: thousand one sense.

668
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 3: You know, a scene where I think Ruffo really stands

669
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:08,840
Speaker 3: out in the movie is early on when when Hercules

670
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,640
Speaker 3: first comes to meet her after being away on an adventure,

671
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 3: and there, of course they're you know, they're in love

672
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 3: and their betrothed to be married. I guess he's been

673
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 3: away for a while and he returns and finds that

674
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 3: she has fallen ill. There's some kind of madness or

675
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,399
Speaker 3: illness that has that has overtaken her. And Hercules goes

676
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:27,840
Speaker 3: to meet her out in the garden of the palace

677
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 3: and she's wandering around like she's sleepwalking or in a dream,

678
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 3: but with her eyes open, and she's kind of muttering

679
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:39,320
Speaker 3: these slowly muttering these lines that are expressing her thoughts.

680
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 3: But it's like she's speaking from within within a dream.

681
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,399
Speaker 3: And so, you know, Hercules goes up to her and says, oh,

682
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,040
Speaker 3: you know, now we're reunited, but she doesn't believe it's

683
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,319
Speaker 3: really him. She says something like, I see my love,

684
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,839
Speaker 3: but it is only an illusion he has. He is

685
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 3: dead deep within the sea, never to see my love again,

686
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,719
Speaker 3: Never to see my love again. And the way she

687
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,600
Speaker 3: mutters the lines is so spooky. I think it's a

688
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 3: fantastic scene. It is.

689
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's a testament to this film because otherwise,

690
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,799
Speaker 2: I mean, she is a princess in danger that must

691
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 2: be rescued by Hercules, and that's that's pretty much her

692
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 2: role in the picture. But she does get to have

693
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,240
Speaker 2: these moments where she stands out, so that's hurts love interest.

694
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 2: But then Theseus's love interest is this mysterious character that

695
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 2: he meets and where he meets there should be a

696
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 2: red flag.

697
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,439
Speaker 3: I just want to flag he has more than one

698
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:33,320
Speaker 3: loving Well.

699
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,160
Speaker 2: Yes, yes he does. It just depends on what day

700
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,320
Speaker 2: it is. But to no one's surprised he did. Allops

701
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,520
Speaker 2: a new love interest during their journey through Hell.

702
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 3: Right, so he's got a girlfriend back home, which is

703
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 3: the witch Jacosta, who she seems really cool, but he's like, no,

704
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 3: I'm going on vacation. We're you know, we're going to

705
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,800
Speaker 3: Hell and I'm gonna I'll probably meet some women there,

706
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:56,759
Speaker 3: so you know, we'll see if we're still together when

707
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,719
Speaker 3: I'm back. And the woman he meets in Hell, yes,

708
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:03,760
Speaker 3: is how do you say her name? Miositodi or something?

709
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:06,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeahid yeah, some of these names.

710
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 3: Really.

711
00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 2: I watched it in the Italian with the English subtitles,

712
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 2: and so some of the names kind of flew past me.

713
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,400
Speaker 2: But she is a seems to be a denizen of

714
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 2: the underworld, but seems like a nice gal. Played by

715
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:24,120
Speaker 2: Ida Golli born nineteen thirty nine, Italian actress. Her other

716
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 2: credits include sixty threes, The Whip in the Body, sixty

717
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,320
Speaker 2: four's Wore the Zombies, sixty six's Django Shoots First, seventy

718
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 2: five Footsteps on the Moon, and Luccio Fulci's nineteen seventy

719
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 2: seven thriller The Psychic.

720
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,640
Speaker 3: I would characterize her performance as quite muted. She doesn't

721
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,680
Speaker 3: display like her Her character is written as one that

722
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 3: has like a great longing, but she plays it in

723
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 3: a way that's very restrained.

724
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, and especially some of the revelations that we end

725
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,840
Speaker 2: up having about the true nature of her character. It

726
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,960
Speaker 2: seems like there were more opportunities here. Maybe those opportunities

727
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:01,400
Speaker 2: weren't in the script, you know, But so he shouldn't

728
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,320
Speaker 2: you know, shouldn't really blame her for it, but character wise,

729
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 2: I feel like there could have been more here as well,

730
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,760
Speaker 2: all right, And then a quick note about the music.

731
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,400
Speaker 2: The score is by Armando Traviajoli, who lived nineteen seventeen

732
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,440
Speaker 2: through twenty thirteen. This is kind of what you'd expect

733
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,839
Speaker 2: from a Hercules movie of this period. It's epic, it's

734
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:27,440
Speaker 2: sweeping to Trevadoli was an Italian composer and sometimes actor.

735
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,800
Speaker 2: His scores include seventy seven's A Special Day, seventy two's

736
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 2: The Italian Connection, and he also scored Uncle Was a Vampire.

737
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,560
Speaker 3: I'm not sure I'm understanding Uncle was a vampire. Is

738
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,240
Speaker 3: that like Papa was a rolling Stone?

739
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,360
Speaker 2: I'm yeah, I'm not sure. All I know is that

740
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,719
Speaker 2: I think it's like a comedy. They've got Christopher Lee

741
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 2: somehow involves a vampire. I don't know. I didn't look

742
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:50,240
Speaker 2: into it too closely.

743
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,879
Speaker 3: Well, for the moment we're on the music, I want

744
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 3: to say I thought it was actually pretty good, especially

745
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 3: in some of the darker, moodier scenes, like well, like

746
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,439
Speaker 3: the guard and scene that I was just talking about

747
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 3: with Leonora Rufo, you know, giving that kind of that dreamy,

748
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 3: cursed muttering performance there. There is a spooky, haunting music

749
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 3: that flows through that scene that I think is quite good.

750
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I may not be given enough credit. It

751
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:17,799
Speaker 2: kind of comes back to the fact that I guess

752
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,320
Speaker 2: if a score is doing what it's supposed to. Sometimes

753
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,920
Speaker 2: it is invisible and and and if you're in an

754
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 2: engage in a film like this, it's so you know,

755
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:30,200
Speaker 2: hyperly visual. You know, sometimes you can you can forget

756
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:32,799
Speaker 2: that it's there at all. So yeah, yeah, it does

757
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,360
Speaker 2: nothing wrong. It does a does a does a good job.

758
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:37,799
Speaker 2: It's just not maybe not something I would seek out

759
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:49,160
Speaker 2: in isolation. All right, Well, let's go ahead and get

760
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 2: into the plot of Hercules in the Haunted World.

761
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,239
Speaker 3: All right, Well, I understand there are different cuts of

762
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,719
Speaker 3: the movie and that affects which opening you get, But

763
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:59,799
Speaker 3: the version I saw, I believe is the Italian cut,

764
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,560
Speaker 3: so I'm gonna start there. So we open on a

765
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:05,960
Speaker 3: mound of earth, surrounded by blue green fog and dead

766
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 3: gray trees. And on the mound there is a circle

767
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 3: of large stone figures that look only kind of vaguely

768
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,319
Speaker 3: human shaped, kind of like big wizards with beards, but

769
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:19,120
Speaker 3: we get to see them again later, and I'm not

770
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,040
Speaker 3: sure that's what they are. They might just be sort

771
00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 3: of like, you know, bubbly rippling stones. There is a

772
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 3: stone slab bench at the center of the green on

773
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:31,720
Speaker 3: top of this mound, and we get lightning flashing without sound,

774
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,960
Speaker 3: and instead there's just this eerie dissonant cord and reverby

775
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:39,200
Speaker 3: drum beats, and the camera pans and we see a

776
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,080
Speaker 3: woman lying down in the dirt on the edge of

777
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 3: the mound, wearing a sort of ancient Greek dress, and

778
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 3: she has blood on the side of her neck and

779
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,839
Speaker 3: she's sort of writhing in the dirt as if she's

780
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,839
Speaker 3: in pain. Then we pan up to see standing over her,

781
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 3: Christopher Lee, dressed like the way I was thinking of this.

782
00:41:57,280 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 3: He's dressed like kind of like a minnite Darth Vader,

783
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 3: like it's Vader but no helmet and no electronic parts

784
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,319
Speaker 3: and so and the Prince Valiant haircut, and he's got

785
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 3: the dark cloak and the studded black leather belt. This

786
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:13,880
Speaker 3: is not chrispher Lely's best look ever. I think it

787
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:17,799
Speaker 3: is certainly not his best haircut. But he begins to

788
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:22,720
Speaker 3: address a mass of figures. It's almost like he's talking

789
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 3: to a crowd of as symbol the zombies that are

790
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:29,439
Speaker 3: on this hillside above, who are mostly hidden in shadow,

791
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,839
Speaker 3: and the bits of their bodies that are illuminated are

792
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:35,319
Speaker 3: in like dark blue and green light. They're covered in

793
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:37,360
Speaker 3: these cloaks. Some of them look like they might be

794
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:41,120
Speaker 3: kind of like old long Beard type figures, and chrisp

795
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,680
Speaker 3: Rely says in Italian with the subtitles, the time shall

796
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 3: come when days shall turn tonight and night shall rule

797
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:51,800
Speaker 3: our lives. Their cries shall sound like music. The wailing

798
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 3: and screaming we hear now shall be songs that soothe us.

799
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:58,000
Speaker 3: The time shall come when the moon, devoured by the

800
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 3: great dragon, shall bring eternal darkness. I shall be the

801
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,520
Speaker 3: master of darkness and light. When the sun ravages the

802
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 3: earth and the rivers run dry, and every mortal soul

803
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:13,400
Speaker 3: freezes in death, then she'll evil triumph, the absolute master

804
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:15,240
Speaker 3: that she'll dominate the earth.

805
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:16,959
Speaker 2: All right, So we get a taste of it here,

806
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,440
Speaker 2: and we learn a little bit more later on. But basically,

807
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 2: Christopher Lee's character serves dark, nameless gods that may even

808
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 2: exist outside the Greco Roman pantheon I'm not sure, ye.

809
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 2: And he has powers over the undead and or alliances

810
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:35,760
Speaker 2: with the undead.

811
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's almost as if the setting is Greek mythology. Otherwise,

812
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 3: but Christopher Lee is a devotee of Satan.

813
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:49,040
Speaker 2: Really, like he walked out This character walked out of

814
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 2: a gothic horror film and into a Hercules movie.

815
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,800
Speaker 3: Out he's from Hammer Horror and he stepped into the peplum. Yeah,

816
00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,600
Speaker 3: And so we see black smoke pouring across a blue sky,

817
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:03,919
Speaker 3: and then there are these stone boxes that have these

818
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:07,000
Speaker 3: lids on them. We'll see them several times in the movie,

819
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,359
Speaker 3: and like the lids lift up and they have these

820
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,920
Speaker 3: slime soaked cobwebs that stretch like bubble gum between the

821
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,760
Speaker 3: lid and the boxes. It's a very gross looking, cool

822
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 3: physical effect. And these clawed, bony hands like reaching out

823
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 3: and touching the spider silk that holds the box lids

824
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,960
Speaker 3: to the boxes. And then we get the credits and

825
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,279
Speaker 3: come back on the action over like a rushing river

826
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,440
Speaker 3: and a waterfall, and here's Hercules standing over the waterfall

827
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:40,560
Speaker 3: cleaning his body with the strigel. Just a brief historical note.

828
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,839
Speaker 3: The strigil is a real historical artifact. It looks kind

829
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 3: of like a hooked metal shoehorn. It was used for

830
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:48,919
Speaker 3: hygiene in the ancient world. So if you go into

831
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,800
Speaker 3: a Roman bath, you might rub oil on your skin

832
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:54,399
Speaker 3: and then you would scrape the oil, along with any

833
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 3: accompanying dirt off of your skin with a strigel. It's

834
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,080
Speaker 3: kind of like a squeegee for the body.

835
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 2: I should also note I forget the name of these waterfalls,

836
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 2: but this is this is like a noted filming location

837
00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 2: in Italian cinema. And I think even today a lot

838
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:12,919
Speaker 2: of people get their like wedding photos taken here.

839
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:17,360
Speaker 3: Oh that's funny, wedding photos at the Herk fall. So

840
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 3: Hercules is when we first see him. He's like shown

841
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:21,960
Speaker 3: from below with the camera tilting up toward him, and

842
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 3: it's like climbing up the stream of the waterfall. And

843
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:27,919
Speaker 3: this does give him a very epic, postured good way

844
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:30,359
Speaker 3: to first meet him. He is, of course shirtless, and

845
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 3: his muscles are gigantic, and he calls out to his

846
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:37,960
Speaker 3: friend Theseus, and we cut to the loft of some

847
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 3: kind of open sided barn structure. It's like this open

848
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:45,040
Speaker 3: wooden loft covered in hay where Theseus is making out

849
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 3: with a gorgeous witch named Jocosta, and she is really

850
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:51,960
Speaker 3: into Theseus. She says, every time I kiss you, I

851
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 3: feel the earth trembling, the sky changes its color, taking

852
00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:58,360
Speaker 3: on the color of your kisses. So I think she

853
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:01,759
Speaker 3: likes him. And then and meanwhile just over the hill

854
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 3: there is a gang of nasty bandits and they are

855
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:08,520
Speaker 3: organizing an attack on Theseus and Hercules, but they don't

856
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,160
Speaker 3: know that the people they're supposed to attack are Theseus

857
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 3: and Hercules. They explain that a king has offered them

858
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 3: a lot of gold to kill two men. Whoever they are.

859
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:20,239
Speaker 3: Their names are not important, so they go and they

860
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,040
Speaker 3: say they're going to attack them one at a time.

861
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 3: They attack Theseus and Theseus begins to fight them off,

862
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:31,080
Speaker 3: and it's a very breezy, lighthearted, swashbuckling fighting styles, kind

863
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:33,680
Speaker 3: of Robin Hood, you know, swinging from the rafters to

864
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:36,520
Speaker 3: kick them out of the barn, and Jocosta helps by

865
00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:40,279
Speaker 3: tossing Theseus a log to use as a club. But then,

866
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:43,480
Speaker 3: finally to end the fight, Hercules arrives on the scene

867
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 3: and he lifts an entire wagon over his head and

868
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:51,040
Speaker 3: throws it into the barn, making the barn collapse. The

869
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:53,440
Speaker 3: effect looks very good. I watched this a couple of

870
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:56,399
Speaker 3: times and I'm still not quite sure how they accomplished it.

871
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:58,160
Speaker 2: There are a lot of effects like this in this

872
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:00,879
Speaker 2: movie where I'm not sure how they they pulled it off,

873
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:05,920
Speaker 2: but it looks really good as a tremendous job to

874
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:11,160
Speaker 2: hear by Baba and his crew. Everything that throws looks

875
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:12,720
Speaker 2: believable to my eyes.

876
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 3: Yeah. After this, of course, the bandits realize that their

877
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:19,399
Speaker 3: targets are Theseus and Hercules. If they had known that,

878
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 3: they never would have taken the job, so they run

879
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:25,960
Speaker 3: away in fear. I did notice some funny continuity errors here, like,

880
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:30,320
Speaker 3: for example, a Jocasta to escape the fighting, she jumps

881
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:32,799
Speaker 3: into a river, and then as soon as the bad

882
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 3: guys run away, she comes out of the water. And

883
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 3: then in the next shot she's bone dry, like completely,

884
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:39,479
Speaker 3: her hair and her clothes are totally dry.

885
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:40,400
Speaker 2: She's a witch.

886
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,880
Speaker 3: Oh, I guess it's magic. Yeah. So Theseus and Jocasta

887
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:48,360
Speaker 3: speculate that the attackers were probably hired by a wannabe

888
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:52,719
Speaker 3: suitor of Hercules's beloved dan Era, who's jealous of their

889
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:56,759
Speaker 3: upcoming marriage. And speaking of Hercules, who's just come off

890
00:47:56,800 --> 00:47:58,920
Speaker 3: some other adventure, he's ready to go to the palace

891
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:03,319
Speaker 3: and reunite with dan Era, his beloved, And so then

892
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:06,359
Speaker 3: we get a view of the city, and oh, man,

893
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 3: what an establishing shot. So when we first see the

894
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 3: city they're going to, I think it's called Acalea. It

895
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:17,799
Speaker 3: is a very moody and foreboding vision. It's Greek architecture

896
00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:21,239
Speaker 3: with columns and marble buildings nestled into the contours of

897
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 3: these rocky hills. But instead of the sunny Mediterranean weather

898
00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:28,240
Speaker 3: that you would usually see in like an ancient Greek movie,

899
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:32,520
Speaker 3: the buildings are surrounded by dark, swirling clouds, and the

900
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:35,439
Speaker 3: light from the sky is this mix of colors. It's

901
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:38,800
Speaker 3: blood red from the west, royal blue from the east,

902
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:41,760
Speaker 3: and they're mixing so that the light over the palace

903
00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:46,520
Speaker 3: is pink and purple, and it's it's beautiful and unsettling.

904
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,680
Speaker 3: And I love the way that the just the use

905
00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:53,160
Speaker 3: of color like this bold, sort of unashamed use of

906
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 3: color just fills the movie with emotions.

907
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and it's a it's a great sign of

908
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:02,239
Speaker 2: things to come. While the previous action scene was very

909
00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:06,239
Speaker 2: much set outside in the real world, we are going

910
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:11,879
Speaker 2: to progressively be dealing with surreal landscapes and interiors and

911
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 2: more to the point, from the filmmaking standpoint, sets that

912
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:17,839
Speaker 2: Baba has one hundred control over.

913
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,520
Speaker 3: That's right. So inside the palace we once again meet

914
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 3: Christopher Lee. Now he is seated on a kingly throne

915
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 3: on a raised red pedestal, and he's surrounded by hop

916
00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:29,120
Speaker 3: lights with spears and shields. And down below the king,

917
00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 3: groveling on his knees, is the leader of the bandits

918
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,120
Speaker 3: who we saw attacking our heroes earlier, and Christopher Lee

919
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:37,800
Speaker 3: is chewing him out real good. He failed in his mission.

920
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 3: He's no good. And the guy tries to explain, but

921
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:43,319
Speaker 3: the king orders him to be quiet, and then he

922
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:46,480
Speaker 3: leads the bandit chief back into another chamber and locks

923
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:49,399
Speaker 3: the door behind them, and then the king is like,

924
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:51,920
Speaker 3: even though he was just chewing him out for failing,

925
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,759
Speaker 3: he's like, you deserve a reward. Look over there at

926
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:58,080
Speaker 3: that suspicious pile of gold treasures and trinkets surrounded by

927
00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:00,919
Speaker 3: green light. Go and get your wages that stash while

928
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:05,000
Speaker 3: I stand back over here. And so the guy's like,

929
00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:07,160
Speaker 3: oh goodie, I'm gonna get some gold. And so he

930
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:09,759
Speaker 3: goes up to the pile and then Christopher Lee like

931
00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,120
Speaker 3: presses a button that triggers a spear trap that that

932
00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 3: gets the guy, and the bandit chief just kind of

933
00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 3: spits out blood and slumps over. He doesn't really scream

934
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 3: or anything.

935
00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:22,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's a good trap. It kills instantly,

936
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:23,720
Speaker 2: there's no time for the scream.

937
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 3: Then we follow King Leco as he goes down a

938
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 3: secret passage into an underground cavern which seems full of

939
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:33,319
Speaker 3: evil occult magic, and he stands in front of a

940
00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:36,280
Speaker 3: bunch of those stone boxes we saw earlier, and he says,

941
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 3: dan Era, that's, of course, the name of the woman

942
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:42,000
Speaker 3: who's going to marry Hercules. And slowly one of the

943
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,960
Speaker 3: stone boxes opens and a blonde woman in a white

944
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:47,960
Speaker 3: gown rises out of it like Dracula. Like her body

945
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,560
Speaker 3: is rigid, it's straight as a plank, and it sort

946
00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:54,680
Speaker 3: of levers up from this otherworldly slumber. And then she

947
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:58,240
Speaker 3: approaches King Leco like she's sleepwalking, but her eyes are open.

948
00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:01,120
Speaker 3: She's in some kind of trance. In the next scene,

949
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:04,879
Speaker 3: Hercules comes into the city and he's greeted by adoring fans.

950
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:08,920
Speaker 3: He's like the beatles of ancient Greece. Everybody's swarming around him, screaming,

951
00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:11,839
Speaker 3: happy to see him. And he meets this old guy.

952
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:15,480
Speaker 3: I think the guy's name is Caros. I think he's

953
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,840
Speaker 3: some friend of his, and Karos explains the situation. He says,

954
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:22,320
Speaker 3: dan Era, the princess should have become queen and ascended

955
00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:25,840
Speaker 3: to the throne, but she hasn't because there's something wrong

956
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:28,120
Speaker 3: with her. No one can see her, and she's confined

957
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:31,520
Speaker 3: to a secluded wing of the palace, and so Hercules

958
00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:33,319
Speaker 3: has to go figure out what's going on, and he

959
00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:36,120
Speaker 3: goes into the palace and meets with King Leko, who

960
00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:39,799
Speaker 3: is Danira's uncle who has been reigning while she is

961
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 3: not capable. And it's a very awesome looking throne room scene,

962
00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:46,320
Speaker 3: by the way, it's sort of like open to this blue, pink,

963
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:50,680
Speaker 3: purple sky, has these red columns and flaming braziers everywhere,

964
00:51:50,719 --> 00:51:53,680
Speaker 3: and it's like a long, deep room. Very cool.

965
00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:58,480
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah. So many of the stills from this movie,

966
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,200
Speaker 2: like other Bob still like it looks like you could

967
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:04,319
Speaker 2: lick them and get the various candy flavors out of it.

968
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,800
Speaker 3: You know, Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Yeah.

969
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:11,240
Speaker 3: So Leko explains the situation and says, you know, she's

970
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:13,719
Speaker 3: there's something wrong with her, she's been ill, and I've

971
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 3: been protecting her. I've been keeping her away from public

972
00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:19,520
Speaker 3: view until she is healed. So Hercules goes to the

973
00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:22,040
Speaker 3: garden to see her and This is the creepy scene

974
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 3: I was talking about earlier, where she's standing there staring

975
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:28,240
Speaker 3: at a fountain, looking like she's in a trance, muttering

976
00:52:28,239 --> 00:52:30,520
Speaker 3: about how she will never see the man she loves again,

977
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:33,840
Speaker 3: and Hercules is standing right there, but she's talking in

978
00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:36,839
Speaker 3: a dreamy voice that and saying she must be imagining him,

979
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 3: he no longer exists. And she says, my love is

980
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:42,120
Speaker 3: dead in the deep sea, and never again while I

981
00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 3: see my love, never to see my love again and again.

982
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:49,240
Speaker 3: The spaced out performance is really great here, very spooky,

983
00:52:49,840 --> 00:52:51,920
Speaker 3: and it's sort of shot from a distance as she

984
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,720
Speaker 3: wanders away repeating these melancholy lines.

985
00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty great. And I have to say the

986
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 2: previous scene is one of multiple scenes in the film

987
00:53:01,719 --> 00:53:06,600
Speaker 2: where Hercules interacts with Leco and is like and afterwards

988
00:53:06,719 --> 00:53:09,080
Speaker 2: is like, yep, that checks out, you know, obvious villain

989
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:12,040
Speaker 2: Christopher Lee. Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. I'm glad you're

990
00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:14,520
Speaker 2: on it, sir. I'm going to go onto my next mission.

991
00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:18,640
Speaker 3: Christopher Lee in the Prince Valiant haircut, within the dark cloak,

992
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:21,759
Speaker 3: surrounded by the soldiers. He's the stand up guy. I

993
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:25,440
Speaker 3: believe everything he just said. So Hercules meets again with

994
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:27,960
Speaker 3: his friend of Kiros, who says something is wrong in

995
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:31,160
Speaker 3: the land. It's not just dan Era. Evil mists have

996
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:34,040
Speaker 3: come down from the mountains and poisoned the air. People

997
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:36,360
Speaker 3: hide in their homes and feel that a terror is

998
00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:40,160
Speaker 3: upon them. And Danira's madness is not ordinary. There is

999
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:43,240
Speaker 3: some wicked force behind it, and it's the same force

1000
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:47,040
Speaker 3: that is oppressing Acalea. And he more or less sys like,

1001
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:49,560
Speaker 3: your mission, Hercules, should you choose to accept it as

1002
00:53:49,640 --> 00:53:52,520
Speaker 3: to save Danira and Achala from this evil force?

1003
00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:55,080
Speaker 2: And of course he's gonna accept He's that's the kind

1004
00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:57,880
Speaker 2: of stand up guy Hercules.

1005
00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:59,640
Speaker 3: Is, of course. Oh and then this feels kind of, uh,

1006
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:02,839
Speaker 3: I don't know, kind of superfluous. But then Hercules goes

1007
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 3: back to this same guy's room later that night, and oh,

1008
00:54:05,719 --> 00:54:07,600
Speaker 3: there he is. He's been murdered. Who did this?

1009
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:10,120
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he was gonna get more details, right, He's like,

1010
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:13,200
Speaker 2: I can't talk to you too much here, but come

1011
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:15,399
Speaker 2: back to my place where it's safe. He shows up

1012
00:54:15,680 --> 00:54:16,600
Speaker 2: and of course dude is.

1013
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:18,600
Speaker 3: Dead, right, And Christopher Lee is there, but.

1014
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:21,399
Speaker 2: He like walk He's like in the hallway behind.

1015
00:54:21,480 --> 00:54:22,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's lurking.

1016
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:25,320
Speaker 2: And then Hercules is like, oh good.

1017
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:31,239
Speaker 3: You're yes, yeah, So he comes in and starts explaining

1018
00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:34,520
Speaker 3: things to Hercules. He's like, you know, long ago, before

1019
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,320
Speaker 3: dan Era's father took the throne, the forces of evil

1020
00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:40,959
Speaker 3: reigned in this land. But dan Eur's father or maybe

1021
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:44,520
Speaker 3: her grandfather, I don't remember, which banished those evil spirits

1022
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:47,920
Speaker 3: to Hades, the land of the dead. And now they

1023
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:50,319
Speaker 3: have put the spirits have put a curse over the land.

1024
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:53,000
Speaker 3: The curse will only be lifted once the royal line

1025
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:55,880
Speaker 3: is destroyed. And Hercules is like, there must be some

1026
00:54:55,920 --> 00:54:58,880
Speaker 3: way to fight them, And Leko is like, are there

1027
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:03,200
Speaker 3: ways of fighting against shadows, against wind, against bolts of lightning?

1028
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:06,440
Speaker 3: Can one fight the raging storms that batter the earth?

1029
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:09,640
Speaker 3: And Hercules says, I know what to do. I'm gonna

1030
00:55:09,680 --> 00:55:13,040
Speaker 3: ask the gods for a weapon to fight the evil. Thanks, Leko,

1031
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:15,840
Speaker 3: You've been a big help. So he's gonna go consult

1032
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,839
Speaker 3: the Sybil, the you know, the oracle send who can

1033
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:22,400
Speaker 3: get messages from the gods to him. Now, this is

1034
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:27,239
Speaker 3: another wonderful set and composition. Here the Sybil I think

1035
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 3: the character is named Medea, is sitting at the end

1036
00:55:30,080 --> 00:55:33,440
Speaker 3: of a clear still reflecting pool, surrounded by fires and

1037
00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:37,359
Speaker 3: braziers with a kaleidoscope of colored lights falling over her.

1038
00:55:37,560 --> 00:55:40,759
Speaker 3: She's got green, red, and blue lights on her. She's

1039
00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:44,279
Speaker 3: in this spider like posture that's very creepy, and she's

1040
00:55:44,320 --> 00:55:46,880
Speaker 3: wearing a white mask over her face, with a frowning

1041
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:50,759
Speaker 3: mouth and closed eyes. And the Sybil tells him that

1042
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:53,680
Speaker 3: the forces of evil have bound her to silence and

1043
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:56,840
Speaker 3: she cannot speak of this subject. But Hercules is like,

1044
00:55:56,960 --> 00:55:59,360
Speaker 3: you gotta help me, and so he ends up praying

1045
00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:02,520
Speaker 3: to Zeus, remember Zeus as Hercules' father. He's like, Dad,

1046
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:06,160
Speaker 3: help me, And so he says he will offer up

1047
00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:09,680
Speaker 3: his immortality in exchange for help with this quest, my

1048
00:56:09,840 --> 00:56:13,319
Speaker 3: life for dan Erez. Let the Sybil speak, and it

1049
00:56:13,360 --> 00:56:16,680
Speaker 3: seems like this works. The sybyl asks if he is

1050
00:56:16,719 --> 00:56:19,280
Speaker 3: willing to go into the underworld, and you can almost

1051
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:21,960
Speaker 3: kind of hear Hercules gulp. Here he says, no man

1052
00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:24,960
Speaker 3: has ever gone there and come back. But she says,

1053
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:27,800
Speaker 3: a stone is shining in the depths of the earth,

1054
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:31,560
Speaker 3: far beyond the garden of the Hesperides, a stone hidden

1055
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:35,080
Speaker 3: in the river sticks. Only there where death dwells can

1056
00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 3: be found. Life for your woman and then lightning flashes,

1057
00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:42,040
Speaker 3: and she says, thus, has Zeus spoken through me? So

1058
00:56:42,160 --> 00:56:43,440
Speaker 3: it seems like we have our quest.

1059
00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:45,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got to go to the underworld get a

1060
00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:47,960
Speaker 2: special stone and bring it back out again.

1061
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:51,879
Speaker 3: Not the most earthshakingly new type of story. He's got

1062
00:56:51,880 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 3: to go get a magical item from the underworld. We

1063
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:57,359
Speaker 3: may have heard one like this before, but you know what,

1064
00:56:57,520 --> 00:56:59,640
Speaker 3: it's a classic for a reason.

1065
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:08,560
Speaker 2: Is Yeah.

1066
00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:11,960
Speaker 3: So now it's time for Hercules to gather allies. Of course,

1067
00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:15,680
Speaker 3: he's gonna take his hunky best friend theseus along, maybe

1068
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:18,080
Speaker 3: in case they need to win any beauty contests along

1069
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:20,920
Speaker 3: the way. But he also ends up taking a weird,

1070
00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:26,000
Speaker 3: cowardly little guy named Telemachus for comic relief purposes. If

1071
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:29,280
Speaker 3: Hercules is El Santo, Telemachus is his Perry co.

1072
00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:34,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Telemachus is legitimately funny throughout most of the picture. Like,

1073
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:37,919
Speaker 2: I am glad he came along on this adventure. He's

1074
00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:41,160
Speaker 2: It's an over the top performance, but not not too

1075
00:57:41,200 --> 00:57:43,000
Speaker 2: over the top. I don't know if it felt like

1076
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:44,040
Speaker 2: the right balance for me.

1077
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:47,440
Speaker 3: I can easily imagine a similar Italian movie like this

1078
00:57:47,600 --> 00:57:51,240
Speaker 3: going way overboard with the silliness of this character.

1079
00:57:51,680 --> 00:57:54,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, the actor here, I think, has he reminded me

1080
00:57:54,480 --> 00:57:56,000
Speaker 2: a little bit of Rowan Atkinson.

1081
00:57:56,520 --> 00:57:57,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's mister Bean.

1082
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:00,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a little bit of mister Bean to the perform.

1083
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:04,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's some slight bullying by Herk, but it's kind

1084
00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:07,640
Speaker 3: of good natured. He like, at one point, Telemachus is like,

1085
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:09,840
Speaker 3: I'm guarding the bridge. I can't let you go see

1086
00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:13,880
Speaker 3: Theseus because he and he and Jocosta are making out,

1087
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:17,520
Speaker 3: and Hercules is like, I'm his friend, and Telemachus won't move,

1088
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:20,080
Speaker 3: so Hercules kind of lifts him up by his hair

1089
00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:22,320
Speaker 3: to get him out of the way. But it's it

1090
00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:24,880
Speaker 3: seems to be good natured, like he he also protects

1091
00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:26,040
Speaker 3: Telemachus later.

1092
00:58:26,040 --> 00:58:29,960
Speaker 2: And I guess Telemachus helps out like he basically comes

1093
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:33,000
Speaker 2: around along because he wants to come along and you know,

1094
00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:35,240
Speaker 2: more importantly to be comic relief for the film.

1095
00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:39,640
Speaker 3: So yeah, Theseus is busy kissing Jocosta when Hirk shows up,

1096
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:42,000
Speaker 3: and Herk is like, hey, get your weapons, it's time

1097
00:58:42,040 --> 00:58:44,400
Speaker 3: for an adventure, and Theseus is like, oh great, I

1098
00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:48,600
Speaker 3: was getting bored, and Jocosta only looks a little bit offended,

1099
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:53,200
Speaker 3: and so you know, they're they're gonna they decide they

1100
00:58:53,200 --> 00:58:54,760
Speaker 3: need to get a ship because they're gonna have to

1101
00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:57,360
Speaker 3: travel across the sea. They have to get a golden

1102
00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:00,400
Speaker 3: apple from the Garden of the Hesperides, which is the

1103
00:59:00,400 --> 00:59:03,440
Speaker 3: only way they can get to the underworld alive. And

1104
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:05,920
Speaker 3: the Garden of the Hesperites is at the edge of

1105
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:09,000
Speaker 3: the Kingdom of Eternal Night, where the sun never rises.

1106
00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:12,640
Speaker 3: And then Theseus is like, oh, the Hesperites they're all women,

1107
00:59:12,760 --> 00:59:15,160
Speaker 3: aren't they. I should not have any trouble getting them

1108
00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:17,439
Speaker 3: to give us what we need. And then we cut

1109
00:59:17,440 --> 00:59:24,240
Speaker 3: to Jocosta looking skeptical, but Telemachus tells herk and Theseus that, oh,

1110
00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:28,680
Speaker 3: I know this guy Sunnis who can let us borrow

1111
00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:31,080
Speaker 3: a ship. I'll convince him to let us borrow his ship,

1112
00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:34,800
Speaker 3: and then cut immediately to that not working out so well.

1113
00:59:34,960 --> 00:59:38,200
Speaker 3: Soon he's like a big guy in red with an axe,

1114
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:40,960
Speaker 3: and he's like, got Telemachus tied up to these teams

1115
00:59:40,960 --> 00:59:42,080
Speaker 3: of horses.

1116
00:59:42,040 --> 00:59:46,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, about to pull him in half. It's legitimately hilarious

1117
00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:48,520
Speaker 2: cut here because he's like, I got it taken care of.

1118
00:59:48,880 --> 00:59:50,479
Speaker 2: Oh I'm about to be pulled in half.

1119
00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:53,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, So like the horses. I don't, he explains, like,

1120
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:56,360
Speaker 3: I'll let you borrow my ship if you survived the

1121
00:59:56,440 --> 00:59:57,560
Speaker 3: test of my horses.

1122
00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:00,360
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1123
01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:03,760
Speaker 3: But then his muscly friends come to the rescue. Hercules

1124
01:00:03,800 --> 01:00:06,560
Speaker 3: comes in and like grabs hold of the ropes that

1125
01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:09,080
Speaker 3: are holding the horses, and so he just with his

1126
01:00:09,160 --> 01:00:13,480
Speaker 3: muscles holds them together until they can free Telemachus. Meanwhile,

1127
01:00:13,520 --> 01:00:17,520
Speaker 3: theseus goes and fights Sooness on the beach. Our heroes

1128
01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:20,360
Speaker 3: prevail and they take the ship, while Sooness runs off

1129
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:24,360
Speaker 3: after his horses. So our three adventurers journey across the

1130
01:00:24,360 --> 01:00:28,320
Speaker 3: ocean to the domain of the Hesperides, and the lighting

1131
01:00:28,400 --> 01:00:31,280
Speaker 3: on this sea voyage is once again insane. There's like

1132
01:00:31,480 --> 01:00:34,640
Speaker 3: swirling mist in the sky, black clouds, a red sky.

1133
01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:39,520
Speaker 3: The heroes somehow all become magically sedated and they fall

1134
01:00:39,560 --> 01:00:43,080
Speaker 3: irresistibly into sleep while they're traveling over the ocean, and

1135
01:00:43,240 --> 01:00:45,880
Speaker 3: this dark cloud comes up over them, and the ocean

1136
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:49,440
Speaker 3: opens up and reveals a deep passage and realms below,

1137
01:00:49,800 --> 01:00:52,480
Speaker 3: and when they wake up, they are somehow transported off

1138
01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:54,960
Speaker 3: their ship into a cave where mist sits over the

1139
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:58,400
Speaker 3: floor and these shadowy women are watching them while they sleep,

1140
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,600
Speaker 3: So they wake up and they're greeted by an agent

1141
01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:06,960
Speaker 3: of the Hesperides who says that they're Queen Arethusa wants

1142
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:10,479
Speaker 3: to meet with them. I like the Hysparites costumes. They're

1143
01:01:10,560 --> 01:01:13,800
Speaker 3: like just sashes upon sashes, like you made if you

1144
01:01:13,840 --> 01:01:16,720
Speaker 3: made a whole dress out of like fifty silk scarves.

1145
01:01:17,240 --> 01:01:20,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, this, by the way, is Marisa Belly, who lived

1146
01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:22,520
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty three through twenty seventeen.

1147
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:27,080
Speaker 3: Queen Rthusa, yes, yeah, and so Hercules greets her courteously.

1148
01:01:27,240 --> 01:01:30,280
Speaker 3: He's he's a gentleman and a gracious guest. But Queen

1149
01:01:30,400 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 3: Rthusa already knows of him and knows why he has come.

1150
01:01:33,520 --> 01:01:36,200
Speaker 3: She says she's willing to help, but she issues a warning.

1151
01:01:36,520 --> 01:01:38,840
Speaker 3: He can attempt to claim the apple, but it's all

1152
01:01:38,920 --> 01:01:41,520
Speaker 3: or nothing. If he goes after the fruit and fails,

1153
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:45,200
Speaker 3: he will die. And of course, you know, her accepts

1154
01:01:45,200 --> 01:01:47,880
Speaker 3: he's not afraid, so she tells him where to find it.

1155
01:01:47,880 --> 01:01:49,960
Speaker 3: It's in a sacred tree, far from the eyes of

1156
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:52,880
Speaker 3: any greedy soul. So we go there, and our heroes

1157
01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:58,080
Speaker 3: are sort of separated here that the Hesperites tell Telemachus

1158
01:01:58,120 --> 01:02:01,480
Speaker 3: and theseus that like, oh, here are some beds for

1159
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:03,720
Speaker 3: you to sleep on while Hercules is getting the apple.

1160
01:02:03,800 --> 01:02:06,160
Speaker 3: You just stay here on these beds, and they're like okay.

1161
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:11,360
Speaker 3: And then Hercules goes to this tangled, tangled tree with

1162
01:02:11,400 --> 01:02:14,600
Speaker 3: these big exposed roots, this bathed in blue light. The

1163
01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 3: set is very eerie and the music matches with these

1164
01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:21,200
Speaker 3: low wobbling woodwinds. And the queen goes with him to

1165
01:02:21,240 --> 01:02:23,600
Speaker 3: the base of the tree and you know, tells him

1166
01:02:23,600 --> 01:02:26,680
Speaker 3: good luck, and Hercules climbs and climbs, but he encounters trouble.

1167
01:02:26,720 --> 01:02:29,479
Speaker 3: They're like tangled branches, thorns, and then when he gets

1168
01:02:29,560 --> 01:02:32,800
Speaker 3: very high, there's lightning and thunder and wind whipping at him,

1169
01:02:33,160 --> 01:02:35,479
Speaker 3: and at one point he falls, but he catches hold

1170
01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:38,680
Speaker 3: of a lower branch. There's like fire pouring out of

1171
01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:40,960
Speaker 3: the upper branches at him, Like I guess maybe they

1172
01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:42,040
Speaker 3: were struck by lightning.

1173
01:02:42,440 --> 01:02:45,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So it's quickly becoming obvious that this tree

1174
01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:47,080
Speaker 2: is just inaccessible to climbing.

1175
01:02:47,240 --> 01:02:49,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, he can't get up to the apple by climbing it,

1176
01:02:50,160 --> 01:02:52,400
Speaker 3: but he's going to think outside the box. So he

1177
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:54,840
Speaker 3: comes back down to the base of the tree and

1178
01:02:54,880 --> 01:02:58,320
Speaker 3: he gets a boulder he like puts it in a

1179
01:02:58,400 --> 01:03:01,200
Speaker 3: sling made out of the ropes tying some horses, and

1180
01:03:01,240 --> 01:03:04,040
Speaker 3: he like throws the boulder at the tree and a

1181
01:03:04,080 --> 01:03:06,320
Speaker 3: branch falls and it has the apple on it. He

1182
01:03:06,360 --> 01:03:11,400
Speaker 3: claims the apple clutches. The apple great solution. Meanwhile, elsewhere,

1183
01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:15,160
Speaker 3: Theseus and Telemachus are sleeping in their designated cave on

1184
01:03:15,200 --> 01:03:18,560
Speaker 3: the on the iron beds that the Hesperities led them to.

1185
01:03:19,160 --> 01:03:21,840
Speaker 3: And uh oh, a monster that looks like it's made

1186
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:25,200
Speaker 3: out of iron rail spikes and filthy rags comes out,

1187
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:27,640
Speaker 3: and then Theseus wakes up and tries to hit it

1188
01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:29,960
Speaker 3: with a sword, but it's clear that that's not doing anything.

1189
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:32,960
Speaker 3: This monster is hard as a rock, or maybe even

1190
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:35,160
Speaker 3: made of rocks. I think maybe made of rocks.

1191
01:03:35,600 --> 01:03:38,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's like it's kind of like a stone

1192
01:03:38,120 --> 01:03:38,960
Speaker 2: column or something.

1193
01:03:39,320 --> 01:03:41,800
Speaker 3: I love this monster design. He looks like he's having

1194
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:45,440
Speaker 3: a bad day, like his mouth is hanging open in anguish.

1195
01:03:45,560 --> 01:03:47,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, who's sleeping on my slabs?

1196
01:03:49,120 --> 01:03:53,280
Speaker 3: So we cut away from that to Herk and Arthusa

1197
01:03:53,720 --> 01:03:56,320
Speaker 3: now in a happy, sunny garden instead of a gloomy,

1198
01:03:56,360 --> 01:04:00,760
Speaker 3: cursed one, and Arthusa explains that the Hesperites were cursed

1199
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:03,840
Speaker 3: by Pluto to live in darkness, but they were originally

1200
01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:06,080
Speaker 3: daughters of the Sun, and now that they've been freed

1201
01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:08,880
Speaker 3: from the curse by Herk's retrieval of the apple, they

1202
01:04:08,920 --> 01:04:11,880
Speaker 3: can return to the Sun. And she also reveals that

1203
01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:14,680
Speaker 3: all this time, while they've been cursed by Pluto, they

1204
01:04:14,680 --> 01:04:17,680
Speaker 3: have been forced to kill you. See, they have been

1205
01:04:17,760 --> 01:04:22,160
Speaker 3: slaves of Procrustes. Procrustes was a figure who was like,

1206
01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:26,160
Speaker 3: I think, a bandit in Greek mythology. Who's the story

1207
01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:28,520
Speaker 3: is that he had these like iron beds, and he

1208
01:04:28,960 --> 01:04:31,680
Speaker 3: if you weren't the same size as the iron bed

1209
01:04:31,720 --> 01:04:34,120
Speaker 3: that he puts you on, he would either crush you

1210
01:04:34,320 --> 01:04:37,160
Speaker 3: or stretch you to make you fit on the iron bed.

1211
01:04:37,560 --> 01:04:40,760
Speaker 2: Oh well, that explains the scene that's about to happen here.

1212
01:04:40,880 --> 01:04:45,440
Speaker 3: Yes, so Arethusa apologizes to her. She's like, I'm sorry

1213
01:04:45,480 --> 01:04:48,480
Speaker 3: your friends, Theseus and Telemachus, they had to be the

1214
01:04:48,560 --> 01:04:53,400
Speaker 3: last sacrifices we were giving to Procrustes. But she says,

1215
01:04:53,440 --> 01:04:56,400
Speaker 3: if you destroy Procrustes, the gates of the underworld will

1216
01:04:56,440 --> 01:04:59,880
Speaker 3: open for you. And Herk of course, rushes to protect

1217
01:05:00,040 --> 01:05:05,240
Speaker 3: his friends. We see the monster like explaining to theseus

1218
01:05:05,240 --> 01:05:07,400
Speaker 3: that he needs to stretch him out until he's the

1219
01:05:07,480 --> 01:05:10,200
Speaker 3: exact size of his iron bed. He says, you will

1220
01:05:10,240 --> 01:05:12,800
Speaker 3: be as thin as the ropes that bind you. Then

1221
01:05:12,920 --> 01:05:14,760
Speaker 3: I will tie you in a knot that no one

1222
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:19,200
Speaker 3: can untie. But then Hercules runs in and he's I think,

1223
01:05:19,240 --> 01:05:22,520
Speaker 3: he says, of stone, you are made only by stone?

1224
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:25,480
Speaker 3: Can you be unmade? And he lifts him up and

1225
01:05:25,720 --> 01:05:28,880
Speaker 3: throws him into the wall, and like every like all

1226
01:05:28,880 --> 01:05:31,760
Speaker 3: these rocks just crumble, so like for Krusty's breaks apart

1227
01:05:31,760 --> 01:05:34,520
Speaker 3: into pieces, and the wall crumbles and it reveals the

1228
01:05:34,560 --> 01:05:37,560
Speaker 3: gate to the underworld. Very funny, by the way.

1229
01:05:38,720 --> 01:05:42,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, but also really really cool, like it is like

1230
01:05:42,280 --> 01:05:46,840
Speaker 2: the gates of the underworld are opening, and in descended

1231
01:05:46,840 --> 01:05:49,080
Speaker 2: from Hercules. The author points out that, like there's a

1232
01:05:49,120 --> 01:05:52,760
Speaker 2: lot of like rock imagery with Hercules in these films.

1233
01:05:52,800 --> 01:05:55,800
Speaker 2: Like Hercules is of course always throwing rocks, He's always

1234
01:05:55,800 --> 01:05:59,400
Speaker 2: being strapped to rocks. He's battling creatures made of rocks,

1235
01:05:59,680 --> 01:06:03,720
Speaker 2: and his physiology is very rock like as well.

1236
01:06:04,200 --> 01:06:08,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think they leave Telemachus behind, but Hercules

1237
01:06:08,640 --> 01:06:12,280
Speaker 3: and theseus they go on through the underworld. They encounter

1238
01:06:12,320 --> 01:06:15,040
Speaker 3: some illusions as they go. There's like a vision of

1239
01:06:15,080 --> 01:06:18,800
Speaker 3: a beautiful woman chain to a rock and she's not real.

1240
01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:21,200
Speaker 3: It's like an illusion to trick them. And there's a

1241
01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:24,200
Speaker 3: vision of like a valley of flames and that's not real.

1242
01:06:24,240 --> 01:06:26,720
Speaker 3: It's actually just water. And then there are all these

1243
01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:28,720
Speaker 3: vines that they have to cut their way through, and

1244
01:06:28,760 --> 01:06:31,160
Speaker 3: when they cut the vines, they hear these screams and

1245
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:34,040
Speaker 3: the vines bleed blood, so they're like human vines.

1246
01:06:34,800 --> 01:06:35,040
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1247
01:06:35,240 --> 01:06:39,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, But eventually they come across a shining stone in

1248
01:06:39,240 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 3: the distance and Herk says, that is the stone that

1249
01:06:42,880 --> 01:06:45,800
Speaker 3: could save Dayanira's life. It seems you could just reach

1250
01:06:45,840 --> 01:06:49,040
Speaker 3: out and take it, but the boiling lava makes it difficult.

1251
01:06:50,600 --> 01:06:52,920
Speaker 3: So they've got to get over the lava somehow. How

1252
01:06:52,920 --> 01:06:54,800
Speaker 3: are they going to do that? Well, they come up

1253
01:06:54,840 --> 01:06:58,440
Speaker 3: with an idea. We're gonna throw a rock. Yep Hercules

1254
01:06:58,800 --> 01:07:02,120
Speaker 3: he ties some of the the screaming vines by the way,

1255
01:07:02,160 --> 01:07:04,160
Speaker 3: which are like screaming as he cuts more of them

1256
01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:06,680
Speaker 3: to the rock, and then he throws the rock and

1257
01:07:06,720 --> 01:07:08,520
Speaker 3: this creates like a I don't know what you call this.

1258
01:07:08,560 --> 01:07:10,800
Speaker 3: I was one to say zipline, but they're not ziplining,

1259
01:07:10,880 --> 01:07:13,680
Speaker 3: like like a rope across the chasm over the lava.

1260
01:07:13,760 --> 01:07:15,600
Speaker 3: That they can climb to cross it.

1261
01:07:15,680 --> 01:07:18,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're gonna have to sort of like monkey across it,

1262
01:07:18,040 --> 01:07:18,680
Speaker 2: I guess, you know.

1263
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:21,640
Speaker 3: Yeah. So there's a long climbing over the lava scene

1264
01:07:21,680 --> 01:07:24,880
Speaker 3: and then oh, Theseus falls and he sinks into the lava,

1265
01:07:25,040 --> 01:07:27,880
Speaker 3: our beloved hunk. You think he's dead for a moment.

1266
01:07:27,800 --> 01:07:30,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, my jaw dropped. I was like, oh my goodness,

1267
01:07:30,080 --> 01:07:31,080
Speaker 2: we lost him, you know.

1268
01:07:31,280 --> 01:07:32,320
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it.

1269
01:07:32,440 --> 01:07:35,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it becomes then I'm like, he's probably

1270
01:07:35,200 --> 01:07:38,200
Speaker 2: coming back. Right, this is a place full of illusion.

1271
01:07:38,120 --> 01:07:40,600
Speaker 3: Right, this is not the end for Theseus. He suddenly

1272
01:07:40,600 --> 01:07:44,320
Speaker 3: appears elsewhere, unconscious in a cave with a woman we

1273
01:07:44,360 --> 01:07:48,160
Speaker 3: have previously not met, caressing his face, and she introduces

1274
01:07:48,160 --> 01:07:50,960
Speaker 3: herself as one of the shadows of the underworld. There's

1275
01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:54,880
Speaker 3: some ambiguity like are she and theseus dead or alive?

1276
01:07:56,000 --> 01:07:59,760
Speaker 3: But anyway, within about five lines of dialogue, Theseus is legit.

1277
01:08:00,440 --> 01:08:02,640
Speaker 3: You're the love of my life. I will never leave you.

1278
01:08:03,520 --> 01:08:06,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's uncertain at least at first, whether this

1279
01:08:06,600 --> 01:08:10,520
Speaker 2: is magic or this is like literally every relationship he

1280
01:08:10,560 --> 01:08:14,480
Speaker 2: has with a woman, like one minute in head over

1281
01:08:14,520 --> 01:08:15,120
Speaker 2: Heels in love.

1282
01:08:15,480 --> 01:08:17,800
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, Hirk is getting the magic stone, he sort of

1283
01:08:17,840 --> 01:08:21,479
Speaker 3: has to like bash it out of an incrustation, and

1284
01:08:21,520 --> 01:08:23,800
Speaker 3: then he's just wandering back to the ship with the

1285
01:08:23,840 --> 01:08:26,480
Speaker 3: magic stone that he got and he runs into Telemachus

1286
01:08:26,520 --> 01:08:29,200
Speaker 3: and he's like, Theseus is dead. The lava of Haiti

1287
01:08:29,280 --> 01:08:32,120
Speaker 3: swallowed him. And then Theseus jumps out from behind a

1288
01:08:32,200 --> 01:08:34,920
Speaker 3: rock and he's he says, actually, I'm fine, and Herk's like,

1289
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:35,479
Speaker 3: oh cool.

1290
01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:39,240
Speaker 2: I thought this was going to be an illusion at first,

1291
01:08:39,320 --> 01:08:41,840
Speaker 2: because I thought Telemachus was back on the ship and

1292
01:08:41,960 --> 01:08:44,720
Speaker 2: wasn't coming in, and I wasn't sure what was going

1293
01:08:44,760 --> 01:08:46,720
Speaker 2: on with Theseus, and I was like, oh goodness, he's

1294
01:08:46,720 --> 01:08:49,519
Speaker 2: about to be led astray and have to kill another monster.

1295
01:08:49,600 --> 01:08:51,840
Speaker 2: But no, they were just legitimately like it's time to go, Hirk,

1296
01:08:51,880 --> 01:08:52,600
Speaker 2: let's go, and they do.

1297
01:08:52,960 --> 01:08:55,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a little bit lucy goosey plotting at this part,

1298
01:08:56,560 --> 01:08:57,960
Speaker 3: But so they all go back to the ship and

1299
01:08:57,960 --> 01:09:02,320
Speaker 3: they're sailing home and Theseus has brought along a stowaway.

1300
01:09:02,360 --> 01:09:05,479
Speaker 3: It's his dream woman from hell. She is riding in

1301
01:09:05,479 --> 01:09:09,280
Speaker 3: the cargo hold of the ship. Even though they talk

1302
01:09:09,320 --> 01:09:12,280
Speaker 3: about how she knows that Hercules would have said, no,

1303
01:09:12,479 --> 01:09:15,680
Speaker 3: you can't take someone from Hades with you back with you,

1304
01:09:15,800 --> 01:09:20,160
Speaker 3: but theseus hides it from Hercules. So Storm comes up

1305
01:09:20,240 --> 01:09:25,599
Speaker 3: and Theseus goes down to talk to this woman from Hades,

1306
01:09:25,880 --> 01:09:28,200
Speaker 3: and she says Pluto is angry and he's trying to

1307
01:09:28,240 --> 01:09:31,400
Speaker 3: stop them from leaving the underworld, and she begs theseus

1308
01:09:31,400 --> 01:09:34,719
Speaker 3: to throw the golden apple into the sea, so he does,

1309
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:37,840
Speaker 3: and when Hercules sees this, he is furious. That was

1310
01:09:37,920 --> 01:09:40,919
Speaker 3: their ticket out of Hades. But suddenly the sky clears,

1311
01:09:41,080 --> 01:09:44,519
Speaker 3: sun comes out. Seems like it worked, but something isn't

1312
01:09:44,600 --> 01:09:47,640
Speaker 3: quite right. So they get to shore and Herky is

1313
01:09:47,680 --> 01:09:51,839
Speaker 3: returning to Akalia on horseback and he's passing smoldering fields

1314
01:09:51,880 --> 01:09:55,559
Speaker 3: of smoke and bleached cattle bones and people are trudging

1315
01:09:55,600 --> 01:09:59,360
Speaker 3: around hopelessly, and one man explains to him that someone

1316
01:09:59,439 --> 01:10:02,800
Speaker 3: must have a the gods because things have been bad here.

1317
01:10:02,840 --> 01:10:06,639
Speaker 3: Heavenly fire and disease descended and the people have been ruined.

1318
01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:09,559
Speaker 3: So Hercules arrives back at the city and people here

1319
01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:12,439
Speaker 3: are blaming him for the calamity. It must be his

1320
01:10:12,520 --> 01:10:15,360
Speaker 3: fault because he went to the underworld and he returned.

1321
01:10:16,160 --> 01:10:19,240
Speaker 3: And meanwhile at the palace we get a scene alone

1322
01:10:19,240 --> 01:10:21,960
Speaker 3: with Theseus and his dream woman from Hell, and she

1323
01:10:22,120 --> 01:10:26,360
Speaker 3: reveals her true identity. She is a Mayazotide, the daughter

1324
01:10:26,560 --> 01:10:29,720
Speaker 3: of Pluto. So woo, this is a this is a

1325
01:10:29,720 --> 01:10:32,400
Speaker 3: goddess and she wasn't supposed to leave Hades.

1326
01:10:32,920 --> 01:10:33,840
Speaker 2: Oops yep.

1327
01:10:35,400 --> 01:10:37,160
Speaker 3: She says, you and your people are going to be

1328
01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:40,080
Speaker 3: punished for bringing me here. Our love is doomed, but

1329
01:10:40,160 --> 01:10:42,800
Speaker 3: Theseus won't accept it. He says he'll do anything to

1330
01:10:42,840 --> 01:10:46,600
Speaker 3: protect their love, even if he has to kill Hercules

1331
01:10:46,680 --> 01:10:50,800
Speaker 3: and then the kiss. Meanwhile, back to like dean Era

1332
01:10:50,960 --> 01:10:53,360
Speaker 3: for the first time, she awakes and she has sort

1333
01:10:53,360 --> 01:10:56,160
Speaker 3: of a conscious reunion with Hercules. She's back to herself,

1334
01:10:56,200 --> 01:10:58,960
Speaker 3: now healed by the power of the magic stone from Hades.

1335
01:10:59,680 --> 01:11:03,720
Speaker 3: But the hers on the land continues and Hercules and

1336
01:11:03,800 --> 01:11:07,439
Speaker 3: Danira's love is blamed, so Hercules has to go back

1337
01:11:07,479 --> 01:11:10,559
Speaker 3: to the Sibyl to learn how to stop it. Meanwhile,

1338
01:11:10,560 --> 01:11:13,280
Speaker 3: he's like, Uncle Leco, you know you're you would be

1339
01:11:13,320 --> 01:11:15,400
Speaker 3: great to keep watch over dan Era and make sure

1340
01:11:15,439 --> 01:11:16,559
Speaker 3: she's safe while I do this.

1341
01:11:17,000 --> 01:11:19,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolute faith in Uncle Leco here.

1342
01:11:19,560 --> 01:11:22,639
Speaker 3: Yes. Perfect. So Herk goes to the Sybil once again,

1343
01:11:22,720 --> 01:11:26,160
Speaker 3: and she reveals they have angered the gods and Theseus

1344
01:11:26,200 --> 01:11:30,800
Speaker 3: has to renounce his love, and herk balks. He's like, uh, oh, no,

1345
01:11:31,000 --> 01:11:32,680
Speaker 3: you're never going to get a man to renounce his

1346
01:11:32,760 --> 01:11:34,960
Speaker 3: love for a woman. But the Sibil says, when you

1347
01:11:35,080 --> 01:11:39,920
Speaker 3: learn who she truly is, you will bid him renounce her. H. Meanwhile,

1348
01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:43,040
Speaker 3: back at the palace, Leco's doing Leco stuff. He like,

1349
01:11:43,200 --> 01:11:46,919
Speaker 3: he reveals that he was the one behind Danira's illness,

1350
01:11:47,240 --> 01:11:49,439
Speaker 3: and he murders her lady in waiting, and she like

1351
01:11:49,520 --> 01:11:52,560
Speaker 3: runs away from her from from him, screaming.

1352
01:11:52,400 --> 01:11:54,920
Speaker 2: Oh, now is this the scene where we get the

1353
01:11:55,000 --> 01:11:58,080
Speaker 2: blood pool on the floor and ooh, And she looks

1354
01:11:58,120 --> 01:12:01,679
Speaker 2: down and we see uncle Lecos, we see Christopher Lee's

1355
01:12:01,760 --> 01:12:03,599
Speaker 2: reflection in the blood puddle.

1356
01:12:03,920 --> 01:12:08,559
Speaker 3: Yes, oh beautiful, excellent. Yeah, and now she knows, now,

1357
01:12:08,560 --> 01:12:11,439
Speaker 3: she knows it was him all along. Meanwhile, we got

1358
01:12:11,479 --> 01:12:16,439
Speaker 3: Hercules confronting theseus. You know, theseus confesses to Hercules about

1359
01:12:16,520 --> 01:12:20,120
Speaker 3: who his lover is. Yep, she's a goddess. Yep. Pluto's

1360
01:12:20,160 --> 01:12:22,120
Speaker 3: really mad at us, and we're going to be cursed

1361
01:12:22,479 --> 01:12:24,920
Speaker 3: until she goes back. But I will not give up

1362
01:12:24,960 --> 01:12:27,320
Speaker 3: my love for her. She's staying here with me. And

1363
01:12:27,360 --> 01:12:30,000
Speaker 3: they argue, and theseus draws his sword. He's like, I

1364
01:12:30,080 --> 01:12:33,240
Speaker 3: will fight you to the death over this, and they fight,

1365
01:12:33,360 --> 01:12:36,439
Speaker 3: but Hercules refuses to kill him. Of course, Hercules is

1366
01:12:36,479 --> 01:12:38,840
Speaker 3: going to win the fight. So Theseus is kind of

1367
01:12:38,880 --> 01:12:41,760
Speaker 3: knocked unconscious, and then the goddess comes to him and

1368
01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:45,280
Speaker 3: she says, Hercules, this was all about idea. I'm going

1369
01:12:45,360 --> 01:12:45,960
Speaker 3: to peace out.

1370
01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:49,840
Speaker 2: Wow, isn't it like the gods and goddesses They're just

1371
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:54,520
Speaker 2: kind of like waltzing through human affairs, causing absolute chaos

1372
01:12:54,600 --> 01:12:57,160
Speaker 2: and then they're just like I'm done, I'm out.

1373
01:12:57,680 --> 01:13:01,120
Speaker 3: Yes, But she also does do a kindness to Hercules

1374
01:13:01,120 --> 01:13:03,439
Speaker 3: before she leaves. She fills him in. She's like, by

1375
01:13:03,479 --> 01:13:06,000
Speaker 3: the way, that the king Leko, who you think is

1376
01:13:06,040 --> 01:13:09,840
Speaker 3: really great, who's like watching your fiance right now, he's bad.

1377
01:13:10,000 --> 01:13:11,720
Speaker 3: He's the one behind the curse.

1378
01:13:11,840 --> 01:13:14,160
Speaker 2: Not Leko, Like he's shocked to his course.

1379
01:13:14,360 --> 01:13:17,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, And Herk is like, oh wow, thanks for the info.

1380
01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:21,639
Speaker 3: So this leads to the final showdown. Herk has got

1381
01:13:21,640 --> 01:13:24,920
Speaker 3: to go rescue Danira from Leco. He goes down into

1382
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:30,000
Speaker 3: Leco's secret passageways. I think Leko's getting ready to do

1383
01:13:30,080 --> 01:13:33,040
Speaker 3: some kind of ritual sacrifice of Danira to usher in

1384
01:13:33,120 --> 01:13:34,759
Speaker 3: a great age of evil and darkness.

1385
01:13:34,960 --> 01:13:37,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, his dark master's told him that he needs to

1386
01:13:37,880 --> 01:13:40,439
Speaker 2: drink her blood, and his blood needs to be in

1387
01:13:40,520 --> 01:13:43,439
Speaker 2: her like some sort of like you know, typical vampire

1388
01:13:43,479 --> 01:13:45,720
Speaker 2: shenanigans need to take place, and then he'll get to

1389
01:13:45,920 --> 01:13:48,639
Speaker 2: live forever and rule over a world of darkness.

1390
01:13:48,920 --> 01:13:52,280
Speaker 3: Right. But when Hercules goes down into the catacombs, he

1391
01:13:52,320 --> 01:13:55,439
Speaker 3: gets attacked by zombies. And here's where it really becomes

1392
01:13:55,439 --> 01:13:58,479
Speaker 3: peplam horror for a while. I love these zombies. They're

1393
01:13:58,520 --> 01:14:01,200
Speaker 3: not super We don't really get a a close look

1394
01:14:01,200 --> 01:14:04,360
Speaker 3: at their flesh. They're kind of coming in and out

1395
01:14:04,439 --> 01:14:07,240
Speaker 3: and kind of obscured. But I really like their designed anyway.

1396
01:14:07,280 --> 01:14:10,320
Speaker 3: I think they look great. It's implied that they're gross.

1397
01:14:10,360 --> 01:14:13,439
Speaker 3: They're covered in these rags and they're actually pretty scary,

1398
01:14:13,479 --> 01:14:15,920
Speaker 3: and some of them can fly. They're like zombies that

1399
01:14:16,000 --> 01:14:19,280
Speaker 3: without legs, that are just upper bodies that fly through

1400
01:14:19,320 --> 01:14:19,679
Speaker 3: the air.

1401
01:14:20,160 --> 01:14:23,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, they look great. We don't get a close enough

1402
01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:25,360
Speaker 2: look at them to really tell like is this a

1403
01:14:25,400 --> 01:14:28,240
Speaker 2: grave shroud or is this like some sort of a

1404
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:32,519
Speaker 2: weird birth call over them? Like everything is like, you know,

1405
01:14:32,680 --> 01:14:36,719
Speaker 2: lit to the nines. It looks amazing. I was totally

1406
01:14:36,720 --> 01:14:38,400
Speaker 2: in on all of these Bava zombies.

1407
01:14:38,800 --> 01:14:43,040
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, absolutely. And then there's this one sequence that's

1408
01:14:43,120 --> 01:14:44,880
Speaker 3: so strange. I don't know what to make of this,

1409
01:14:44,920 --> 01:14:47,759
Speaker 3: but it's great. It's like Herk is fighting the zombies

1410
01:14:47,840 --> 01:14:50,120
Speaker 3: inside a stone trash compactor.

1411
01:14:50,520 --> 01:14:54,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like the walls start closing in and he's and

1412
01:14:55,080 --> 01:14:58,800
Speaker 2: he's moving towards us, towards the camera with the you know,

1413
01:14:58,840 --> 01:15:02,920
Speaker 2: the walls closing zomb zombies in inside that tunnel, with

1414
01:15:03,080 --> 01:15:06,640
Speaker 2: him trying to slow him down and cause him to

1415
01:15:06,680 --> 01:15:09,520
Speaker 2: be crushed by the rocks, but of course it's Hercules.

1416
01:15:09,680 --> 01:15:11,920
Speaker 2: He manages to get out, but just in the nick

1417
01:15:11,960 --> 01:15:12,479
Speaker 2: of time.

1418
01:15:12,560 --> 01:15:15,559
Speaker 3: Right, just in time to stop Leko from from stabbing

1419
01:15:15,640 --> 01:15:20,360
Speaker 3: Danira with this like bone hand dagger. It's like a

1420
01:15:20,439 --> 01:15:22,360
Speaker 3: skeleton's hand as a dagger.

1421
01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:24,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's pretty gnarly.

1422
01:15:25,240 --> 01:15:28,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, So Herk comes to the rescue and then this

1423
01:15:28,920 --> 01:15:32,719
Speaker 3: kind of surprised me. It's a physical fight and Leko

1424
01:15:33,080 --> 01:15:35,400
Speaker 3: is sort of able to hold his own for a

1425
01:15:35,400 --> 01:15:37,600
Speaker 3: while in physically fighting Hercules.

1426
01:15:38,080 --> 01:15:41,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, without any obvious nods to him having some sort

1427
01:15:41,680 --> 01:15:44,320
Speaker 2: of enhanced supernatural powers here, it's just more of like

1428
01:15:44,560 --> 01:15:47,040
Speaker 2: a straight up brawl. I mean, the end's not really

1429
01:15:47,120 --> 01:15:48,280
Speaker 2: in question, but you know.

1430
01:15:48,360 --> 01:15:51,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course herk wins. Hey, do you want to

1431
01:15:51,160 --> 01:15:54,439
Speaker 3: guess how Hercules defeats the evil wizard king in the end.

1432
01:15:54,760 --> 01:15:57,559
Speaker 2: Oh, let's let's give everyone out there a second to

1433
01:15:57,640 --> 01:15:58,880
Speaker 2: consider the possibilities.

1434
01:16:12,200 --> 01:16:14,519
Speaker 3: It's a good old rock toss, perhaps one of the

1435
01:16:14,560 --> 01:16:18,120
Speaker 3: standing stones, and it's just he's hirk smash. He smashes

1436
01:16:18,200 --> 01:16:21,559
Speaker 3: him with the rock. Oh, it's so good. Oh. And

1437
01:16:21,600 --> 01:16:23,000
Speaker 3: then after that, do you want to guess how he

1438
01:16:23,040 --> 01:16:25,920
Speaker 3: defeats the waves of zombies that continue rushing the altar?

1439
01:16:26,080 --> 01:16:28,599
Speaker 3: He throws another boulder, and then he throws another boulder,

1440
01:16:28,640 --> 01:16:29,719
Speaker 3: and then another boulder.

1441
01:16:29,920 --> 01:16:33,840
Speaker 2: He uproots all of the stones one by one at

1442
01:16:33,840 --> 01:16:37,559
Speaker 2: this ancient but probably on holy site. Yeah, and just

1443
01:16:37,640 --> 01:16:40,720
Speaker 2: keeps yeating them into the zombies, one after the other,

1444
01:16:40,880 --> 01:16:41,720
Speaker 2: just smashing them.

1445
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:44,280
Speaker 3: And then the eclipse ends. Oh, there's all this talk

1446
01:16:44,320 --> 01:16:47,479
Speaker 3: about like a great dragon devouring the sun or the moon,

1447
01:16:47,760 --> 01:16:50,720
Speaker 3: maybe devouring the moon. I think this is imagery of

1448
01:16:50,760 --> 01:16:54,519
Speaker 3: an eclipse. It ends, and then Leco catches on fire

1449
01:16:54,600 --> 01:16:55,400
Speaker 3: and disappears.

1450
01:16:55,880 --> 01:16:59,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, simply like to by modern standards, I guess, a

1451
01:16:59,360 --> 01:17:03,080
Speaker 2: simple effect, but perfectly executed right. Like so many things

1452
01:17:03,120 --> 01:17:05,120
Speaker 2: in this movie, and I think other Bava films, it's

1453
01:17:05,200 --> 01:17:08,559
Speaker 2: like it's just like everything is is carried off, carried

1454
01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:09,280
Speaker 2: out seamlessly.

1455
01:17:09,680 --> 01:17:12,479
Speaker 3: Mm hmm. And then we get a very happy ending

1456
01:17:12,520 --> 01:17:15,240
Speaker 3: for everybody. So Danira is sayfe she and herk are

1457
01:17:15,400 --> 01:17:17,760
Speaker 3: reunited and happy. I guess they're married at the end,

1458
01:17:17,800 --> 01:17:20,879
Speaker 3: or they're gonna get married, and so they're happy. Hercules

1459
01:17:20,960 --> 01:17:23,040
Speaker 3: also makes up with his friend. He goes to Theseus,

1460
01:17:23,360 --> 01:17:26,519
Speaker 3: and Theseus only vaguely remembers his time with the woman

1461
01:17:26,560 --> 01:17:29,120
Speaker 3: from Hell. He remembers it as if it's a dream.

1462
01:17:29,560 --> 01:17:32,120
Speaker 3: And he's finally back together with Jocasta, which is great

1463
01:17:32,120 --> 01:17:34,200
Speaker 3: because they're a great couple. I feel kind of bad

1464
01:17:34,240 --> 01:17:36,519
Speaker 3: for Jocasta just being left behind all this time, and

1465
01:17:36,680 --> 01:17:38,120
Speaker 3: oh they see they seem great together.

1466
01:17:38,320 --> 01:17:41,200
Speaker 2: But she initially shows up with Telemachus and he's like, hey,

1467
01:17:41,280 --> 01:17:44,679
Speaker 2: I'm gonna marry her, and then she's like like, actually no,

1468
01:17:44,680 --> 01:17:46,400
Speaker 2: now I see Theseus, I'm gonna go to him.

1469
01:17:46,640 --> 01:17:49,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, So they're back together, and then and then we

1470
01:17:49,280 --> 01:17:52,160
Speaker 3: get some some platitudes about love to play us out.

1471
01:17:52,880 --> 01:17:57,240
Speaker 2: That's right, love is passionate, says Hercules, but often inconsistent.

1472
01:17:57,640 --> 01:18:01,800
Speaker 3: Hmm, think on that one. Yeah. Anyway, Hercules and the

1473
01:18:01,840 --> 01:18:05,320
Speaker 3: Haunted World a thumbs up from me, six boulders up.

1474
01:18:05,720 --> 01:18:08,400
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah, this one was a lot of fun. I've

1475
01:18:08,439 --> 01:18:11,479
Speaker 2: watched a lot of Hercules movies and Hercules adjacent movies

1476
01:18:11,520 --> 01:18:14,280
Speaker 2: over the years, and I think this one may be

1477
01:18:14,439 --> 01:18:17,120
Speaker 2: the most visually appealing, though I also really liked the

1478
01:18:18,000 --> 01:18:21,320
Speaker 2: visual flare of the Lufarigno Hercules movie that we watched

1479
01:18:21,520 --> 01:18:22,960
Speaker 2: earlier on Weird House Cinema.

1480
01:18:23,439 --> 01:18:25,559
Speaker 3: Yeah, that one felt less like the product of a

1481
01:18:25,560 --> 01:18:27,560
Speaker 3: single director's artistic vision.

1482
01:18:27,320 --> 01:18:30,040
Speaker 2: I would say, absolutely. I remember it having some very

1483
01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:34,120
Speaker 2: janky stop motion effects in it, but also some very

1484
01:18:34,160 --> 01:18:36,120
Speaker 2: like spacey lights at times.

1485
01:18:36,439 --> 01:18:37,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, but was very fun.

1486
01:18:37,960 --> 01:18:42,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, this one is definitely more like structurally complete. Yeah,

1487
01:18:42,760 --> 01:18:47,240
Speaker 2: all right, Hercules in the Haunted World. Hey, everyone out there,

1488
01:18:47,520 --> 01:18:49,880
Speaker 2: if you've seen this movie, or if you have thoughts

1489
01:18:49,880 --> 01:18:53,560
Speaker 2: about various other Poplin movies we've talked about here Hercules

1490
01:18:53,640 --> 01:18:58,280
Speaker 2: movies and their many derivatives right in, We would love

1491
01:18:58,320 --> 01:19:01,160
Speaker 2: to hear what you have to say. Will remind you

1492
01:19:01,240 --> 01:19:04,160
Speaker 2: that Weird House Cinema. This is the Friday episode in

1493
01:19:04,200 --> 01:19:06,080
Speaker 2: the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Feed our core

1494
01:19:06,120 --> 01:19:08,479
Speaker 2: science and culture episodes. Ac're on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but

1495
01:19:08,560 --> 01:19:11,320
Speaker 2: on Fridays we set aside most serious concerns to just

1496
01:19:11,320 --> 01:19:13,320
Speaker 2: talk about a weird film. If you want to see

1497
01:19:13,320 --> 01:19:15,479
Speaker 2: a long list of the movies that we have done

1498
01:19:15,479 --> 01:19:17,439
Speaker 2: over the years for Weird House Cinema, go to letterbox

1499
01:19:17,479 --> 01:19:19,120
Speaker 2: dot com. It's L E T T E R B

1500
01:19:19,240 --> 01:19:21,920
Speaker 2: O x d dot com. You'll find our username there

1501
01:19:21,960 --> 01:19:25,200
Speaker 2: it's weird House and on our profile page there's the list.

1502
01:19:25,360 --> 01:19:27,479
Speaker 2: Check it out see what we've been up to, and

1503
01:19:27,560 --> 01:19:30,360
Speaker 2: sometimes there'll be a hint or more than a hint.

1504
01:19:30,360 --> 01:19:32,759
Speaker 2: I guess just there's the post. Here there's a listing

1505
01:19:33,040 --> 01:19:34,840
Speaker 2: of the movie that we're covering next.

1506
01:19:35,280 --> 01:19:38,840
Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway.

1507
01:19:39,200 --> 01:19:40,760
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1508
01:19:40,800 --> 01:19:43,280
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1509
01:19:43,280 --> 01:19:45,200
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

1510
01:19:45,280 --> 01:19:47,800
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact. That's Stuff to Blow

1511
01:19:47,800 --> 01:19:55,640
Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

1512
01:19:55,760 --> 01:19:58,720
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1513
01:19:58,800 --> 01:20:01,559
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you visit the iHeartRadio app,

1514
01:20:01,720 --> 01:20:04,439
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.