For all you gladiator movie fanatics out there, Retromedia brings you the DEFINITIVE collection of cult classics. The collection includes five movies on three DVDs that range from pec flexing destroyer films to a unique brand of gladiator comedy. Each film is its own beast here and the lack of repetition is quite refreshing in a mammoth collection of this type. The main films include Hercules Against the Moon Men, Goliath and the Sins of Babylon, and Giant of Marathon, with sub-features (Colossus and the Amazon Queen and War of the Trojans) on two of the discs.
Goliath and the Sins of Babylon is probably the best of the features here if your preferences are geared towards action movies in general, or classic gladiator films in specific. The film is a tale of heroism as Goliath show up to save a small town from the evil ruler of Babylon. Goliath saves the day with a little help from his friends (and their collective muscles of course!). This is a really sharp looking film in its remastered version and the screenplay is so classic that its easy to take seriously as an action film.
This DVD also includes Colossus and the Amazon Queen. The quality is certainly lesser here and the story is a bit confusing. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be a comedy or not but it is very tongue-in-cheek in my opinion. Area merchants are paid to deliver men to the Amazons to live as “housewives” to their women warriors. There are lots of jokes and the role reversal gag is enough to make you laugh out loud throughout most of it. The best part of this film really is watching all the Amazon warriors!
The next feature is Giant of Marathon. This is a Steve Reeves (a cult favorite gladiator actor) movie and its coupled with another one of his films, War of the Trojans. Giant of Marathon is about as good looking and as well acted as films such as these come. It’s as pristine as the recent Magnificent Gladiator DVD release and Steve Reeves was a great actor. His characters in both films come across as very natural extensions. Giant of Marathon is probably the better film here but they are both very good. Giant of Marathon features great co-stars Mylene Demongeot and Daniela Rocca and they help push the movie over the edge from cult classic to legitimately good film. I’m honestly surprised that none of the aforementioned trio became international superstars. As these films prove, the potential was certainly there.
Hercules Against the Moon Men rounds out this collection. Alan Steel plays the legendary Hercules in this campy cult film. Unlike the others, this film takes itself the least seriously. An evil queen is resurrected and she immediately makes a packed with a world conquering alien horde to take over the Earth! The clunky looking aliens have been sacrificing the children of the country of Samar and they need a hero! A hero with BIG muscles and a FULL beard! To their rescue comes Maciste, translated into English via overdubs as Hercules. While this film looks great, it will likely only appeal to fans of off-kilter or sci-fi movies, I’m not sure fans of gladiator films will even take this one into consideration. It additionally comes with an excellent pamphlet on How to be a Hercules (which is basically a workout booklet).
Overall, this is a collection well worth your time if you are disinterested in the Hollywood mainstream. These films are great fun and their restorations are excellent (with the exception of Colossus and the Amazon Queen, which isn’t as good as the others). This is a great collection for a great price and if you love campy movies of any type you WILL NOT regret picking up Muscle Madness!
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
