''Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules'' (/ ''Maciste, the Strongest Man in the World'') is a 1961 Italian '' peplum'' film directed by

Antonio Leonviola Antonio Leonviola, sometimes Leon Viola (13 May 1913 – 4 August 1995), was an Italian screenwriter and film director and co-founder of the "Libera Università del Cinema di Roma". Life and career Leonviola was born in 1913 in Montagnana as ...

and starring Mark Forest.

Plot summary

The young Princess Saliura has been captured by a fierce cave-dwelling people.

Maciste Maciste () is one of the oldest recurring characters of film, cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. He is usually depicted as a ...

and his friend Bangor, in whose care she was left, allow themselves to be also captured and imprisoned. They find themselves in a series of deep caverns, occupied by a race of mutant white-haired

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

people. They are living under an ancient

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

, by which they cannot emerge onto the surface, except by moonlight, and sunlight is deadly to them. They worship the goddess of the moon. The 'mole men', led by Halis Mosab, a tyrannical and bloodthirsty non-albino

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

, are using the captured people as slaves to operate their diamond mining operations. Saliura is assisted in an escape and is taken to sanctuary with the Guardians of the Sacred Waterfall. But she is betrayed and recaptured. Maciste and Bangor are forced to fight each other and then a ferocious

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...

in order to save the life of the princess, but she's condemned to be sacrificed anyway. Maciste not only survives, but escapes and saves Bangor and Saliura. Trapped in the caverns, the now-freed slaves break out onto the surface, thanks to Maciste's strength. Halis Mosab, who has become aware that she was captured as a child and somehow became queen of the 'mole men', is overjoyed when she comes to the surface and finds that she can live in the sunlight. But she accidentally falls off a cliff and into the waters of the Sacred Waterfall. The fate of her people is not revealed.

Cast

* Mark Forest as

* Moira Orfei as Queen Halis Mosab * Paul Wynter as Bangor * Raffaella Carrà as Princess Saliurà * Enrico Glori as Kahab * Gianni Garko as Katan * Roberto Miali as Loth * Nando Tamberlani as King of Aran * Carla Foscari * Rosalia Gavo * Graziella Granata * Janine Hendy as Black slave girl * Cinzia Cam * Bruna Mori * Anna De Martino * Franca Polesello * Gloria Hendy as Tulac * Luciana Vivaldi

Release

''Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules'' was released on 10 October 1961.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules 1961 films 1960s action adventure films 1960s fantasy adventure films Italian action adventure films 1960s Italian-language films Italian fantasy adventure films Maciste films Sword-and-sandal films 1960s fantasy action films Films scored by Armando Trovajoli 1960s Italian films