It's amazing that this first 1950s Hercules film was the stimulus that led to bazillions of Hercules and Maciste films over the next 15 years. Why is this so hard to believe? Well, you'd expect that this film would be really, really good since it was such an important film--and you'd be 100% wrong. This mish-mash film was just as bad as many of the later films and is only marginally watchable. Not surprisingly, it has passed into the public domain--after all, who would want to renew rights to this film?!
Some of the film's problems may or may not exist in the original Italian print. I don't know, as I have only just watched one of the English dubbed versions. The biggest and most obvious problem are the voice actors--their voices are too mechanical and bigger than life--so much so that they seem nothing like real people at times. The original Italian voices might be a lot better. Another problem (mostly for history freaks like myself) is that the films are a bizarre melange of both Greek AND Roman mythology--with Roman and Greek names interspersed throughout the film and the stories often bear little semblance to the originals. This is very sloppy but could also be the fault of the dubbers--perhaps the original film was based only on Greek or Roman characters--not both. Maybe in the original Italian it all made more sense.
However, despite the sloppy dubbing, another major problem is that the film has too much in the way of plot. There are enough stories for two films. Why they chose to combine the story of Jason and the Argonauts seeking the golden fleece (a Greek tale) AND Hercules (Roman) dealing with an annoying king and his really annoying son is beyond me--especially because both characters could easily have several films of just their own adventures. In fact, with the story of Jason, huge portions of the tale are missing (such as the most important part--his relationship with Medea and her father) and the Hercules one simply doesn't look anything like the classical tales--nothing.
The film has a few fun moments, but overall it looks cheap and sloppy--like most Hercules films. Some of the characters make no sense at all (such as the princess who loves Hercules but fights with him when Herc sets out to do EXACTLY what she'd asked him to do) and some are so one-dimensional they looked like they were written by a 3rd grader. If you LIKE cheap and sloppy films (I know I sure do), then this is definitely for you. If not, then see the Disney version. It's also very bad history and bastardizes the story terribly, but is still much closer to the original source material than this silly film.
Some of the film's problems may or may not exist in the original Italian print. I don't know, as I have only just watched one of the English dubbed versions. The biggest and most obvious problem are the voice actors--their voices are too mechanical and bigger than life--so much so that they seem nothing like real people at times. The original Italian voices might be a lot better. Another problem (mostly for history freaks like myself) is that the films are a bizarre melange of both Greek AND Roman mythology--with Roman and Greek names interspersed throughout the film and the stories often bear little semblance to the originals. This is very sloppy but could also be the fault of the dubbers--perhaps the original film was based only on Greek or Roman characters--not both. Maybe in the original Italian it all made more sense.
However, despite the sloppy dubbing, another major problem is that the film has too much in the way of plot. There are enough stories for two films. Why they chose to combine the story of Jason and the Argonauts seeking the golden fleece (a Greek tale) AND Hercules (Roman) dealing with an annoying king and his really annoying son is beyond me--especially because both characters could easily have several films of just their own adventures. In fact, with the story of Jason, huge portions of the tale are missing (such as the most important part--his relationship with Medea and her father) and the Hercules one simply doesn't look anything like the classical tales--nothing.
The film has a few fun moments, but overall it looks cheap and sloppy--like most Hercules films. Some of the characters make no sense at all (such as the princess who loves Hercules but fights with him when Herc sets out to do EXACTLY what she'd asked him to do) and some are so one-dimensional they looked like they were written by a 3rd grader. If you LIKE cheap and sloppy films (I know I sure do), then this is definitely for you. If not, then see the Disney version. It's also very bad history and bastardizes the story terribly, but is still much closer to the original source material than this silly film.