Maciste contro il vampiro Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide
THRICE THE MIGHT! B
Y 1961, much had transpired in the arena of Italian spectacle films in the years since Mario Bava had filmed Steve Reeves in his star-mak-
GORDON SCOTT as Maciste, mustering all
his fabled strength against the Blue Faced Men in Giacomo Gentilomo’s MACISTE CONTRO IL VAMPIRO.
ing performances as Hercules. The success of the Her- cules films was unparallelled in its impact on Italian cinema. Between 1957 and 1959—due entirely to the international boxoffice success of Hercules and Hercules Unchained—the peplum genre grew from three produc- tions annually to thirteen, and musclemen like Brad Harris, Ed Fury, and Mickey Hargitay were imported to play the likes of Samson, Ursus, and Hercules. Generally speaking, these productions were thinly veiled excuses to recycle leftover sets, props, and ward- robe from costly international co-productions like Helen of Troy, Esther and the King, The Colossus of Rhodes, and Sodom and Gomorrah. A select few achieved more as entertainment than was either expected or nec- essary, and one of these was Giacomo Gentilomo’s Maciste contro i vampiri/Goliath and the Vampires.
