The Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules (1964)
[+]
(Foreign Titles)
Nomination Year: 2014
SYNOPSIS: The Devil of the Desert sounds all supernatural, but is really only a
bandit, albeit a clever one. And the Son of Hercules is really a repackaged Hercules rip-off.
Anthar is the Hercules rip-off, and he's just a strong guy who wanders around with his little mute pal (named "Amute"). At a local watering hole (literally), he runs into a woman (Soraya) who is an escaped princess. Her father's city was overthrown by Ganor, The Devil of the Desert, and he was killed. Her brother is imprisoned, and Ganor seeks to marry her.
Of course Anthar will help her -- but both he and Princess Soraya are captured by slavers. End of movie.
Well, not the end of the movie -- because Amute escaped capture. Soraya is sold off to a generic captor. Anthar escapes with Amute's assistance, and rescues Soraya.
They then meet up with some allies in the hill tribes, and attempt to rescue Soraya's brother ... and defeat Ganor.
The city in question is clearly affected by a curse which prevents its defenders from seeing infiltration. Both Ganor's men (at the beginning of the film) and Anthar (in the middle) are able to sneak inside without any sort of detection by the multitude of guards on the walls. A curse is the only logical explanation.
The hill tribes attack the city. Anthar faces down Ganor in Ganor's place of power ... the mirrored chamber which everyone refers to as The Chamber of Death. Why Ganor knows the secret of a mirrored chamber that lives just off the throne room of a city he's only recently conquered....
At the end, mysteriously, the "Mighty Sons of Hercules" theme swells, implying that there are several sons, and that this is but one film amid a gaggle (a convocation, a pride, a murder, a collective noun) of other cheap Hercules ripoff films. Implying correctly.
Anthar is the Hercules rip-off, and he's just a strong guy who wanders around with his little mute pal (named "Amute"). At a local watering hole (literally), he runs into a woman (Soraya) who is an escaped princess. Her father's city was overthrown by Ganor, The Devil of the Desert, and he was killed. Her brother is imprisoned, and Ganor seeks to marry her.
Of course Anthar will help her -- but both he and Princess Soraya are captured by slavers. End of movie.
Well, not the end of the movie -- because Amute escaped capture. Soraya is sold off to a generic captor. Anthar escapes with Amute's assistance, and rescues Soraya.
They then meet up with some allies in the hill tribes, and attempt to rescue Soraya's brother ... and defeat Ganor.
The city in question is clearly affected by a curse which prevents its defenders from seeing infiltration. Both Ganor's men (at the beginning of the film) and Anthar (in the middle) are able to sneak inside without any sort of detection by the multitude of guards on the walls. A curse is the only logical explanation.
The hill tribes attack the city. Anthar faces down Ganor in Ganor's place of power ... the mirrored chamber which everyone refers to as The Chamber of Death. Why Ganor knows the secret of a mirrored chamber that lives just off the throne room of a city he's only recently conquered....
At the end, mysteriously, the "Mighty Sons of Hercules" theme swells, implying that there are several sons, and that this is but one film amid a gaggle (a convocation, a pride, a murder, a collective noun) of other cheap Hercules ripoff films. Implying correctly.
Kevin Hogan
Antonio Margheriti
