DVD review: Samson and the 7 Miracles
Feast on action and cheese in a new sword-and-sandal DVD release, featuring two 1960s Italian films.
“Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World” stars Gordon Scott, a former Tarzan. Filmed in Italy, the movie was originally titled “Maciste at the Court of the Grand Khan.” Maciste was a Hercules-like character in Italian cinema. He usually appeared in a Greek or Roman setting, but “Court of the Grand Khan” employed a 13th Century China set – since the sets and extras from “Marco Polo” were available.
The movie was imported to America as “Samson” – confusingly, as the Hebrew hero was many centuries earlier.
Samson (Scott) is on hand to help out the oppressed Chinese. The jumpily edited film’s a bit hard to follow, but viewers will see Samson causing an earthquake with his bare hands.
Included as a bonus is “Ali Baba and the 7 Saracens,” another Italian import. Ali Baba was Sinbad in the Italian release, but they’re at least both from “Arabian Nights.” This one’s worth noting for the bad guy, Omar, played by Gordon Mitchell. Mitchell was an early bodybuilder who appeared in more than 200 films, mostly Italian.
- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
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What’s a lay…. never happend in history just in this culture… they dream so let’s dream with them…