Search - Goliath and the Sins of Babylon/Colossus and the Amazon Queen on DVD

Nicetowatchit

Angel G. Garcia | Madrid, SPAIN | 02/09/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Goliath and the Sins of Babylon.- Good sword and sandal spectacle. " Two hundred years BC. the small kingdom of Nefer in the Persian Gulf was forced to pay heavy tribute to conqueror, Babylon, the people of Nefer trembled with outrage and fear as the soldiers came to collect the yearly price, 30 of the loveliest young virgins in the land ". For freedom and against this sacrifice there are 41 rebels commanded by Evandro (Livio Lorenzon, with a bald head as Yul Brynner), so Goliath (Mark Forest, a bodybuilder born in Brooklyn) and a funny dwarf Ninneto (also a jester in Samson and his mighty challenge) join them, therefore the rebels become now " 42 and a half ". A Babylonian warship called " The Sacred Trireme " must go to Nefer to carry the captive virgins, but the three invincibles rebels Goliath, Xandros (Giuliano Gemma, later a Spaghetti Western actor) and Alceas (Mimmo Palmara, usual Sword&Sandal actor) imagine a funny stratagem to get a Phoenician merchant ship, after a sea battle they set a fire to the trireme and sink it. Goliath competes in a chariot race, a substitute of Ben Hur, for the Nefer Queen's hand and wins the race but his friend Xandros is in love with the Queen. The wicked Morakeb, counselor of the faint hearted king Rukus of Babylon, commands the Royal Guard. In one scene, Goliath is condemned to death and lies on a table, there is a device invented by Morakeb with some spears that will fall down one by one from the ceiling when the executioners cut one rope for each spear, a psychic torture because only one spear will hit him and it is worth seeing how the muscleman escapes from the execution cell. Evandro, the bald one, and a few rebels lead a tricky action to defeat the Babylonian forces that are camped near the dessert. The final combat will take place at the risky dungeons of Babylon Palace, while the city is on fire. There is no doubt the three invincibles are good wrestlers, but when the likeable and witty dwarf takes part, the fights have a comical and original style. The music harmonizes well according to the changes of scene, from fight to humor, to love, etc. It is a nice color film.

Colossus and the Amazon Queen.- After the Troyan war two Greek soldiers Glaucus (Ed Fury) and Pirro (Rod Taylor) and a bunch of companions arrive in a secret island and are captured by lovely Amazons, famous for killing men after their use to transmit the species. Women are in command and are the warriors while men do the housework. Two Amazons Antiope (Dorian Gray) and Melitta (Daniela Rocca) pretend to get the throne, they like Glaucus and Pirro and vice versa, but there is a problem: The future Queen must be away from men and only a kiss may lead to a disaster, according to the advice of the Queen (Gianna Maria Canale, who played the same role in the film Hercules). She, the Queen, does not know the flavor of kisses, so to forget her nostalgia and sorrow always has a cup of wine at hand. A band of pirates get to the island after the amazon gold, they assault the Palace and jump over the walls with the help of trees as catapults, while trumpets give the same sound alarm as if it were the indians attacking a troops fort, later there is a charge of pirates riding horses and the Amazons shooting arrows at them from a circle of carts like in western movies. In the end, the Greek heroes help the Amazons to fight off the pirates, the love affairs change for better and so the fate of the island for ever. It is a nice story-tale without prejudices, with adventure, love and comedy. The quality and condition of this movie is a bit worse than the first one."