Atlas Against the Cyclops (1961)

Powerful

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I watched the American print of this movie, where inexplicably the title was changed to ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS - despite the fact that the hero's name is clearly Maciste in the film, and Atlas doesn't come into it! Also, somewhat amusingly, the credits list Mitchell Gordon as the main star instead of Gordon Mitchell. Those crazy Americans! These oddities aside, whatever the title, MACISTE IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS is a example of the peplum genre at its monster-slaying, boulder-throwing finest! Packed with incredible feats of strength and action throughout, plus a mythical creature for Maciste to battle at the end, this would be a brilliant film if it wasn't for a few pacing problems in the second half, where nearly nothing happens for around half an hour. As it stands, it's still a very good and highly recommended film which all fantasy lovers should seek out.The rugged and dependable peplum stalwart Gordon Mitchell (The Giant of Metropolis) leads the way as strongman Maciste here, and he looks like he's having a great time. Mitchell is given lots of material to work with and is hardly ever given time to stand still - he's just too busy righting wrongs or fighting evil! This gives the film a frenetic pacing which makes it more than watchable and also makes the time fly by. The supporting cast of Italian actors and actresses are fairly undistinguished, although it's interesting to see fellow American black bodybuilder Paul Wynter as another strongman, this time on the opposite side (and yes, they do fight). One exception is the actor playing the baby in the film - it's none other than Fabio, apparently a quite respected male model these days. What a way to start a career! Director Antonio Leonviola (just credited as "Leonviola" in the American release) is no Mario Bava, or even Riccardo Freda, but all scenes are well-shot and competently handled. The skillful editing also hides the low budget of the film, thus by splicing frames of a model ship quickly with images of people supposedly inside a ship (although you never actually see them above deck from a distance) you get a realistic effect. The plot is simple but packed with incident, as is the way with the best of the genre like MACISTE AGAINST THE VAMPIRE.As an aside, the Cyclops himself is pretty good, thanks to a neat makeup job which gives him the solitary eye and some snappy editing which makes him look three times the size of the not-inconsiderable Mitchell. At the end of the film, they have a titanic battle, Maciste blinds him with a sword (ouch) before pulling off his final trick, causing a cave-in. Ta-da! Everybody is saved, the evil have been punished and Maciste lives to fight another day. The end. One other thing: we learn that apparently the name "Maciste" means "made of rock", an apt description if ever I heard one for Mitchell's granite-hewn, super-human muscleman. As you may have already guessed, I give this film the thumbs-up!

Strange «péplum», a bit on the sadistic side, made me feel terrible for the poor Cyclops, who is described as a captive freak, unlike the busy and aggressive creatures Ray Harryhausen created for «The 7th Voyage of Sinbad». For the proceeding, maestro Mario Serandrei's editing is rather lazy, especially in the action scenes, where the tempo of the cutting is not particularly inspired, and the shots linger on Gordon Mitchell's muscles. Even Chelo Alonso goes through a strange routine, from evil queen to woman in love, excluding the possibility of one of her sensual dance scenes; and Mitchell is one very strange looking fellow, with a gentle personality that seems at odds with his character, supposedly a lonely highlander. But «Maciste in the Land of the Cyclops» has ladies in distress chewing gum, «menacing» lions that resemble rugs, a villain (funny Dante DiPaolo) who is always smiling when he's saying his meanest dialog lines, and lights that follow the characters through kitsch settings and barren exteriors. So don't let it pass you: it has a lot to enjoy. Watch it!

In Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops, our hero Maciste (Maciste, Atlas, Samson, Hercules - what's in a name?) must safeguard the life of a young prince whose father has been killed by the evil Queen Capys. The Queen wants the child so that she can break a centuries old curse by handing the baby over to the Cyclops she keeps chained in a pit. At first she attempts to use her womanly ways on Maciste, but to no avail. And as predictable as the sun following the night, the Queen ends up falling for Maciste. But there are others in the Queen's court who still seek the child and an end to the curse. Can Maciste rescue the baby and defeat the Cyclops before it's too late? Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops is what I'll call an above average example of the peplums or sword and sandal movies being pumped-out of Italy from the late 1950s to the mid 1960s. Gordon Mitchell is on hand to provide the beef of the title role. He may not have been as big as Steve Reeves (who all Italian movie muscle men must necessarily be compared) or some of the others, but he's got a winning smile and a definite athleticism about him. Chelo Alonso as Queen Capys is a real beauty and quite good in her role. In fact, the whole cast is quite nice. The Cyclops is very well done and another example of the fine, creative work being done before the advent of CGI - even by low-budget Italian filmmakers. Lots of good fight scenes, very few long drawn-out dialogue filled moments, and plenty of guys running around with those scrub-brush looking helmets - what's not to love. I guess my biggest complaints are with the dubbing and the state of available DVD transfers. The dubbing is incredibly stilted. In a few scenes, Mitchell sounds a bit like Tonto from the old Lone Ranger series. As for the available transfers, I can only assume that my enjoyment of Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops would have been enhanced had it not seemed I was watching the movie through dirty dishwater. Even with these negatives, and I realize I may be overstating things a bit here, I'll go ahead and give it a 7/10 and recommend it to fans of peplums.

Brave and kind he-man Maciste (a winningly sincere portrayal by the brawny and cheerful Gordon Mitchell) must save both Queen Penope (fetching Vira Silenti) and her infant son from the evil clutches of the ruthless and wicked Queen Capys (a perfectly nasty turn by ravishing brunette stunner Chelo Alonso). Director Antonio Leonviola relates the eventful story at a steady pace, maintains a serious tone throughout, and stages the thrilling action scenes with a reasonable amount of vigor (stirring highlights include Maciste wrestling a lion, a fierce rough'n'tumble fight with one of Capys' hulking goons, and the tense and gripping climactic battle between Maciste and an impressively grotesque and monstrous 18-foot-tall cyclops). The cast all give admirably earnest performances, with especially nice contributions from Giotto Tempestini as helpful shepherd Aronio and Massimo Righi as the noble Efros. Carlo Innocenzi's robust, rousing score does the trick. Riccardo Pallottini's expansive widescreen cinematography offers several striking shots of the lovely verdant countryside. The campy dialogue adds plenty of extra unintentional humor to the mix while the bevy of lovely ladies supply lots of yummy eye candy (Alonso in particular is an absolute smoking hot fox!). A fun romp.