Vulcan, Son of Giove (1962)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Perfect cast and a good story

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Possibly one of the cheapest peplums ever made, this low-budget epic is not totally without merit, although it does get pretty bad at times. Thankfully, instead of being so-bad-it's-boring, this is a so-bad-it's-funny kind of film which is pretty enjoyable to watch, even if the film itself fails to hold up as an effective slice of escapism as many of the pepla were. The story, which is simple and confusing at the same time, inter-cuts footage of the gods in a dry-ice temple in heaven arguing and discussing things with more standard sword-and-sandal action down on earth.Our first introduction to Vulcan is when we see him banging away on his anvil. The sexist Vulcan is played by Rod Flash, who never became a peplum star for obvious reasons. Physically he's very impressive, however, with an impossibly broad chest and a Steve Reeves-style beard. Sadly, Flash's acting is non-existent, and his acting style is the most wooden that I've ever witnessed in a peplum movie. It's so bad as to be cringe-worthy. Flash fights people by beating them over the back or throwing them around unconvincingly, so in the action scenes he's not too good either. Thankfully the supporting cast are more interesting.Vulcan's major opponent is Mars, played by Roger Browne (The Incredible Paris Incident). Browne in comparison is small and lithe, making the protracted battle of the pair at the end of the film a bit unnecessary. Still, he makes for a nice baddie, pairing up with an angry bald warrior king who looks like a cross between Peter Lorre and Telly Savalas. The pair are fighting over the love of Venus, an incredibly floozy who drapes herself over any man nearby; obviously the Italian's idea of the Goddess of Love is as a flirty, shallow, blonde bimbo woman! Appearing as a "special guest star" is none other than peplum favourite Gordon Mitchell as the evil Pluto, who is criminally under-used in this film. Appearing in only a handful of scenes, all he does is stand around, laugh, and occasionally act. In the end he gets banished back to his own kingdom by Jupiter - huh? Thankfully, the love interest (not Venus but Etna, a slave girl) is played by Bella Cortez, whose incredible figure is highlighted in the number of skimpy costumes that she wears; her exotic dancing is one of the film's highlights.From the moment a lightning bolt appears, having been scratched manually on to the film, you're made aware that the special effects aren't up to much. In fact the only other "effects" (if you can call them such) are of the lizard men, obviously just green-painted actors with bad rubber covers tied to their backs. I mean, no attempt has gone into them to make them even look halfway realistic and not like actors, but there you go. What can you do when you don't have a budget? Other highlights include a scene where the delectable Cortez is attacked by primitives in a mountainous valley (probably the film's only good bit of action) and a cat fight between Venus and Etna, with the pair whipping each other!! Sadly these scenes are countered by the presence of a (very) annoying dwarf character who acts as an unwanted comedy sidekick for Vulcan. He does things like disguise himself as a bush and push people over and is one of the most irritating characters in a peplum movie ever. So, finally, VULCAN, SON OF JUPITER is worthwhile only for bad movie fans who may get a kick out of Flash's wimpish hero, or undemanding movie viewers who may get a kick out of grown men hitting each other with lumps of wood. The choice is yours.

The previous _peplum seen was also a GM one, but this one's better right from the beginning, and _unreluctantly so—a bit more adult yarn, aimed at teenagers as opposed to kids …. This one at least has a rousing, knockout score, signed by none other than Giombini. It also has slightly better production values, a sense of playfulness, etc.. It's a bit more colorful, sexier, violent enough, the protagonists are the gods Vulcan, played by Iloosh Khoshabe, Mars—played by Roger Browne, while Venus is the delightful Annie Gorassini; there are Vulcan and Mars on Earth, Mercury and Pluto in Olympus, Thracians, Sicilians, Neptune, various barbarians with raping propensities.Emimmo Salvi, Bella and Gordon are movie pals that have met more than once; someone seemed intent on promoting Bella, who has nice thighs, Gordon is credited as a genuine star, here they don't have any scene together.And yet these outmoded fairy tales with athletes also express my willingness to indulge in a free, unrestrained physical life.Sets, cast, broads, score, fights, effects, production values.A movie should never be chided for cheapness—but for stupidity, lack of ability, etc..Neither Gordon M., nor Cameron M., were original Mitchells; the first was a (Ch.) Pendleton, the second was a Mitzel. This one was almost 5 yrs older than the strongman.You might have already noticed that these newer, more playful reviews, are governed by overtly social, not aesthetic norms; that is, they transcribe more of a social awareness—chatting with my audience—than an uncompromisingly aesthetic one, as once. Now my writing is molded by social concerns.

"It's a battle between mortals and gods as the right to claim the Goddess of Love as their own brings the Roman gods of myth to life in this classic tale. Vulcan, the God of Fire, wishes to have the beautiful Venus as his bride and will battle strange creatures and fellow gods alike, in his quest to win her. Amazing feats of strength and fantastic fights abound in this tale of adventure and true love," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. "Vulcan, Son of Jupiter" is a dubbed in English, Italian-made feature. Bouncy, bountiful Bella Cortez and alluring Annie Gorassini are the fleshy film's G-rated headlights, er… highlights.** Vulcan, Son of Jupiter (1961) Emimmo Salvi ~ Richard Lloyd, Bella Cortez, Annie Gorassini

This is basically a poorly dubbed Italian B story about ancient Greek mythology with Roger Browne as Mars and Rod Flash (stage moniker for Iloosh Kooshabe) in the part of Vulcan. What makes this movie so funny is not the story but the costumes (like plastic skirts,and diapers sparkling silver boots that would make Liberache and Mario Bava envious). Put all of this together with an absolutely ludicrous fight scene, and you have Vulcan, Son of Jupiter. It's difficult to put this into words. You would have to see the movie to get what I'm saying. This is a very rare film and the only copy I could find was inside of the "50 movie warriors DVD pack" available at Amazon. I gave this movie a rating of 10 because it was so bad it was good! If your that type of person who enjoys terrible movies, this is the film for you!