ATLAS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS

Chelo Alonso and Gordon Mitchell

ATLAS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS (aka Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops/Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi/1961). Director: Antonio Leonviola.

The forces of evil queen Capys (Chelo Alonso) overrun the land of Sadok, killing the king and capturing Queen Penope (Vira Silenti). However, Penope manages to save her baby (Fabio) by sending the infant off with someone who is loyal to her. Capys is under a spell crafted by the sorceress Circe, and it will not dissipate until the last cyclops (Aldo Pedinotti) devours the last descendant of the hated Ulysses, who just happens to be that innocent baby. Strong man Maciste (Gordon Mitchell) saves this baby from a lion after his guardian is killed, and much later has to save the boy and his mother from the hulking cyclops. In between Maciste dallies with Capys, saves her life when a temple's ceiling threatens to fall on her, and gets involved in several sweaty battles ...

That cyclops is hungry!

Atlas Against the Cyclops is one of the better "peplum" movies that I've seen. While the cyclops is hardly the scariest one-eyed monster in the movies (and his appearances are fairly brief), he is at least twice of the size of the beefy Maciste and the process shots blend the two together well, especially in one shot when they are engaging in battle around a column. Another great scene has Maciste caught in a tug of war with a group of white slaves on one end of a rope, black slaves on the other end, and a pit of lions below them all. Maciste is a good guy who comes to the aid of anyone who needs it, including a guard nearly crushed beneath a wagon, or a black man who nearly falls into the aforementioned pit. Maciste also has a lively  battle with the black Mumba (Paul Wynter), who is not on the side of the angels, and at one point single-handedly rows a boat to the island of the cyclops after Mumba drugs all of the other oarsmen. 

Gordon Mitchell with future romance book cover boy Fabio

Gordon Mitchell had been one of Mae West's strongmen in Hollywood -- not the only one of them to wind up in Italian peplum movies -- and even when that period ended kept appearing in movies until he amassed about 150 credits! Chelo Alonso was a Cuban actress who also appeared in a number of Italian movies. Fabio, who plays the little infant king, grew up to become an actor and a cover boy for numerous paperback romance novels. Strikingly handsome Paul Wynter certainly makes an impression, but he only did four movies. Dante DiPaolo also makes an impression as Queen Capys' good right hand and adviser, Iphitos, who happens to be in love with her. 

Verdict: A surprisingly entertaining peplum extravaganza with lots of beef. ***.