Rainey Dawn Right off the bat I have to say this is not about Hercules but about the SON OF Hercules Ercole/Argolese. Most likely "son of" refers to a follower of Hercules. Like father, like son - Argolese is like his "father" so I guess it is a Hercules movie in a way.This one does have some light comedy in it - including the man in the bear suit scenes. Babar gives us some comical lines and looks - the real comic relief of the film.Not only does this peplum action-adventure "Hercules" film give us some light comedy, it is a fantasy film since we have a witch and a dragon. It does feel like a Dungeons and Dragons movie in it's way. And it has all the makings for a film that I enjoy. This one might be my favorite "Hercules" film from the 60s series.6/10

DarthBill Hercules (Dan Vadis, who also played the role in "The Triumph of Hercules") saves a beautiful princess and, as a reward, he is offered her hand in marriage (which is great for both of them given that they're both nice people) but is also asked to help the royal family against their enemies. Next thing you know Herc is up to his neck in trouble rescuing his fiancé's entire people from an evil subterranean empire. An okay entry in the sword & sandal genre with some decent atmosphere (and some stock footage from the first Steve Reeves Hercules film), Dan Vadis is perhaps the film's greatest asset in addition to the beautiful women. Some may not like him for not being Steve Reeves or Reg Park, but the very nimble and agile lightning bruiser Vadis brings a Burt Lancaster level of energy to what would have otherwise been some fairly generic fight scenes, and he looks quite larger than life battling his way through an army of henchmen. And while he may have had to kill a lion (which looks pretty good since it really is Vadis wrestling the lion) he is nice enough to save a bear that got in his way. Weirdly enough, when the film came out in America it was re-dubbed as "Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness" with Herc being changed to Argolese, son of the Herc. An unusual choice to say the least.

bkoganbing Hercules the Invincible finds Dan Vadis cast as the demigod son of Zeus who saves the life of a princess by slaying a couple of lions. Her father is ever so grateful, but asks him if he could do just one more little job for him, slay a dragon and yank out a back tooth which is said to be charmed. Hercules takes the contract and the dragon is summarily dispatched.But while the dragon is being slain, some nasty dudes carry off the king, the daughter, and all other able bodied folks as slaves for their queen who lives inside a hollow volcanic mountain with her subjects. All they leave behind is John Simons who then becomes Hercules's companion.Simons is about as useful to Hercules as Pancho was to the Cisco Kid. But the reason he was left behind is he's hardly a valiant types. The men of the kingdom eat the hearts of the valiant in the belief it will increase their courage. This guy will put it in the negative.The rest of the film is concerned with the rescue with Hercules battling a bear, two elephants, and the volcano itself. He proves to be quite invincible. Simons provides some nice comic relief for the audience. The big guy is stoic throughout Simons's cowardly goofiness.Peplum fans should like this one.

MARIO GAUCI This is easily among the lamest peplums to emerge out of Italian cinema during that subgenre's heyday: in this respect, muscular lead Dan Vadis certainly proved consistent since his efforts in this vein are all quite terrible! Anyway, this starts off with one of the most side-splitting Anglicized cast lists ever that bears repeating in full here: apart from Vadis himself, we have Ken Klark, Jannette Barton, Red Ross, Sand Beanty, Kirk Bert, Kriss Moss, Jannette Le Roy, Paul Mac Lee, Pat Kein, Angel Pat, Flow Garden, Tago Convers, Albert Cardiff and, finally, Al World for director!! – but equally hilarious are the hero's intermittent fights with a variety of incredibly fake-looking wild animals (a lion and a bear) and monsters (a dragon that looks more like a dinosaur!)…though he also survives getting torn apart by a bunch of real elephants in the arena! Worse still is the obligatory comic relief courtesy of a cowardly elderly sidekick that is truly unbearable to behold. Having watched a handful of such undemanding and virtually interchangeable fare back-to-back, I can hardly recall what the plot was all about: I do know, however, that much is made of the fact that the aforementioned dragon's smallest tooth has all-important magic powers that, needless to say, are craved by a Fu Manchu-type potentate who incongruously turns up at some point, to little effect