This Italian peplum production was originally released in 1962 as GLI AMORI DI ERCOLE (which translates to LOVES OF HERCULES. In 1966, the film was purchased by Walter Manley Enterprises, who edited, dubbed, and renamed it HERCULES VS. THE HYDRA for TV release. With the success of Ridley Scott’s GLADIATOR, sword and sandal films are hot again. Though HERCULES VS. THE HYDRA is no GLADIATOR, it still manages to generate some gladiator excitement, despite the obvious cheese.

The two cheesecake/beefcake stars, Jayne (LAS VEGAS HILLBILLYS) Mansfield and Mickey (BLOODY PIT OF HORROR) Hargitay were a real life couple, and their chemistry spills over onto the big screen. The big-busted Mansfield was revered as a pin up queen in the late fifties and early sixties. Sadly, her career was cut short when she passed away in 1967. Here Mansfield has a dual role as the beautiful duty-bound princess Dejanira, and the evil leader of the Amazon women. This was Hargitay’s first stab at Hercules. The supporting cast consists of Italian actors and actresses (like Massimo Serato, Giulio Donnini, and Arturo Bragaglia) who look embarrassed to be in this film. HERCULES VS THE HYDRA was directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragalia, who directed other films of the genre such as URSUS IN THE VALLEY OF THE LIONS and QUEEN OF BABYLON.

While Hercules is away, the captain of the guard named Nico from the kingdom of Arcadia, murders Hercules’ wife. The blame is put upon the king of Arcadia. After Hercules mourns the death of his wife, he travels to Arcadia to face the king. But the king is already dead (thanks to the treacherous Nico). The king’s daughter Dejanira is now the leader and she is unaware of her captain of the guard’s treachery. Dejanira and Hercules quickly develop feelings for one another, but she is promised to another, Prince Acalos. Though her heart lay with Hercules, she will do anything to keep peace in her kingdom.

Nico stabs Prince Acalos with a knife lifted from Hercules. Naturally, Hercules gets the blame, and then Nico has him put on trial. Hercules demands his freedom to prove he is innocent. Hercules hunts the one man who may have proof of his innocence, but discovers the 3 headed Hydra monster. After a drawn out struggle, Hercules manages to slay the beast, but the creature mortally wounds him. The Hydra was the guardian to the realm of the Amazon women, and now they are free.

The Amazon women abduct the wounded Hercules and heal them. But the Amazon women want to control Hercules, so their leader magically disguises herself as Dejanira and seduces him. Meanwhile, Nico is killing anyone who stands between him and Dejanira’s throne. But he controls her troops, and he gives her an ultimatum: make him the ruler of Arcadia by marriage, or die. Hercules must find a way to fight off the Amazon women, and return to the kingdom of Arcadia, to rescue his loved one.

HERCULES VS THE HYDRA is so cheesy, that it does not fail to entertain. And you have to like Hercules’ sensitivity. Five minutes after his wife dies, he is in love again with the next woman he meets! Equally hilarious is that Mickey Hargitay is dubbed with a British accent! The other male characters are dubbed by Shakespearean-style actors, which makes for better dialog delivery than you would imagine. Jayne Mansfield looks great as Dejanira sporting a black wig. To contrast this, as the evil leader of the Amazons who dupes Hercules, she wears a red wig. Mansfield plays her character like Liz Taylor in CLEOPATRA. Though not a great actress, she has some screen presence and makes the best of her roles.

Mickey Hartigay’s performance as Hercules is disappointing compared to Steve Reeves (who made the Hercules franchise famous). You don’t need to have acting skills to perform a role like this, especially if you know your dialog will be dubbed, but it is nice to have some charisma, at best. Though he is a big guy, Hartigay just has no presence. As Hercules, Hartigay battles the three-headed hydra (a large, unconvincing, mechanized prop that fails to depict any realism), stops a maddened bull on the loose (the animal looks drugged), fights a shaggy bigfoot-like creation (a large Greek guy with a hairy back and rotted teeth), encounters walking tree men (actors in foam tree outfits), and is captured by a plethora of Amazon women (can’t say anything bad about the Amazon women; they all look great!).

The production design is excellent, but much of it is lost in the pan and scan process. The Roman costuming looks colorful and highly authentic. The interior scenes were obviously shot on a soundstage somewhere, but the art direction is pretty detailed. There are some wonderful exterior panoramic sets which must have looked awesome in widescreen, but are castrated here. There is a very ancient looking Greek colonnade that looks convincing even in the full frame transfer.

SIGHT

The original theatrical ratio for GLI AMORI DI ERCOLE is 2.35.1. Naturally, when it was released to TV by Walter Manley Productions, the transfer was panned and scanned to fit the TV screen. Trimark must have optioned only the TV print since that’s what we get here (1.33.1). This is a crying shame, because the production team put in a lot of work to produce epic set designs. These sets (not to mention the special effects, the cast, and the large number of extras) are all compromised. Also, the full frame transfer has that washed out look from overscanning. You know, the image lacks detail and the colors are muted. On the positive side, this is a decent print for a 40 year old film; there is not as many nics, scratches, and imperfections as you would expect to see in the image. Several close ups of the characters actually don’t look too bad. The black level is very deep, and the other colors are all evident (though a bit soft). Generally, the video quality is much better than VHS, but not what it should be for DVD. The action scenes do not suffer from the problems here, but they do appear truncated in the pan and scan transfer. Despite this major shortcoming, you can still appreciate the positive things in the cinematography, like the regal costuming, authentic production design, cheap monsters, and the breasts of Jayne Mansfield.

SOUND

The audio portion certainly fares better than the video; at least the soundtrack has not been altered in any way (if you don’t count the dubbing). HERCULES VS. THE HYDRA is solid Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 presentation, with only a few audio flaws (some distortion and the occasional background hiss). Most of the movie is dialog driven and this mix serves that well. The dubbing is very well done; at least compared to films dubbed today (why do films dubbed back then sound better than films dubbed today?). Most of the voice actors are of the Shakespeare variety, and they manage to project some authority into their lines (especially those portraying the bad guys). The English dialog is also expertly synchronized with the foreign actors. One highlight of the soundtrack is the score by Carlo Innocenzi, (who also scored MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN, GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS, and ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS) which should please fans of soundtrack music. His compositions are full of rousing choral arrangements, complete with tenors in the background. It is a glorious score indeed. And it sounds nicely integrated on the soundtrack, and is not overpowered by the dubbing or sound effects. This score is about the only thing in the film does not come off as cheesy.

FEATURES

The only extra is a custom Trimark trailer for the ADVENTURES OF HERCULES DVD Box Set. The short trailer consists of brief scenes from all seven films in the collection. The trailer is full frame and mono, naturally. Look for DVD reviews coming soon for the other entries in Hercules DVD Box Set: LION OF THEBES, THE TROJAN HORSE, MEDUSA AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, THE TRIUMPH OF HERCULES, HERCULES VS. THE SONS OF THE SON, and HERCULES VS. THE MOLOCH.

CONCLUSION

Fans of the Hercules and Xena TV shows should get a kick out of this to see where those shows draw their influences from. This DVD has it’s problems (mainly the pan and scan transfer), but the transfer is far superior to VHS or AMC which are the only two ways to see these gladiator classics. Yeah, HERCULES VS. THE HYDRA is cheesy, but it is cheesy in a fun way. Granted, these films are not for everyone. But people who enjoy the Sinbad films may like this, just don’t expect that Ray Harryhausen magic. Getting back to the pan and scan desecration, it is hard to complain since there are 7 movies in the box set for $35. That’s $5 dollars a movie, the lowest single price of a DVD title that I’ve encountered yet. Grab a couple brews or cocktails, relax, and get ready to laugh.

 THE ADVENTURES OF HERCULES is available at DVDEmpire

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