502 - HERCULES (USA title; 2/20/1958; 1957; Italy; NR; 107m)

a.k.a. LE FATICHE DI ERCOLE (original/Italy)
a.k.a. LES TRAVAUX D'HERCULE (France)
a.k.a. THE LABORS OF HERCULES

prequel to 408-HERCULES UNCHAINED (1958)

Ad: "The Mighty Saga of the World's Mightiest Man!"

Ad: "SEE the heroic Hercules rip down the Age of Orgy's lavish palace of lustful pleasure! SEE the Mightiest of Men fight the Mightiest of Beasts, the killer Cretan Bull! SEE Hercules fight off the savage love-starved Amazon women! SEE the seductive Amazons lure men to voluptuous revels and violent deaths! SEE the powerful Hercules crush the savage ape-men who guard the shrine of the Golden Fleece!"

Plot: Hercules meets a princess, kills a lion, visits Amazons, and helps Jason find the Golden Fleece.

Exec: Ferruccio De Martino (Aida)
Exec/USA: Joseph E. Levine
(408; 321-Santa Claus Conquers the Martians)
Prod: Federico Teti (Aida)
Dir/Scr: Pietro Francisci
(*408; The Queen of Sheba)
Asst Dir: Pietro Nuccorini
(2+5 Missione Hydra)
Scr: Ennio De Concini
(408; won Oscar/Divorce--Italian Style)
Scr: Gaio Frattini (408; The Tartars)
Sto: Rhodius Apollonius
(from his poem The Argonautica)
Cin/SFX: Mario Bava*
Ed: Mario Serandrei (408; Hercules in the Center of the Earth)
Cos: Guilio Coitellacci (Ulysses)
Cos: Paolo Tommasi
M/U: Euclide Santoli (The Pink Panther)
Asst Dir: Pietro Nuccorini (2+5 Missione Hydra)
Exec Asst: Massimo DeRita (scr/903-Puma Man)
ADir/Set: Flavio Mogherini (adir/1013-Danger: Diabolik)
Set: Gianni D'Aloisio
Sound: Renato Cadueri (Eva; Freud)
Sound: Giulio Tagliacozzo (Maciste Against the Sheik)
Score: Enzo Masetti (408; Attila; Volcano)
MDir: Carlo Savina (Amarcord; Hercules, Samson and Ulysses)
Chor: Gisa Geert

Hercules / Steve Reeves (*408; Last Days of Pompeii; Jailbait)
Iole / Sylva Koscina (408; Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits)
Jason / Fabrizio Mioni (408; The Blue Angel; The Venetian Affair)
Antea / Giana Maria Canale (The Warrior and the Slave)
Eurysteus / Arturo Dominici (Goliath and the Barbarians)
Iphitus / Mimmo Palmara
(*408; 412-Hercules and the Captive Women; Last Days of Pompeii)
King Pelias / Ivo Garrani (412; The Slave; Cyrano and D'Artagnan)
The Sybil / Lidia Alfonsi (Morgan the Pirate)
Ulysses / Gabriele Antonini (408; The Tailor's Maid)
Laertes / Andrea Fantasia (408; Son of Samson)
Argos / Aldo Fiorelli (408; Escape into Dreams; Anthony of Padua)
Orpheus / Gino Mattera (408; The Lost One; Faust and the Devil)
Amazon / Gina Rovere (All the Other Girls Do; Love A La Carte)
Chiron / Afro Poli (Aida; Tosca; Love of a Clown)
Esculapius / Gian Paolo Rosmino (Don Bosco)
Amazon / Luciana Paoluzzi a.k.a. Paluzzi
(K00-Green Slime; Thunderball; Muscle Beach Party)
Amazon / Lilli Granado (La Dolce Vita)
Pollux / Willy Colombini (408; Hercules, Samson and Ulysses)
Castor / Fulvio Carrara (408; Hercules, Samson and Ulysses)
Tifi / Aldo Pini (408; Hercules, Samson and Ulysses)
and Spartaco Nale (Sword of the Conqueror)

Trivia: Besides being behind the camera filming 502-HERCULES and its sequel 408-HERCULES UNCHAINED, Italian cinematographer MARIO BAVA (1914-1980) would later direct some fun films with mostly a tongue-in-cheek, nudge nudge, wink wink, sort of style, such as: 1961's Hercules in the Center of the Earth; 1963's Atom Age Vampire; Black Sabbath; 1964's Blood and Black Lace; 1965's Planet of Blood; 1966's Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (with Vincent Price); Curse of the Dead; and 1967's 1013-DANGER: DIABOLIK. His son, LAMBERTO BAVA, was the assistant director on 1013-DANGER: DIABOLIK as well as the director of 911-DEVIL FISH.

In 1997, HERCULES and 408-HERCULES UNCHAINED were compiled, re-edited, and re-dubbed into a new video entitled Hercules Recycled. The satirical plot goes like this: after World War III, Herc must find a secret formula to restore the Earth to the more pleasant pre-WWIII condition, while battling a dinosaur, fast-food mutants, and an insurance man! You can get this $9.95 video by calling (800) 367-8437 or via website http://www.clearstream.com.

Last Updated: 6/23/1999