‘Within two months, the conjunction of the stars will create the favourable physiological conditions for the transfer of a human brain.’
Obro and his brothers travel to Metropolis to warn its leaders to stop using science to pervert the course of nature. Meanwhile, the city’s leader (and top scientist) plans to transfer the consciousness of his deceased father into the brain of his young son so that the boy can live forever.
It’s always a little tricky to review films made in other countries, based on their U.S. release print. For a start, is this Italian muscleman picture about Atlantis or Metropolis? It’s the ‘M’ word throughout the picture, but the title crawl at the start of the film suggests otherwise, perhaps because George Pal’s big budget ‘Atlantis, the Lost Continent’ (1961) was out at the same time. Having said that, the English dub is so atrocious throughout that they may as well have gone the whole hog and just called it ‘Giant of Atlantis.’ Nobody would have been any the wiser…
Proceedings open with Obro (Gordon Mitchell) surviving some…um…wind thingy, which evil mastermind Yotar (Roldano Lupi) uses to keep strangers out of his city. You see, Lupi has quite a full dance card already, what with keeping his father alive after death, planning to put the old man’s mind into his pre-teen son, keeping the entire city’s population under hypnotic control and his wife (Linda Orfei) and daughter from his first marriage (Bella Cortez) in line. He’s also has a 200 year old ‘cave dweller‘ he regularly asks for advice and, surprise, surprise, the city’s built on top of an active volcano (probably an oversight in town planning there).
So along comes hunky Mitchell stirring things up with his prophecies of doom and that’s the last thing Lupi needs. Even if nearly everyone else in the cast is telling him the same thing anyway! But he plunges on with his mad schemes nevertheless and submits Mitchell to various tasks (or ‘labours’ perhaps?) including writhing under a nasty spotlight and fighting a big hairy bloke. He also has some combat with a group of flesh-eating pygmies in a chucklesome fight sequence which is the highlight of a string of totally inept action scenes.
Yes, this is actually a ‘Hercules’ picture in all but name, with a slight emphasis on science fiction rather than classical mythology. Mitchell flexes his pecs, shows Cortez ‘how to live’ (yes, you know what that means), Lupi scowls and shouts ‘take him away’ a few times, and everyone walks around in silly togas (apart from Mitchell, of course). Another highlight is a puzzling and hopelessly stilted ceremonial dance performed by Cortez and a couple of flunkeys, which I found pretty hilarious. Either she was no dancer or the choreographer had dropped some acid. You decide.
‘I think he’s been too long under the sun lamp…’
Mitchell was a bodybuilder with a handful of unbilled credits when he went to Italy to ride the wave created by Steve Reeves and the global success of ‘Hercules’ (1959). This was Mitchell’s first starring role and he overacts terribly, although none of the rest of the cast were likely to win any awards either.
Mitchell had yet another hurdle to overcome: he didn’t speak any Italian. Instead, he recited dirty limericks during his dialogue scenes, knowing the correct lines would be dubbed in later! Given that the film was then released in the States re-dubbed, it’s inevitable that words and mouth movements rarely coincide.
Unbelievably, given such dubious beginnings, Mitchell went onto a long and very varied film career, appearing in ‘Fellini’s Satyricon’ (1969), John Huston’s ‘Reflections In A Golden Eye’ (1967) with Marlon Brando and slightly less prestigious productions such as ‘Julius Caesar Against the Pirates‘ (1962), ‘Evil Spawn’ (1987) and ‘Bikini Drive-ln’ (1995). Watch any Italian film from the 1960s and 70s (particularly a Western) and there’s a good chance he’ll make an appearance!
Unbelievably, it took six scriptwriters to come up with this particular slice of lunacy but I am so glad that they did. Seriously bad, but seriously entertaining as well.
Mark David Welsh 