Recently we worked on the sound of the english speaking version of the 1960 Sword and Sandal film called The Giant of Thessaly (Original title: I giganti della Tessaglia). I have to admit I'm a Sword and Sandal film fan. For those not familiar with the genre, Sword and Sandal were primarily Italian films that tried to produce Hollywood style epic films at a "bit" of a lower budget. These films also known as Peplum, ruled the cinema movie theaters in the late 1950's until around the mid 1960's when commercial audiences grew tired and then went on to European spy films and Spaghetti westerns. These films played world wide and were a huge hit especially during the cheap ticket times of the drive in double feature or the small time movie theater.
Sword and Sandal films had a funny nuance to them. They often had hot women and for the first time showcased the rise of the "Muscle Man" culture that would go on to influence the likes of Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. These films had notoriously cheesy monsters, Often English dubbed over Italian, (not always) low grade special effects and mediocre acting. However many of the Peplum film seemed to pull it off and create a fun, action packed sometimes dorky film that kept viewers coming back.
The Giant of Thessaly starring Roland Carey did not disappoint. While Roland Carey was not your typical Muscle Man, (lacking the huge bulk and had a more stream lined physic) he was however a decent actor. Roland was a Swiss French dual nationality who was born in 1933 (died 2019) to and Irish father and French mother. Roland Attended the Paris Conservatory and was part of the French stage acting in the Play Hamlet as Fortinbras. He brought a certain smooth flow that helped the film work. As for the women of the film, they lacked none. The Giant of Thessaly starred Palestine actress Ziva Rodann as Creusa, American Born actress Nadia Sanders as Queen Gaia, and French Actress Cathia Caro.
The Giant of Thessaly tells a tale of Jason and the Argonauts as Jason sets out on a journey to find the Golden Fleece ( The fleece of the Golden Wolf from Greek mythology). On his journey Jason finds the cursed city of Thessaly. This city has angered the gods and they recruit Jason and his men to appease the gods by retrieving the magical calf housed from distant land of Colchis and bring it to the city of Iolco. on the way Jason and his men confront evil witches, an island of women called Lemmos. Ohh... and lets not forget a giant cyclops! This is were I really found the film amusing. Though there are some good special effects in this film the cyclops is a harry man with mediocre looking mask...the best part is every time Jason or the Argonauts jump on him they show little kids dressed to look like the actors battling the giant. They did this so the giant would appear huge but it also brought some laughter to myself and those who watched it with me.
If your interested in watching and owning this film we have a cleaned up audio with decent video available for direct download here at our store.
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