Kingdom in the Sand

Kingdom in the Sand was the title by which I first saw this movie. (I have posted the cover of the U. K. Press-book in the photo section. This press-book was given to me by the late cult U. K. director Michael J. Murphy back in 1973, when he visited me in Canada). Kirk Morris was at his physical best at the end of the muscleman movie cycle and does well in this movie as the undefeatable hero. Hercules finds himself on a beach at the edge of a desert and gets involved with tribesmen fighting a strange group of "Phantoms" who live in a desert stronghold. He teams up with the desert tribesmen and decides to attack the Phantoms. They arrive at the "City of the Dead" where they live and confront their Queen, Amin. She is the Queen of Atlantis and the phantoms are actually corpses brought back to life whos intent is to conquer the world. After destroying this new kingdom, Hercules and his friends return to their peaceful life in the desert.

I've always been sentimental about this one, partly because it's one of the first "spear and sandal" ones I ever saw, and partly because it was one of the first times I heard of Atlantis (outside of the Sub-Mariner comics, and I guess, the Donovan song). Also (though this might be completely interesting only to mythology fans), it uses the name "Herakles" or "Heracles" as opposed to "Hercules". (Or was it the usual "Maciste", before the dubbing?). Anyway, even apart from the sentimental reasons, it's one of the more entertaining "Peplum" films. It had "pulp" science fiction, like the video surveillance and the army of androids. And it had an evil queen and a female army, which to me (though it might be called "misogynistic") is one of the better things in a story like this. (The queen was presumably based on the character in "She" - Helene Chanel even looked like Ursula Andress in that role.) And Kirk Morris always seemed very much at home in these films.

Brescia's third film is yet another peplum film that touches somewhat familiar territory but manages to pull off very well the same spirit of fun and light adventure present in some of the greater examples of the genre. His own take on the myth of Hercules seems rather derivative, kind of what we have seen in Hercules at the Conquest of Atlantis (1961) but done in a much less polished and notably cheaper way, leaving behind almost all mythic lore and opting for a rather self contained new sci-fi/fantasy background for the lost civilization. Because of this, Heracles feels less mighty than Hercules but his struggles and journey are almost as effective.

Incredibly well-paced, action driven, colorful and magnificently psychotronic. This is an interesting piece of peplum cinema that serves as a curious addition even if it's not new territory at all. You can tell this is early Brescia as there are some seeds but he hasn't fully gotten to the highpoint of pulpy cinematic sublimity he reached during his space movie cycle.

Hercules washes up on a desert beach and wastes no time in getting into the middle of a feud between two warring factions of desert nomads. And let's not forget the strange desert phantoms who are stirring up fear in everyone's heart.

Kirk Morris makes an adequate hero, he can manage more expressions than others who have attempted the genre. The movie moves along at a good pace with plenty of fights to keep you occupied and a surprise in the second half that is mighty amusing and throws a kind of sci-fi twist into the proceedings. Add to that some colorful sets, costumes and over the top acting, and you have a good way to waste 90 minutes of your time.