Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Rainey Dawn Maciste is in Egypt where an evil queen is out to seduce him into her villainous ways, to get what she wants.The name Samson appears in the title but this has no relationship to the biblical Samson. The film was distributed to English-speaking countries as Son of Samson but in all of the original films Maciste has no relationship to anyone named Samson. Italian titles translate into English as "Maciste in the Valley of the Kings" and it's aka "Maciste the Mighty" It's a film that barely kept me interested in it at times, other times was looking up more information on the internet about the film which was more interesting than the film itself.2/10

michael-3204 Maciste was very useful for the Peplum genre since the Italian folk hero wasn't rooted in any particular mythological tradition. He could turn up anywhere, "born of the rock," as Maciste (Italian American bodybuilder Mark Forest, who also played Hercules this same year) explains in the first Maciste entry of the Peplum revival that began in the late 1950s. Here, he turns up in ancient Egypt, which is being overrun with Persian marauders aided by the evil Queen Smedes (Chelo Alonso), who in the first few minutes has her uncooperative Pharoah husband assassinated. A chance encounter has Maciste befriending the Pharoah's hapless son, who is eventually bewitched by the beguiling Alonso, but at least Maciste knows that the guy is basically okay.There is the usual amount of double-crossing and mistaken ideas about various characters motivations, and most of the requite Peplum tropes, including the hero defeating lions and alligators and soldiers. Maciste gets several opportunities to perform feats of strength and Forest acquits himself well through all of it, flexing and looking strong. But this isn't one of the more engaging or entertaining entries in the genre, which was kicking into high gear. It's not as interesting as Forest's other 1960 Peplum, "Goliath and the Dragon" a.k.a. "The Revenge of Hercules." It largely wastes Alonso, who normally can be a dynamic presence in these films. She gets one decent dance number and has moderate fun trying to seduce Maciste, and of course she looks great and has good costumes. But the film could have done more with her, and suffers for not doing so.The English-language version was retitled "Son of Samson," with some dialogue added about Maciste maybe being a son of Samson. It's unnecessary, doesn't make much sense, and doesn't really matter. Maciste was largely unfamiliar to non-Italian audiences, so most of the Maciste films were retitled with other heroes and often the character was called someone else. Here, at least, he gets to keep the name if not the title.

bkoganbing Although as a fictional character Maciste did not have biblical origins in this film he is identified in the title as the Son Of Samson. Although why Samson the Hebrew's son would be bothering to help out Egyptians who kept his people in bondage for generations is beyond me. There really isn't any good history there.Maciste has been played by many actors from way back in the earliest days of the silent screen and in this peplum epic is played by Mark Forest. Egypt's pharaoh has died under mysterious circumstances and his second wife trophy queen is suspected of foul play. The slinky and sexy Chelo Alonso has a way with potions and such and she's got the new pharaoh, her stepson wrapped around her finger. Alonso is Persian and as her countrymen start taking over the government and enslaving the people, Maciste comes in like in westerns, spaghetti or American, and does in the bad guys and saves Egypt from a Persian takeover.As a sculpted body Forest is quite the eyeful, maybe even more of an eyeful than Steve Reeves. The sets look like they might have been used in The Ten Commandments. And whether taking a ladder full of soldiers, fighting lions and crocodiles, or dealing with the charms of Alonso, Forest fills the bill. He even registers an expression or two during the course of the film. Fans of the peplum genre of films should approve.

django-1 Most peplums with a Yugoslavian partner in the international co-production tend to have interesting location photography and a different visual style, and this one is no exception. The setting is the 11th century BC Egypt, where the nation is controlled by Persian occupiers who have enslaved the people. A well-intentioned pharoah who tries to defend the people is killed and his evil, manipulative wife (well-played by Chelo Alonso, in the tradition of over-the-top female villains in old Republic serials!) takes over and sells out the nation. On his return home to straighten things out, the pharoah's son, Kenamun, runs into Mark Forest (as Maciste, the Son of Samson) and the plot kicks into action. The plot also includes a mystical necklace that makes the wearer a zombie ready to be ordered around (shades of old serials once again!), and of course there is some romance. Mark Forest is as handsome as, say, James Darren, his physique is well-used in a number of difficult "tasks", and he is believable in the romantic scenes as well as the fights. I've seen 11 of his 12 1960s films and enjoy all of them. Interesting visuals, a unique setting, a fine female antagonist, Mark Forest's exciting presence--definitely an above-average sword-and-sandal opus for fans of the genre. Director Carlo Campogalliani was involved with many excellent historical films with American stars: Ed Fury's first Ursus movie; Steve Reeves in Goliath and the Barbarians; Lex Barker in CaptainFalcon; Jack Palance and Guy Madison in Sword of the Conqueror (that's one crying out for a DVD transfer--the circulating copies are very splicey). Check some of them out. A copy of this film was shown at UCLA recently at a peplum festival-- if there's a copy good enough quality to be screened there, it needs to be transferred to DVD now!