Goliath and the Dragon is an interesting entry into the genre if for no other reason than it's one of the few instances in which a movie starts out with Hercules being the name of the main character only to have the name changed to Goliath in the English language dub. Usually, it was the other way around. But if that was the most interesting thing about this movie, it wouldn't be very interesting. Luckily, there's a whole lot more going for this rollicking adventure.

We start things off right as Goliath fights his way through a Cave of Horrors. A minute into the film and already we have a fire-breathing, three-headed dog (or maybe a furry lizard). Turns out that Goliath is looking for a magic gem that belongs to the God of Vengeance, which was stolen by the evil Eurito. The evil king Eurito relishes the fact that Goliath can't possibly emerge from the Cave of Horrors alive. After fighting with a stop-motion dragon, a big fuzzy man-bat, and crossing a lake of fire, Goliath proves the king wrong. Why are evil kings always picking on immortal bodybuilders? You're better off pushing around some chump who won't live forever and who can't crush your head between his pecs.

How does someone get a Cave of Horrors? What contractors do these evil rulers go to when they need such a place? My guess is they go to the same people who would later design Coney Island haunted house rides, where crude animatronic gorillas remain as active today as they were back in the days when they were chasing around the Bowery Boys and the Little Rascals. The Cave of Horrors here has a distinctly Coney Island feel to it, and the man-bat is nearly as realistic as one of those apes.

Satisfied that his quests have finally come to an end, Goliath retires to the good life with his wife and kids. On the way home, he also picks up a midget who is, thankfully, restricted to a single scene of shrieking comically. The only problem with Goliath's new life is that his scrawny brother, Illo, is in love with Eurito's concubine. The malevolent despot uses Illo's love in a scheme to kill Goliath and claim Thebes as his own.

Eventually, Goliath and Illo work everything out, but not before the big guy wrestles a man in a ratty bear suit and, in one of the more impressive feats of cinematic strength, an actual elephant! Goliath also fights a creepy looking centaur (sans his Pan flute), topples columns, and goes back for another round with that dragon in the Cave of Horrors. The dragon is a mixture of impressive stop-motion animation and a not-so-impressive mechanical puppet head.

Goliath and the Dragon is pretty much nonstop action. Goliath only takes time out from kicking tail so that he can feast. The creature effects are all pretty bad and most of the monsters get beat easily, but at least there are a lot of them. The opening sequence in the cave foreshadows Mario Bava's foray into surreal fantasy in Hercules in the Haunted World. There's also some inventive camera work, decent sets, and remarkably great music from exotica legend Les Baxter. All in all, it's a fast-paced, thoroughly enjoyable fantasy adventure with a lot of imagination.

Mark Forest, in one of his earliest outings, is somewhat stiff but not bad as Goliath. He's mostly there to throw boulders at dragons, and this he accomplishes with gusto. He also gets to indulge himself in a couple staples of the peplum film: column toppling and boulder hurling. Nary a film was made that didn't feature these activities. Goliath not only gets to topple columns; he also gets to topple an entire castle with his bare hands!

Labels: Set: Warriors