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Hercules & the Princess of Troy
(1965 TV Movie)
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You will find this movie and many other Hercules features in the boxed set shown above.
Hercules & the Princess of
Troy (1965): This is a pilot for a series that never
materialized. The series would have been called "Hercules".
The premise of the series, as it was in this movie, features Hercules
as the master of his own boat. It's a really tricked out boat,
with a huge black H on the sail and an H emblem on the front. He
wasn't striving for anonymity here. Anyway, the boat is rowed by
free warriors who do this of their own choosing out of respect for the
legendary hero. They are on their way home to the city of Thebes,
but along the way make stops to help the unfortunate.
But Hercules has only two "main men". Ulysses, in his early twenties, is Hercules' youthful ward. Kind of like Robin to Batman. Ulysses is a mighty warrior in his own right, but still has much to learn. So he's taking his teachings, willingly, from master Hercules. Diogenes is the other guy. He's in his late forties; cocky, but still a really good guy. Diogenes is the real brain of the troop. For all his cockiness, he is very wise. Diogenes is a philosopher as well as a scientist, and passes his knowledge to Hercules and Ulysses. A running gag of the show is that Diogenes' wife, who is still in Thebes, is very sharp-tongued and puts him through his paces.
In this adventure, Hercules and company find themselves in the city of Troy. The people are cursed with the frequent sacrifice of a maiden to a giant, bug-like serpent monster. Diana, the Princess of Troy, is slated to be the monster's next feast as an evil plot by her uncle King Petra. That is, unless, Hercules can kill the beast and secure the chance of Diana becoming queen.
I was really surprised by how much I liked this film when I first saw it. It was really well filmed, scripted, and acted. I liked all the actors, but Gordon Scott as Hercules deserves special recognition. Scott was the movies' Tarzan from 1955-1960. He's physically a good match for Hercules, and looks just like you'd think he should. Gordon also gives Hercules a likable, heroic personality. I could see this show as a series, and it's a real shame that it did not continue as such.
The sea monster is a wonderful special effects masterpiece. Most special effects in movies of the 50s and 60s look fake. This sea monster looks and moves very real. I think it rivals a lot of the CGI monsters created in today's movies for believabilty factor. I would like to know more about the people behind the creation of this sea monster. If you know anything, please CONTACT ME.
This was the last sword-and-sandal/mythological muscleman show for Gordon Scott. Sword-and-sandal, as a genre, was almost completely over with as a film craze by this point. Scott moved onto it's replacement genre, the spaghetti western (called that for the reason that they were westerns filmed in Italy). He did a few more films before retiring from the screen entirely.
If "Hercules" continued as a series, it would have featured many actors familiar to American TV viewers, and especially those who were already in Europe working in other shows.
CAST:
Starring-
Gordon Scott as Hercules
Mart Hulswit as Ulysses
Paul Stevens as Diogenes
With-
Diana Hyland as Princess Diana
George Ardisson as Leander (credited as Giorgio Ardisson)
Steve Garrett as Petra
And-
Roger Browne as Ortag
Also-
Gordon Mitchell as Pirate Captain
Mario Novelli as Botus
Jacques Stany as Argus (credited as Jacques Stanislawski)
Dan Christian as Boatswain
Everett Sloane as Narrator
CREW:
Produced & Directed by Albert Band
Executive Producer- Joseph E. Levine
Writers- Larry Forrester & Ugo Liberatore
Original Music- Fred Steiner
Music Supervisor- Irving Friedman
Cinematography- Enzo Barboni
Film Editing- Russel Wiles & John Woodcock
Production Manager- Giorgio Baldi
Assistant Director- George Tyne
But Hercules has only two "main men". Ulysses, in his early twenties, is Hercules' youthful ward. Kind of like Robin to Batman. Ulysses is a mighty warrior in his own right, but still has much to learn. So he's taking his teachings, willingly, from master Hercules. Diogenes is the other guy. He's in his late forties; cocky, but still a really good guy. Diogenes is the real brain of the troop. For all his cockiness, he is very wise. Diogenes is a philosopher as well as a scientist, and passes his knowledge to Hercules and Ulysses. A running gag of the show is that Diogenes' wife, who is still in Thebes, is very sharp-tongued and puts him through his paces.
In this adventure, Hercules and company find themselves in the city of Troy. The people are cursed with the frequent sacrifice of a maiden to a giant, bug-like serpent monster. Diana, the Princess of Troy, is slated to be the monster's next feast as an evil plot by her uncle King Petra. That is, unless, Hercules can kill the beast and secure the chance of Diana becoming queen.
I was really surprised by how much I liked this film when I first saw it. It was really well filmed, scripted, and acted. I liked all the actors, but Gordon Scott as Hercules deserves special recognition. Scott was the movies' Tarzan from 1955-1960. He's physically a good match for Hercules, and looks just like you'd think he should. Gordon also gives Hercules a likable, heroic personality. I could see this show as a series, and it's a real shame that it did not continue as such.
The sea monster is a wonderful special effects masterpiece. Most special effects in movies of the 50s and 60s look fake. This sea monster looks and moves very real. I think it rivals a lot of the CGI monsters created in today's movies for believabilty factor. I would like to know more about the people behind the creation of this sea monster. If you know anything, please CONTACT ME.
This was the last sword-and-sandal/mythological muscleman show for Gordon Scott. Sword-and-sandal, as a genre, was almost completely over with as a film craze by this point. Scott moved onto it's replacement genre, the spaghetti western (called that for the reason that they were westerns filmed in Italy). He did a few more films before retiring from the screen entirely.
If "Hercules" continued as a series, it would have featured many actors familiar to American TV viewers, and especially those who were already in Europe working in other shows.
CAST:
Starring-
Gordon Scott as Hercules
Mart Hulswit as Ulysses
Paul Stevens as Diogenes
With-
Diana Hyland as Princess Diana
George Ardisson as Leander (credited as Giorgio Ardisson)
Steve Garrett as Petra
And-
Roger Browne as Ortag
Also-
Gordon Mitchell as Pirate Captain
Mario Novelli as Botus
Jacques Stany as Argus (credited as Jacques Stanislawski)
Dan Christian as Boatswain
Everett Sloane as Narrator
CREW:
Produced & Directed by Albert Band
Executive Producer- Joseph E. Levine
Writers- Larry Forrester & Ugo Liberatore
Original Music- Fred Steiner
Music Supervisor- Irving Friedman
Cinematography- Enzo Barboni
Film Editing- Russel Wiles & John Woodcock
Production Manager- Giorgio Baldi
Assistant Director- George Tyne