I saw the Alpha Video DVD of GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON, which is from a well-preserved widescreen print, and it's dazzling to look at! To be sure, the color balance goes a bit wonky in a few outdoor scenes, but the aquamarine trees and purple skies almost seem intentional, given the strangeness of director Vittorio Cottafavi's vision. If all the old sword and sandal epics were in this good a shape, the genre would attract many more fans.

The movie itself is a delirious muscleman fantasy from start to finish. A bearded Mark Forest shows off the biggest pecs and widest lats of his generation, and melts everyone with his smile (except scar-faced Broderick Crawford as the cranky villain). The costumes are beautiful, the sets are extravagant, the exterior landscapes are a lush paradise, the monsters are huge puppets, and just when you think the story can't become more bizarre...it does! An absurdly majestic music score by Les Baxter strives to match the melodrama of a hero who dares to revolt against the gods themselves.

Cottafavi will try just about anything to dazzle and disorient the viewer. In one scene, as our hero approaches, looms above, and then passes over the camera, the point of view turns completely upside-down; the effect is so audacious I had to laugh out loud! This is fearless (and yes, perhaps sometimes mindless) film-making, and the result is truly dreamlike, if not downright mythic.

This myth-opera Peplum deals about Hercules , he finishes the seven works going to inferno in the center of earth , a hell plenty of craters , volcano , yellow fume and red foggy in gaudy colors and groundbreaking atmosphere . There he battles can Cerbero with various heads spitting fire and a flying monster similar a large bat (creatures made by Carlo Rambaldi : ET) . Later on , there takes place a palace intrigue with a tyrant named Euristeo (a scarface Broderick Crawford , in the U.S. version, it's not his voice, but a voice actor impersonating him) attempting to rule over the city of Tebas and our hero unhesitatingly goes into action and must use his strength to save his wife and son of a cruel torture with elephants ; plus , he confronts Zeus represented by a great sculpture . Here Hercules is married to Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) and has a rebel and angry son (Moretti) facing off his father , but he's impeded on relationship with Thea and even he's tied a tree by Hércules . Finally , it takes place an exciting final confrontation into a snakes pit .

This muscle-man epic displays action , adventures , mythology, bizarre and luxurious scenarios and results to be quite amusing . The movie has not mythological accuracy , neither expectation historical . This film is listed among the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Awards . Stunningly cheap special effects like the shots and close-ups of a giant bear that's a man suited struggling against Hércules . Besides , it appears usual Eurotrash babes such as Wandisa Guisa and Leonora Ruffo and a habitual Spaghetti Western : Robert Hundar as a centaur . Mark Forest is good and strong playing the mythical hunk who finds several risks while attempting to defeat his enemies and fighting monsters and numerous odds . Forest played the hero in great number of movies and was randomly assigned the identity of Hércules , Goliath , Samsom for US version . Bouncing and robust Forest was a muscle-man who allegedly left the Gladiators genre for the Opera and he currently teaches in the L.A. zone . He was one along with the biggest chests like are Gordon Scott , Alan Steel , Reg Park , Ed Fury , Dan Vadis , all of them to seek fortune acting absurdly mythological figures but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity .

This motion picture is an enjoyable sword and sandals story , being compellingly directed by Vittorio Cottafavi (1914-1998),he was a complete artist , painter and Peplum expert , as he directed : ¨Conquest of Atlántida¨ , ¨Legions of Cleopatra¨ , ¨Mesallina¨ and ¨Rebellion of gladiators¨ . Originally titled "Hercule's Revenge", but since Universal owned the rights to Hercules at the time, the title was changed and the name of the main character was changed to Goliath.

A well-made (for the genre),expensive-looking (apart from the special effects) peplum vehicle for Mark Forest, here dressed up to look just like Steve Reeves. GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON is one of the more impressive peplum adventures and contains some very good scenes in its running time. Sure, the expected court shenanigans, romance, and plot twists are all present and correct, but the action - when it comes - is very good indeed and a must-see for fans of cheesy monsters.

The opening couldn't be better, as it has Goliath climbing down a huge pit to retrieve the stolen "blood diamond" from the statue of his beloved wind goddess. It turns out that the diamond was stolen by the troops of Eurystheus (Broderick Crawford) and thrown into the pit for Goliath to retrieve. You see, there's a dragon lurking in the pit which Eurystheus hopes will kill Goliath. What do you think will happen? You're right, Goliath will manage to kill the dragon single-handedly, but that doesn't happen until the end of the film. For now we have to make do with some cool, impressive stop-motion animation of the dragon hunting through the cave; a first for the peplum genre? I've a feeling that this may have been inserted by American producers as I've certainly never seen any sign of stop-motion in other Italian peplum movies (they didn't have the budget for one thing). Still, it's a big surprise and a big plus for the film as I love stop-motion.

Goliath's first obstacle is a dangerous, fire-breathing three-headed dog which is guarding the entrance to the cave. After a few thwacks from Goliath's sword, it immediately "plays dead" thus letting him enter - still, it provided a nice spectacle. Incidentally, spectacle is what GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON is all about and it provides oodles of it, which is why I rate it so highly; it may be cheesy and unrealistic, but the spirit of the film is action-packed and a whole lot of fun! Goliath wanders into some very impressive mist-enshrouded underground caverns, full of bubbling lakes and lurking danger. Sure enough, he's soon attacked by a cheesy, flying winged monster but beats it out of the sky! After retrieving his precious diamond, Goliath retreats, and the rest of the film (until the ending) takes place above-ground with some (less impressive) more standard human intrigue.

Broderick Crawford hams for all his worth as the cruel tyrant Eurystheus (whom one character so memorably calls "a mass of fat and muscle, full of violence and brutality"!). Crawford is miscast, yes, but provides a worthwhile villain for Goliath to face - the only trouble is that he looks so physically unfit that you feel he might keel over and die at any minute! The rest of the cast is made up of Goliath's trouble-seeking younger brother (who doesn't share his sibling's love of body-building, obviously),some supposed Italian beauties, and lots of marching soldier types. Amid all the usual dialogue, near-death moments, and swooning females, Goliath proves his worth by chucking rocks, pulling down trees and temples, and fighting a grizzly bear (or a man-in-a-suit, depending on how gullible/perceptive you may be)! Great fun, worth watching.

Eventually, Eursytheus kidnaps Goliath's brother and has him tied to a cross, intending to make an elephant trample him in a surprisingly grisly little moment. Thankfully Goliath comes to the rescue on his chariot, fighting off the elephant single-handedly - well he makes it sit down in the end! - and escaping again. But the fun isn't over yet. You see, Crawford has a creepy snake pit in his dungeon, into which he lowers beautiful women as a torture device! This means that Goliath is up to his arms in rescuing people and righting wrongs.

In a memorable plot twist, Goliath actually falls foul of the gods, causing the sky to turn purple - cool! A centaur (seen only at a distance) called Polymorphus appears to kidnap Goliath's love interest, only to receive a spear in the back for its troubles. It hands over the fainted lady to Crawford before dying, who proceeds to chain her up as dragon bait. This leads to another cool scene, in which Goliath bravely battles the (mechanical) monstrosity, which is defeated fairly easily, it has to be said! It's all about spectacle again...after Goliath slays the dragon (and has his girlfriend kidnapped AGAIN),he storms Crawford's palace with his small army, but not before single-handedly destroying the foundations of the place from underground.

A well-staged battle ensues, and the film culminates with Crawford falling into his own snake-pit and dying - a hilarious sight. Somewhat bizarrely, the most beautiful actress is also bitten and dies, but I guess even Goliath can't have everything! The Les Baxter score is appropriately spooky and exciting when needs must, Mark Forest looks the part and has some choice dialogue as Goliath, and the sets and costumes are spot-on. In all, an action-packed and fast-paced adventure, and in my mind one of the best films of the genre! I highly recommend Something Weird Video's print of this movie, which is, as they say, crystal clear and impressively letterboxed - go get it!