Musings!

Hélène Chanel, as Astra the High Priestess, and with Lia Zoppelli and Nino Dal Fabbro at her side in SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964)

This movie is a comedy and it's one of the most crowded casts of the PEPLUM genre. There are at least a dozen major characters, including these three. It's so crowded some characters get lost in the shuffle, including the one played by Hélène Chanel. She gets too little time for her fun performance. I like the movie, I watched it many times. But it's decidedly uneven. Some really great parts while some really boring parts (the feuding family sub-plot, with Livio Lorenzon, is pointless and really drags the entire production). They could have removed the boring parts or trimmed them down, and increased the visibility of other characters, like the High Priestess one. This movie is often ridiculed and doesn't deserve the hate since the film's goofiness reflects its comedic tone. It's deliberate.