The confusing Maciste movies...

Maciste is a well known Hero in Italy, and Europe, thanks to the masterpiece of silent cinema, CABIRIA (1914). Maciste was a character in the movie and the actor, Bartolomeo Pagano, became so well known for playing Maciste that he legally changed his name to the fictional character. Once the silent movie era ended, Maciste disappeared from the silver screen until the character was resurrected in 1960 in SON OF SAMSON with Mark Forest as the legendary hero. The movie was a hit and, like HERCULES (1958) a few years prior, it triggered a flood of new Maciste films.

The character, presumably, was and is in the public domain and anyone could use the character. There were 25 maciste movies made in the 1960s and along with it came an insane amount of confusion, certainly when the Maciste were re-titled for markets in the US, Canada, where Maciste wasn't well known. This is part 1 of what will become an on-going article.

Three of those movies shared similar names. All of these three films starred Mark Forest. Two of them were directed by Michele Lupo. 

MACISTE - L'UOMO PIU FORTE DEL MONDO (1961)

MACISTE - IL GLADIATORE PIU FORTE DEL MONDO (1962)

MACISTE - L'EROE PIU GRANDE DEL MONDO (1963)

If you look, there's just a slight change in the title. The first one is L'UOMO or Man. The second one is GLADIATORE, which is Gladiator, of course. And the third one is L'EROE which is Hero. They also changed FORTE (strongest) to GRANDE (greatest) for that one. They basically share the same title but with a slight changes.

  

MACISTE - L'UOMO PIU FORTE DEL MONDO.

This translates as MACISTE - THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD. The movie was re-titled for US markets when it was shown with the SONS OF HERCULES TV series. It was retitled MOLE MEN AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES. It was released as THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD, minus the Maciste, for International English markets. The artwork of the Italian poster below is nothing like the movie.

MACISTE - IL GLADIATORE PIU FORTE DEL MONDO

Or MACISTE - THE STRONGEST GLADIATOR IN THE WORLD. The US/Canada title became COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA. In the UK, it was known as DEATH ON THE ARENA. This was directed by Michele Lupo.

 

MACISTE - L'EROE PIU GRANDE DEL MONDO

Or MACISTE - THE GREATEST HERO IN THE WORLD. It was re-titled GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON for the US/Canada markets. This was also directed by Michele Lupo.

 

And to confuse things even further, there was also MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA (1964) that also starred Mark Forest which had nothing to do with the previous series. To confuse things even greater, this movie is a TWIN PRODUCTION with THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR (1964), which is basically the same cast and crew and even *same scenes* with MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA. 

MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA was re-titled TERROR OF ROME AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES for the SONS OF HERCULES TV series, and in the movie, Maciste was renamed Poseidon! 

In THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR, the hero (Mark Forest) was named Hercules. 

Out of the 25 Maciste movies of the 1960s, Mark starred in 7 of them. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

So much confusion!

I'll have more on this in future posts.