Customer Reviews

Gods of War

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can't imagine what DVDs the previous reviewers were looking at. Sadly this is an instance where I made a purchase based on the comments of others. I own hundreds of DVDs and there is nothing I have that comes close to the abysmal quality of this disk. It looks like a fifth or sixth generation transfer from a VHS, like looking at a movie through a fish bowl. I am a huge admirer of director Jacques Tourneur and hope I'll be able to see this film someday.

Both of these films are some of countless cheap Italian films to come out of the 50s and 60s portraying the myths and histories of antiquity. In this set, one film is on the battle of Marathon while the other covers Virgil's and Livy's tales of Aeneas, the Prince of Troy who settled in the kingdom of Latium with his Trojan refugees.

Mario Bava's 'Hero of Marathon' presents a fictional story of Philippides, the Athenian commoner who saves Athens and Greece against Darius in the First Persian War. The film is still amusing to watch despite it being historically inaccurate and of terrible quality. The battle of Marathon was fought on a plain and not a canyon. Unlike Reeves' Phillipedes, the real Phillipedes of Marathon died upon having delivered his message. The film does have some interesting battle scenes with relatively accurate equipment and tactics but they're pretty cheap. This is certainly not one of the best Italian sword and sandal films to come out of Italy.

Jacques Tourneur's 'Avenger' covers the hardships of the Trojans soon after Aeneas has settled a peace with the Latins and received a right from the King to settle near the Tiber. This film is better than the other one in terms of plot and has some interesting scenes. The acting is horrible however and the picture quality even worse.

These are not very good quality films but are fun to watch in terms of story line and for their cheesiness. A good Italian film to watch on Roman history is the 1939 release of Scipio Africanus covering the Second Punic War with Carthage and Hannibal.

Before Sylvester Stallone, There was Steve Reeves, and any film that he was involved in: strangely used to work. A lot of these films were tongue in cheek but there is still something magical about The Giant Of Marathon, and the story of the Trojan migration to found Rome. A lot of these films are completely innocent in their story line and their over dubbing, but they still bring a warmth of nostalgia whenever I view them.
If you are of a particular age, then all I can say to you is "purchase and enjoy."

I'm a huge fan of those fine line films that straddle between fun and bad. Gods of War manages to hit just the right note. Don't expect stellar acting, sets or dubbing, but for a sward and sandal romp this two-disc set fills the bill.

My five stars are for the great "Giant of Marathon" which gives us a stunning look at Steve Reeves at his peak. The movie begins with a thrilling symphonic musical score by Roberto Nicoladi and we see Reeves in brief vignettes, proving to the world that he is indeed the giant of marathon. The best sequence is when he swims towards the camera and comes up laughing, a rarity for Reeves who is usually shown as seriously God-like and stern in his demeanor. We next see him wrestling with another athlete, both clad in brief white loincloths, and the homoerotic subtext is unmistakable. The best part comes towards the end when Reeves leads his warriors underwater to plant sharpened poles to destroy the ships of the enemies. Clad again in white briefs, a nearly naked Reeves and hsi fellow handsome Italian warriors present a beefcake bonanza. Reeves would never look so phenomenal as he does in "Giant of Marathon." The second feature, "the Glory of Troy" is a real let down. Reeves is totally clothed in this saga with only a few seconds to glimpse his heroic chest. The battle scenes are confusing and I could never figure out who was fighting who. Reeves looks tired, too, as if he were making too many movies because he was really churning them out from l959 into the mid60s when he retired. Curiously, the more famous he became and the bigger the star, the more clothes he wore. One of his last films, "The White Prince" shows him almost comically attired in full Russian attire, from furry cossack hats down to Russian boots. You'd never know that beneath all that finery was a torso that brought Reeves international stardom. During his heyday he was bigger in Europe that Elizabeth Taylor or Rock Hudson or Sophia Loren and was commanding $250,000 a movie. He turned down the chance to play James Bond and the Clint Eastwood westerns like "A fistful of Dollars." He married an Italian Countess and after divorcing her, settled down on a cattle ranch with his second wife. He passed away recently from cancer. If you're interested in these Hercules movies, you should definitely check out Reeves major competition, Mark Forest, alias Lou Degni from the Bronx. He won both Mr. Universe and Mr. America and had the most spectacular bodies and faces in movies. His greatest cult movies are "Kindar the Invulnerable" and "Hercules versus the Mongols."

First off, I only actually watched "Last Glory of Troy" off this DVD, and the only reason I saw it is because it was the only movie I could find that told the story of the Aeneid.

I went into this DVD expecting the worst...but once you got past the obvious deficiencies it was actually an entertaining film. Sure, the lines are on the cheesy side, the action doesn't have any of the realism or thrill of modern pictures. BUT I'd happily deal with all of that for a movie which just tells the story of the Aeneid straight up and without a whole bunch of idiotic politically correct rewrites (to my mind, the far worse sin). The Last Glory of Troy is essentially a retelling of the last half of Vergil's timeless epic poem The Aeneid. Aeneas' band of Trojans have landed on the shores of Italy and get embroiled in the local politics. The sage but wary King Latinus, scheming Queen Amata and Turnus, the kind Lavinia, bold Camilla, ruthless Mezentius...all the main characters are here and true to the story. The only major difference is that the gods of the Aeneid are nowhere to be found in this film.

There are neat little tidbits too....the soldiers wearing "Villanovan"-style helmets which look right out of archeological treatises. I think I even saw some Samnite-style helmets as well. This picture was originally made in Italy, which explains the faithfulness to the book and to archaeology.

So, in short, I wouldn't go into "Last Glory of Troy" expecting a masterpiece of cinema...but if you're at all interested in the Aeneas story or in the legends of early Rome, then it's worth at least checking out.

Very satisfied with movie and with shipping
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