TAUR THE MIGHTY (1963)

The king of Surupak sends his Black slave Ubaratutu to invite the muscular hero Taur (called Thor in the English dub in this Italian movie) to the wedding of his lovely daughter Illa to the handsome youth Syros. Got it? But when Taur and Ubaratutu get to Surupak, they discover the land ravaged, homes destroyed, and rotting corpses lying on the ground. Warriors of Kixos have caused the destruction, killed the king, and taken a number of prisoners including Syros, Illa and her sister. Taur and Ubaratutu head for Kixos on a rescue mission and discover Syros, now a prisoner in the mines. Taur frees him and leaves Ubaratutu in his place; "The worst they can do is whip you," says Taur comfortingly. In a subterranean chamber, the two discover Afer, a woman who has been chained up for eighteen years. She tells them how, years ago the evil high priest El Khad usurped the royal line and had the actual heir, just a child, killed. But Afer saved the lad and made a mark on his chest to identify him as the heir before sending him away. She identifies the mark on Syros, so added to Taur's mission is the installation of Syros as the proper king. But there's a false queen, Akiba, whom El Khad has kept doped up and docile all these years so she will do his bidding. Taur is captured and forced to fight Ubaraturu to the death, but the crowd signals mercy. Next, Taur is put to a test in which he is tied to two bands of horses to be pulled apart, during which Queen Akiba seems to get turned on, but his brute strength saves him. Our heroes have more adventures, climaxing in a plot to get a mining operation that uses the heat of a volcano to make the volcano itself explode, hopefully killing off the bad folks and saving the good folks, and leaving Syros and Illa to marry and rightfully rule Kixos.

This has the reputation of being among the worst of the 60's Italian peplum movies, but honestly, image quality and dubbing problems aside, it's actually a great deal of fun. The film is predictable, playing out like a catalog of peplum tropes: a hero dragged into a rescue situation (Taur/Thor, apparently originally meant to be named Tarzan before a lawsuit threat); a young and handsome but less hunky sidekick (Syros); another fairly hunky sidekick who provides occasional comic relief (Ubaratutu); a wicked villain (El Khad); an ambiguously wicked partner (Akiba); a village reduced to ashes; trials that allow the hero to strain (and show off) his muscles; attempts to seduce the hero; and some decent effects, including the destruction of a rope bridge and the final eruption of the volcano. The British Joe Robinson, as Taur, was a wrestler before he started acting, and after his career ended, became a martial arts teacher. He had a nice build, not as lumpily muscular as some peplum heroes, but his bland modern looks work a bit against his hero persona. Harry Baird, as Ubaratutu, is almost as hunky as Robinson but is saddled with a comic relief part with racist overtones: he has a slave mentality and he's a coward—at one point, his teeth chatter so much from fear that the bad guys almost find his hiding place. To be fair, white actors also played such parts, but the vibe with a Black actor feels a little disturbing. Still, he's good in the role. Alberto Cevenini and Thea Fleming are attractive as Syros and Illa. In the end, Taur promises Ubaratutu that more adventures are ahead, and indeed the two appeared together again in 1963's THOR AND THE AMAZON WOMEN, a lesser effort. The circulating print, on DVD, streaming, and YouTube, is pan-and-scan and a bit murky, but I'd rewatch this if a good widescreen print surfaced. At top right, Robinson; at left, Baird and Robinson. [Amazon Streaming]