This film struck me as being about three hours long. I don't mind Italian Peplum films so much (I'm not a rabid fan of them either, mind), but this film had serious pacing issues that caused me to either be mildly interested in what was going on to drooling slightly while having anxiety dreams about a bunch of Czech nurses wanting to irrigate my colon.Justin Beber lookalike Gorgon Mitchell is Orbo, some eco-warrior all out to give some guy a guilt trip about his scientific experiments in the city of Metropolis. Old' Gord is all out to prove that recycling, sustainable energy sources, and so on is the way forward, but this film was made in 1961 and the bad guy does not care in the slightest.My problem with this film is that it's not very good. Things that should be exciting are dragged on forever (like fighting bad guys, the eco-disaster, all that crap). I don't mind Gordon Mitchell, but...I don't know (I'll have to add that bit in later but I need a pish).This is one of them Mill Creek films you can pick up for next to nothing so don't worry about it. Good bad guy kill ratio however.

Wow! Here's a movie that really really breaks the goofy meter! This Italian epic chronicles the madcap antics of Yotar, king of fabled Atlantis and power-mad science maven. Thru the misapplied use of the advanced Atlantean technology Yotar is able to control the wills of almost everybody on the continent. At one point in the movie it is claimed that Yotar rules the entire planet! Amazing that he would still have time to make babies what with all the responsibilities that running the world must incur, but apparently that is the case because Yotar has a young son that he is determined to make immortal, no matter what the cost. Yotar future is looking so bright he has to wear shades at the beginning of the flick, but things are about to drastically change, for journeying across the vast wasteland that is Atlantis is steroid-popping Obro and his family, who are on their way to Metropolis, the capital city, to warn Yotar that his egregious scientific folly will bring down horrible destruction on them all! You can read more about the plot in the other reviews of this bizarre little cowflop of a film. I'll just offer a few observations. First, Atlantean science. These guys are so far advanced that they are able to generate a magnetic death ray that strips the flesh from the bones of men, and yet gunpowder seems to have eluded them. Once inside the walls of Metropolis the palace guards have to wield absurd looking spears and daggers with many twisted looking blades. Not a Colt 45 or hand grenade in sight! Kinda silly, eh wot?Second, the production design. Some of the other reviewers have praised the sets, etc. in this spunky little number, but here again, silly rules the day. The interiors of the city are little more than long hallways dotted with many pointy arches. There are no windows of any kind except in the room where the king keeps his young son prisoner, so most of the movie features these dark and airless interiors that are so depressing that it's surprising that most of Atlantis hasn't committed suicide long before Obro's arrival! The costumes are even more of a hoot. Obro, of course, is clad in a tight miniskirt with a thick belt, as befits any third rate Hercules clone. The Atlantean nobility wear these bizarre quilted fashions that are bunched and gathered in absurd places. They look both uncomfortable and impractical are sure to raise at least a snicker if you watch this thing. Yotar sports not a crown but a skull cap that bulges out from the back of his head enough to make you think that he might be a human-alien hybrid. I suspect that many of the initial designs for this production were rejected because they just weren't goofy enough.Thirdly, Gordon Mitchell. Apparently some of the other reviewers are familiar with the man and his cinematic efforts. This was my first experience with one of his movies. His physique speaks of many long and strenuous hours in the gym, as well as many painful shots in the buttocks. His face, on the other hand, tells a different story. He looks a lot like Eric Roberts after an all night bender. He spends a lot of time grimacing in this movie. He manages to look either pained or exhausted most of the time. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that's enough to constitute "acting" or not. He never manages to achieve even a fraction of Steve Reeve's on- screen charisma.The fight scenes, and there are many, never rise above embarrassingly lame. I suspect that they were choreographed by William Shatner. In the last third of the movie the filmmakers decided to shroud the pointy hallways of Atlantis in a low-lying mist. Too bad. If they hadn't squandered so much of their budget on dry ice they might have been able to afford a decent model of a continent to blow-up when the destruction of Atlantis occurs. I can't finish my review without mentioning that, at the end of the film, Obro begins to wax philosophical about the divine spirit that his people worship and obey. According to him Yotar's allegiance to science has blinded him to the truth of the great guy in the sky and that is why the continent must be destroyed. I'm sure if he'd had a little more time he might have launched into a dissertation on Creation Science, but alas, the movie has to save time for endless shots of people drowning and being crushed, etc. etc. Take that, Richard Dawkins!

Along with THE FURY OF ACHILLES (1962), with which I should re-acquaint myself presently, this is perhaps muscle-bound and pug-ugly Gordon Mitchell's finest hour. The film is an intriguing mix of peplum and sci-fi: I purposefully watched it and the similar (and contemporaneous) L'ATLANTIDE on consecutive days but, in the long run, this is the one to blend the two more successfully (or, if you like, outrageously) by way of imaginative (if clearly cheap i.e. mostly model and matte shots!) and atmospherically-lit sets a' la the work of Mario Bava, weird (and curiously baggy) costumes, and even odd-shaped (to say nothing of unwieldy) weaponry; incidentally, in the opening text scroll, we are told that Metropolis is just another name for Atlantis! The name of the (futuristic) city involved, then, obviously evokes Fritz Lang's seminal masterwork from 1927 and this even does it outright homage by having Metropolis eventually submerged in water (supposedly the fate of the real 'Lost Continent').Anyway, Mitchell arrives on the scene, ostensibly in search of a promised land, with a whole entourage – but, in the space of five minutes, his father has kicked the bucket of old age and exhaustion, the leader of an accompanying faction opts to go his own way, and the hero's two brothers have a literal meltdown due to the radioactive atmosphere surrounding Metropolis! His own constitution elicits fear and doubt in the mad ruler of the city: the latter is engaged in transplanting the brain of an ancient sage (whom he constantly visits for advise, so much for his supposed superiority!) into his own child-son; he has an elder daughter (who occasionally gratifies him with a sexy exotic dance!) and, following the mysterious death of his wife, married a woman several years his junior (whom he anxiously – and authoritatively – paws despite being obviously hated by her!). As for his subjects, these are a mass of anonymous zombies who invariably rally in the square opposite the palace to cheer or curse as the case may be (but with arms enthusiastically outstretched on both occasions!) – when he decides to revive a former lieutenant of his, however, he is repaid by the latter's conspiring with Mitchell et al to thwart his evil plans! To get back to the hero, he is imprisoned (via a temperature-altering beam of light, which has him make funny faces whilst appearing to be choking!) and forced into shows-of-strength with a variety of mutant monsters: a giant, which he fells with the over-sized skeletal jaw of some unidentified animal, and a horde of cannibalistic pygmies! Eventually, he meets and conquers – in the romantic sense, naturally – the King's female offspring (she pines for the outside world when shown furtive glimpses of it)…while her step-mom succumbs to suicide by poison rather than reveal the escaped Mitchell's whereabouts. To make matters worse for the King, Metropolis is apparently under constant threat from the elements, specifically Equatorial disorder (which he has scientists continually observe through a periscope and insistently urges them to come up with a solution to the imminent catastrophe!)…and, when one had thought his spirits could not sink any lower, he is haunted by his father's ghost (clearly disapproving of his toying with the Laws of Nature)! Umberto Scarpelli stepped infrequently in the director's chair (THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS –reasonably engaging but invincibly juvenile such as it is – was the last of only 5, for 3 of which he actually shared the credit with somebody else!); incidentally, the producer/co-writer of the film under review was Emimmo Salvi, who would himself graduate to helming a variety of low-brow "Euro-Cult" fare and worked 6 times in all with the star – a viewing of one of these, THE TREASURE OF THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1965), followed the very next day...

I am another one of the viewers who loved this film. Not exactly because its a great movie but because it just looks so freaking cool and is so super duper trippy man!! Some wild new rock band should absolutely show this thing on a large screen behind their next big gig. I found myself constantly pausing the movie just to freeze some of the especially visually compelling frames. This movie is just to much. Truly we have here a classic feature in the weird cinema genre. You can watch this for free on TV4u.com. What the heck is up with those freaky swords that look like dust mops...crazy! James Whale would have been proud to have his name attached to this one and Mario Bava's fingerprints are all over it..like somebody already mentioned. Holy freakout Batman...this flick should be a can't miss for fans of the truly trippy video scene. Whoa!