Dear Cinemythologists,
On Thursday, September 24, our unit on Heracles/Hercules continues. Please do the following.
VIEWING
- Hercules (Le fatiche di Ercole) (Pietro Francisci, 1958)
Streaming on Amazon Prime. Take notes as you see fit. The film is dubbed from the Italian, so there will be a disconnect between the characters’ mouths and their voices. (And that is not the voice of Steve Reeves under any circumstances.)
As you will have learned from our introduction to peplum, this film is epoch-making in many ways — difficult as it might be to appreciate them in the 21st century.
ANALYSIS
Speaking of epoch-making, our Analysis enterprise gets underway today with Graubart and Ricci presenting their video on a sequence from Hercules.
READING
- Blanshard, Alastair J. L. and Kim Shahabudin. 2011. “Peplum Traditions: Hercules.” Classics on Screen: Ancient Greece and Rome on Film. Chapter 3, 58–76. Bristol Classical Press.
Blanshard and Shahabudin take our ongoing discussion on peplum a step further by focusing on the place of Hercules in the cinematic tradition.
SEQUENCES
- Jefferson, Pettit.
Use the comments feature on this post to recommend a sequence to be reviewed and discussed in class.
Recommendations should contain the following:
- A brief description of the sequence.
- Precise starting and ending times (hh:mm:ss — hh:mm:ss).
- A rationale as to why this sequence is worth our time.
DC
Graubart and Ricci’s clip: 00:58:48–01:01:20 (with the Amazons).
The scene I chose was when Hercules runs off to fight the Nemean Lion. The scene goes from 28:00 – 32:48. I included the aftermath of his struggle with the lion due to the death of Prince Iphitus. This seemed to be a turning point in the plot that eventually ends up with Hercules fighting the Cretan Bull and finding Jason. The scene starts with Hercules riding towards the lion and being followed by the arrogant Prince. The Prince is attacked and succumbs to his injuries but Hercules is seen wrestling and defeating the lion. This is also one of Hercules’ famed labors. Hercules returns to Iolcus with Iphitus’ dead body and King Pelias is enraged. He blames the death on Hercules and commands Hercules to seek out the bull as punishment/ redemption. This is related to the Hercules myth as it follows the idea of redemption that is so prevalent in the classical myth. Not only does this scene have several connections to the classical tale, it also displays Hercules’ body in the tradition of peplum films.
The scene from 00:20:55 to 00:24:02 develops the characters of Hercules and Iphitus, and introduces Ulysses. Iphitus makes a dramatic entrance and causes everyone to leave the training field. Hercules challenges him to an archery shot, which Iphitus misses. Hercules talks Ulysses through how to make the shot at a greater distance, and to Iphitus’ embarrassment he hits the bullseye. The scene establishes early expectations about Hercules’s character. He disapproves of Iphitus’ laxity and arrogance, and those serve Iphitus poorly when he fails to make the shot. Hercules’ cleverness comes into play when he shows attention to the minutiae of archery, and helps inexperienced Ulysses make the shot. The writers are trying to give us a sympathetic and relatable Hercules who is both physically and mentally sharp: a perfect hero for a twentieth century tale who both defeats his opponents and does good along the way. This is contrasted with Iphitus’ apparent lack of discipline in body and mind, the perfect opposite.