Search - Magnificent Gladiator/Revolt of the Barbarians on DVD

Mark...The Magnificent

David M. Goode | Yonkers N.Y. | 05/03/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mark Forest,a former Mr.USA,is one of the true greats of the sword and sandal genre.He got his start in show biz working in ecdysiast Lilli Christine's stage act and when the gladiator movies came into vogue he packed his muscle shirts and moved to Europe where he starred in more than a dozen of these films.This is a good one.He plays a character called Hercules.But it's not that Hercules.He's a captured soldier made to fight in the arena for the amusement of his Roman captors,who never seem to get the irony of his name.Ceasar is here also,but he's not the villian that he's usually portrayed as in other films from this genre.He's a rather jovial character who even approves of the romance between the captive gladiator and his daughter,played by beautiful Marilu Tolo.This movie uses the same actors and sets as THE TERROR OF ROME AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES and is a lot of fun.TTORATSOH features the hero battling a gorilla which puts it a notch above this movie,but I still recommend The Magnificent Gladiator to any fan of the genre.The second film in this package,Revolt Of The Barbarians,is a more straight forward Roman centurion epic.It's good but there are no feats of superhuman strength to be found here.And that after all is what I watch these films for.And if you're a fan of this genre I suspect that's why you watch these films too."