Jason and the Fleece Again
After Zeus condemned his people Jason (Roland Carey) went on a dangerous journey to find the Golden Fleece to appease the God and save the people of Thessaly from the volcanoes which Zeus has plagued them with. Whilst gone Jason has left his cousin Adrasto (Alberto Farnese) in charge of the country unaware that Adrasto has plans to convince the people that Jason has abandoned them so he can take over permanently whilst also stealing the attractive Creusa (Ziva Rodann) and taking her for his own wife whether she likes it or not.
For those who don't know we are in Jason and the Argonauts territory with "The Giants of Thessaly" which I must mention was made before Ray Harryhausen's more popular "Jason and the Argonauts". Of course the movies are constantly compared especially by fans of these sword and sandals adventure movies but in truth I am just a movie fan not in particular a fan of Peplum movies. As such I will say that "The Giants of Thessaly" is okay but not the greatest movie ever made and other being of interest for fans of Peplum it now has limited appeal.
Now here is something I am wondering because as I watched "The Giants of Thessaly" I could follow it quite easily and knew on one hand we had the exploits of Jason and the various battles with giant creatures and seductive witches and on the other we have the deception of Adrasto. But was that because the movie was actually easy to follow or because I had watched other movies which have told the story clearly and so I recognized it. I say that because I wouldn't be completely surprised if those unaware of the story found this a hard slog especially the English dubbed version because not only do the words rarely match the lips but the accents sound completely off.
Aside from retelling the story it seems to me that a lot of attention has gone on the movies looks with several scenes which seem more interested in impressing you with the sets and costumes rather than on telling the story. In fairness some of the sets are impressive and if it is your sort of thing the muscle bound supporting cast who frequently appear to be glistening with oil will probably also impress. But in truth when it comes to the acting it is all forgettable.
What this all boils down to is that "The Giants of Thessaly" is not the worst sword and sandal movie I have come across and in truth despite the poor dubbing found it easy to follow. But when compared to other similar movies the inadequacies are clear to see.
