Goliath and the Barbarians

Goliath and the Barbarians (Italian: Il terrore dei barbari, lit. 'Terror of the Barbarians') is a 1959 Italian peplum film loosely based on events of the Lombard invasion of Italy in AD 568. As with many Italian peplums of the time, the English dubbed version renamed some of the characters (for example, "Emiliano" became "Goliath").

Goliath and the Barbarians
Film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byCarlo Campogalliani
Written by
  • Emimmo Salvi
  • Gino Mangini
  • Nino Stresa
  • Giuseppe Taffarel
Produced byEmimmo Salvi
Starring
CinematographyBitto Albertini
Edited byFranco Fraticelli
Music byLes Baxter
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures (USA)
Release date
  • June 30, 1959 (1959-06-30) (Italy)
Running time
100 minutes[1]
CountryItaly
Languages
  • Italian
  • English
Box office$1.6 million (North America)[2]

Plot

Set in the 6th century, it follows the start of barbarian invasions and deals with one group that attacks a village and destroys anyone and anything that is there. One man, Emiliano, son of the village leader, is away at the time of attack. He swears revenge and wages a one-man war against the evil tribes. He also is helped by the survivors and his sister Lynda. He wears a lion head mask to instill fear into the hearts of the barbarians.

Cast

US Release

American International Pictures released the film in the US with a new score by Les Baxter. The film had originally been a Hercules movie but AIP decided rename it a Goliath film to avoid confusion with Hercules (1959).[3] AIP invested $20,000 in the movie to help the producers complete it and were rewarded when it became a big hit.[4] The film earned $1.6 million in North America during its initial release where it was double billed with Sign of the Gladiator[2] Arkoff later estimated the film earned a gross of $1.8 million.[3]

AIP announced plans to make a follow-up called Goliath and the Dragon from a script by Lou Rusoff with Debra Paget but this fell through and they ended up buying another Italian film called The Revenge of Hercules and simply renaming it Goliath and the Dragon.[5]

DVD Releases

This film was released on a limited edition DVD by Wild East Productions in 2007 as a double feature with Goliath and the Vampires.

See also

References
  1. Della Casa, Steve; Giusti, Marco (2013). Il grande libro di Ercole: il cinema mitologico in Italia (in Italian). Rome: Edizione Sabinae. p. 296. ISBN 978-88-98623-05-1.
  2. "Rental Potentials of 1960". Variety. 4 January 1961. p. 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. Strawn, Linda May (1975). "Samuel Z. Arkoff". In McCarthy, Todd; Flynn, Charles (eds.). Kings of the Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System: An Anthology of Film History and Criticism. New York: E. P. Dutton. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-525-14090-0.
  4. McGee, Mark Thomas (1996). Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-7864-0137-6.
  5. Smith, Gary A. (2013). American International Pictures: The Golden Years. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-59393-750-8.


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